15“Terrors are turned against me;
         They pursue my honor as the wind,
         And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16“And now my soul is poured out within me;
         Days of affliction have seized me.

17“At night it pierces my bones within me,
         And my gnawing pains take no rest.

18“By a great force my garment is distorted;
         It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

19“He has cast me into the mire,
         And I have become like dust and ashes.

20“I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
         I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.

21“You have become cruel to me;
         With the might of Your hand You persecute me.

22“You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride;
         And You dissolve me in a storm.

23“For I know that You will bring me to death
         And to the house of meeting for all living.

24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
         Or in his disaster therefore cry out for help?

25“Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard?
         Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26“When I expected good, then evil came;
         When I waited for light, then darkness came.

27“I am seething within and cannot relax;
         Days of affliction confront me.

28“I go about mourning without comfort;
         I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

29“I have become a brother to jackals
         And a companion of ostriches.

30“My skin turns black on me,
         And my bones burn with fever.

31“Therefore my harp is turned to mourning,
         And my flute to the sound of those who weep.

NASB ©1995