3 "Let the day when I was born be annihilated, along with the night when it was announced, "It's a boy!'
4 Let that day be dark; let God above not care about it; let no light shine over it.
5 Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it; let clouds settle down on it; let blackness in mid-day terrify it.
6 Let darkness carry that night away; let it not take its place joyfully among the days of the year; let it not be entered into the calendar.
7 "Yes, let that night be barren; let it not appear with its joyful shout.
8 Let whoever curses days curse it those who are ready to awaken monsters.
9 Let the stars of its evening twilight be dark; let it hope for light but let there be none; let it not see the breaking rays of the dawn.
10 "Because that night refused to shut the doors of my mother's womb; it failed to keep me from seeing this trouble.
11 Why didn't I die while I was still in the womb, or die while I was being born?
12 Why was there a lap to hold me, and why were there breasts to nurse me?
13 "If I had died, I would be lying down by now, undisturbed, asleep, and at rest,
14 along with kings and counselors of the earth, who used to build for themselves what are now only ruins,
15 or princes who amassed gold for themselves, and who kept filling their houses with silver.
16 "Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like babies who never saw the light?
17 In that place, the wicked stop causing trouble, and there, those whose strength is exhausted are at rest.
18 In that place, those who once were prisoners will be at ease together; they won't hear the voice of oppressors.
19 The unimportant and the important are both there, and the servant is free from his master.
20 "Why does God give light to the sufferer or life to the bitter person:
21 To those who are longing for death even though it does not come? To those who search for it more than for hidden treasure?
22 To those who are happy beyond measure when they reach their graves?
23 To the formerly successful man who lost his way in life, and God fenced him in?
24 "As far as I'm concerned, my food comes to me in the form of sighs, and my cries of anguish pour out like water.
25 For the dreaded thing that I feared has happened to me, what caused me to worry has engulfed me.
26 I will not be at ease; I will not be quiet; I will not rest; because trouble has arrived."