11Why did I not die from the womb? Why did I not expire when I came out of my mother's body? 12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts that I should nurse? 13For now would I have lain still and been quiet, I would have slept; then had I been at rest, 14With kings and counselors of the earth, who built now desolate places for themselves; 15Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver; 16Or I had not been as an hidden untimely birth; as (miscarried) infants who never saw light. 17There (in death) the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. 19The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.

20Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter souls; 21Who long for death, but it comes not, and dig (search) for it more than for hidden treasures; 22Who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? 24For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings are poured out like the waters. 25For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. 26I was not in safety, nor had I rest, nor was I quiet; yet trouble came.”