16  “And now my soul is ^zpoured out within me;

days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17  ^aThe night racks my bones,

and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

18  With great force my garment is disfigured;

it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19  God¹ has cast me into the mire,

and I have become like dust and ashes.

20  I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;

I stand, and you only look at me.

21  You have turned cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you ^bpersecute me.

22  ^cYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,

and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23  For I know that you will bring me to death

and to the house appointed for all living.

24  “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,

and in his disaster cry for help?²

25  ^dDid not I weep for him whose day was hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26  But ^ewhen I hoped for good, evil came,

and when I ^fwaited for light, darkness came.

27  My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;

days of affliction come to meet me.

28  I ^ggo about darkened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29  I am a brother of ^hjackals

and a companion of ostriches.

30  ⁱMy skin turns ^jblack and falls from me,

and my ^kbones burn with heat.

31  My lyre is turned ^lto mourning,

and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.