10  ^qMen have gaped at me with their mouth;

they have struck me insolently on the cheek;

they mass themselves together against me.

11  God gives me up to the ungodly

and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12  I was at ease, and he broke me apart;

he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;

he set me up as his ^rtarget;

13  his archers surround me.

He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;

he pours out my gall on the ground.

14  He breaks me with breach upon breach;

he runs upon me like a warrior.

15  I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin

and have laid my strength in the dust.

16  My face is red with weeping,

and on my eyelids is deep darkness,

17  although there is ^sno violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

18  “O earth, ^tcover not my blood,

and let my cry find no resting place.

19  Even now, behold, ^umy witness is in heaven,

and he who testifies for me is on high.

20  ^vMy friends scorn me;

my eye pours out tears to God,

21  that he would argue the case of a man with God,

as¹ a son of man does with his neighbor.

22  For when a few years have come

I shall go the way ^wfrom which I shall not return.