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

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

⁵ For the living know that they will die;
But ^(A)the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For ^(B)the memory of them is forgotten.
⁶ Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.