3“May the day perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
4May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
5May darkness and the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not [b]rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
7Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
8May those curse it who curse the day,
Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
9May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the [c]dawning of the day;
10Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.

11“Why did I not die at birth?
Why did I not [d]perish when I came from the womb?
12Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13For now I would have lain still and been quiet,
I would have been asleep;
Then I would have been at rest
14With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who built ruins for themselves,
15Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
16Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
17There the wicked cease from troubling,
And there the [e]weary are at rest.
18There the prisoners [f]rest together;
They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.

20“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the bitter of soul,
21Who long[g] for death, but it does not come,
And search for it more than hidden treasures;
22Who rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad when they can find the grave?
23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?
24For my sighing comes before [h]I eat,
And my groanings pour out like water.
25For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.”