If we attempt to reconstruct the situation for which the individual prayer (vv. 1–30) was appropriate, there emerges a complex web of circumstances. First, in verse 4 there are “my enemies without cause,” by whom “I am forced to restore what I did not steal.” (Are these false accusations of robbery for which he is forced to make restitution?) Second, in verses 7–12 he is alienated and endures scorn (v. 10) from family and neighbors “for your sake,” which is defined further as “zeal for your house” and connected with the rites of fasting and sackcloth. He thus suffers religious persecution. (Does this zeal for Yahweh’s house have to do with reforming the preexilic temple or with rebuilding the postexilic temple?) Third, in verses 19–29 he also endures scorn (v. 20), but here it takes the fo…