12“I was at ease, but He shattered me,
         And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
         He has also set me up as His target.

13“His arrows surround me.
         Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;
         He pours out my gall on the ground.

14“He breaks through me with breach after breach;
         He runs at me like a warrior.

15“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
         And thrust my horn in the dust.

16“My face is flushed from weeping,
         And deep darkness is on my eyelids,

17Although there is no violence 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.

19“Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
         And my advocate is on high.

20“My friends are my scoffers;
         My eye weeps to God.

21“O that a man might plead with God
         As a man with his neighbor!

22“For when a few years are past,
         I shall go the way of no return.

NASB ©1995