Beth
“Yahweh has made
my flesh waste away.
He has made
My skin waste away.
He has broken
My bones.
He has besieged me.
With bitterness.
He has enveloped me
With tribulation.
He has made me
Sit in darkness
Like the dead
Of long ago.”
Almost like the sufferings of Job, this author complains about his own personal suffering. His flesh and his skin are wasting away, since his bones are broken. He has been besieged and enveloped in bitterness and tribulation, sitting in darkness like a person dead for a long time. Throughout this poem, these three verses start with the Hebrew consonant letter Beth. Each three verse section after this will use the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet in this personal acrostic poem.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 