17. My bones are pierced in me at night,And my gnawing pains take no rest.
18. By great force my garment is disfigured;It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19. He has cast me into the mire,And I have become like dust and ashes.
20. “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;I stand up, and You regard me.
21. But You have become cruel to me;With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
22. You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;You spoil my success.
23. For I know that You will bring me to death,And to the house appointed for all living.
24. “Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,If they cry out when He destroys it.
25. Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26. But when I looked for good, evil came to me;And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
27. My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;Days of affliction confront me.
28. I go about mourning, but not in the sun;I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29. I am a brother of jackals,And a companion of ostriches.