They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.

Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.

He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.

His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.

His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.

My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.

My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.

My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.

Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.

All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.

My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.