Read the Bible

² "I have heard many things like these.
    You are all painful comforters!
³ Will your long-winded speeches never end?
    What makes you keep on arguing?
⁴ I also could speak as you do
    if you were in my place.
I could make great speeches against you
    and shake my head at you.
⁵ But, instead, I would encourage you,
    and my words would bring you relief.

⁶ "Even if I speak, my pain is not less,
    and if I don't speak, it still does not go away.
⁷ God, you have surely taken away my strength
    and destroyed my whole family.
⁸ You have made me thin and weak,
    and this shows I have done wrong.
⁹ God attacks me and tears me with anger;
    he grinds his teeth at me;
    my enemy stares at me with his angry eyes.
¹⁰ People open their mouths to make fun of me
    and hit my cheeks to insult me.
    They join together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to evil people
    and has handed me over to the wicked.
¹² Everything was fine with me,
    but God broke me into pieces;
    he held me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
¹³ his archers surround me.
He stabs my kidneys without mercy;
    he spills my blood on the ground.
¹⁴ Again and again God attacks me;
    he runs at me like a soldier.

¹⁵ "I have sewed rough cloth over my skin to show my sadness
    and have buried my face in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from crying;
    I have dark circles around my eyes.
¹⁷ Yet my hands have never done anything cruel,
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ "Earth, please do not cover up my blood.
    Don't let my cry ever stop being heard!
¹⁹ Even now I have one who speaks for me in heaven;
    the one who is on my side is high above.
²⁰ The one who speaks for me is my friend.
    My eyes pour out tears to God.
²¹ He begs God on behalf of a human
    as a person begs for his friend.

²² "Only a few years will pass
    before I go on the journey of no return.