¹² They make night into day;
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[a]

¹⁴ The murderer rises at dusk
    to kill the poor and needy
    and in the night is like a thief.^(A)
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No eye will see me,’
    and he disguises his face.^(B)
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.^(C)

¹³ When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,’
¹⁴ then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,^(A)

³ so I am allotted months of emptiness,
    and nights of misery are apportioned to me.^(A)
4 When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’
    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing until dawn.^(B)