11. Why did I not die from the womb, come forth from the belly and expire?
12. Why were there knees to receive me? Or breasts for me to suck?
13. For now I would have been lying in peace. I would have slept – then I would have been at rest,
14. with sovereigns and counsellors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves,
15. or with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver,
16. or as a hidden untimely birth, as infants who never saw light?
17. There the wrong cease raging, and there the weary are at rest,
18. the prisoners rest together, 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 does He give light to the sufferer, and life to the bitter of being,
21. who are waiting for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than treasures;
22. who rejoice exceedingly, they are glad when they find the grave?
23. Why does He give light to a man whose way has been hidden, and whom Eloah has hedged in?
24. For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water.
25. For that which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I dreaded has overtaken me.
26. I have not been at ease, nor have I been undisturbed, nor been at rest, yet trouble comes!”