³ “Let the day perish in which I was born,
    and the night that said,
    ‘A male is conceived.’^(A)

¹¹ “Why did I not die at birth,
    come forth from the womb and expire?^(A)
12 Why were there knees to receive me
    or breasts for me to suck?^(B)
13 Now I would be lying down and quiet;
    I would be asleep; then I would be at rest
¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth
    who rebuild ruins for themselves,^(C)
15 or with princes who have gold,
    who fill their houses with silver.
¹⁶ Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child,
    like an infant that never sees the light?^(D)
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
    and there the weary are at rest.^(E)
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
    they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
    and the slaves are free from their masters.

²⁰ “Why is light given to one in misery
    and life to the bitter in soul,^(F)
21 who long for death, but it does not come,
    and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;^(G)
22 who rejoice exceedingly
    and are glad when they find the grave?
²³ Why is light given to one who cannot see the way,
    whom God has fenced in?^(H)

³ For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.^(C)
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
    I am like those who have no help,^(D)
5 like those forsaken among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.^(E)
6 You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.^(F)
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah^(G)

⁸ You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;^(H)