9. Let its stars turn dark before dawn.Let it hope for light and receive none.Let it not see the first light of dawn
10. because it did not shut the doors of the womb ⌊from which I came⌋or hide my eyes from trouble.
11. “Why didn’t I die as soon as I was bornand breathe my last breath when I came out of the womb?
12. Why did knees welcome me?Why did breasts let me nurse?
13. Instead of being alive,I would now be quietly lying down.I would now be sleeping peacefully.
14. I would be with the kings and the counselors of the worldwho built for themselves ⌊what are now⌋ ruins.
15. I would be with princeswho had gold,who filled their homes with silver.
16. I would be buried like a stillborn baby.I would not exist.I would be like infants who never saw the light.
17. There the wicked stop their raging.There the weary are able to rest.
18. There the captives have no troubles at all.There they do not hear the shouting of the slave driver.
19. There ⌊you find⌋ both the unimportant and important people.There the slave is free from his master.
20. “Why give light to one in miseryand life to those who find it so bitter,