18. He doesn’t let me catch my breath,for he fills me with bitterness.
19. If the issue is strength—behold power!If justice—who calls God to meet me?
20. If I’m innocent, my mouth condemns me;I have integrity; but God declares me perverse.
21. I’m blameless, yet don’t know myself;I reject my life.
22. It’s all the same;therefore, I say God destroys the blameless and the sinners.
23. If calamity suddenly kills,he mocks at the slaying of innocents.
24. The earth is handed over to the wicked;he covers the faces of its judges.If not God, then who does?
25. My days are swifter than a runner;they flee and don’t experience good.
26. They sweep by like ships made of reeds,as an eagle swoops on prey.
27. If I say, "I’ll forget my lament,put on a different face so I can smile,"
28. I’m still afraid of all my suffering;I know that you won’t declare me innocent.
29. I myself am thought guilty;why have I tried so hard in vain?
30. If I wash myself with snow,purify my hands with soap,
31. then you’ll hurl me into a slimy pitso that my clothes detest me.
32. God is not a man like me—someone I could answer—so that we could come together in court.