18. Even little children make fun of me. When I get up, they say bad things about me.
19. All my close friends hate me. Even my loved ones have turned against me.
20. “I am so thin, my skin hangs loose on my bones. I have little life left in me.
21. “Pity me, my friends, pity me, because God is against me.
22. Why do you persecute me as God does? Don’t you get tired of hurting me?
23. “I wish someone would write down everything I say. I wish my words were written on a scroll.
24. I wish they were carved with an iron tool into lead or scratched on a rock so that they would last forever.
25. I know that there is someone to defend me and that he lives! And in the end, he will stand here on earth and defend me.
26. After I leave my body and my skin has been destroyed, I know I will still see God.
27. I will see him with my own eyes. I myself, not someone else, will see God. And I cannot tell you how excited that makes me feel!