6“If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my pain is not relieved;

And if I refrain [from speaking], what [pain or anguish] leaves me?

7“But now God has exhausted me.

You [O Lord] have destroyed all my family and my household.

8“You have taken a firm hold on me and have shriveled me up,

It has become a witness [against me];

And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,

It testifies to my face [about my guilt].

9“His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,

He has gnashed at me with his teeth;

My adversary sharpens His gaze and glares [with piercing eyes] at me.

10“They have gaped at me with their mouths,

With contempt they have struck me on the cheek;

They massed themselves together [and conspired] against me.

11“God hands me over to [a]criminals

And tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.

12“I was [living] at ease, but He crushed me and broke me apart,

And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;

He has also set me up as His target.

13“His arrows surround me.

He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14“He attacks me, making wound after wound;

He runs at me like a warrior.

15“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]

And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

16“My face is red and swollen with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],

17Although there is no violence or wrongdoing in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

18“O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].

19“Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven,

And my Advocate [who vouches and testifies for me] is on high.

20“My friends are scoffers [who ridicule];

My eye pours out tears to God.

21“Oh, that a man would mediate and plead with God [for me]

Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighbor and friend.

22“For when a few years are past,

I shall go the way of no return.