³ ‘Forget the day of my birth.
    Forget the night when a son was born to my parents.
⁴ That day should be completely dark,
    with no light to shine on it!
God in heaven above should not even think about it.
⁵ That day should remain in a dark shadow.
    Clouds should cover it so that everywhere is black.
⁶ Remove that night completely!
    It should no longer be a date among the days of the year.
    Remove that day from the months of the year.
⁷ Do not let women become pregnant on that night.
    Nobody should be happy!
⁸ People who know how to curse days should curse that day.
    They should wake up Leviathan, the monster from the sea, to attack it.
⁹ The stars of early morning should be dark on that day.
    Do not let the sun shine at dawn,
    so that there is no end to the dark night.
¹⁰ I curse that day because it allowed me to be born.
    It brought me into a life of trouble.

¹¹ It would have been better if I had died at birth.
    I should have been born dead.
¹² Instead, my mother held me on her knees.
    I drank from her breasts.
¹³ If I had died at birth, I would now be resting in peace.
¹⁴ I would be resting with kings and rulers.
    They lived in beautiful houses which are now heaps of stones.
¹⁵ I would be with princes who once were very rich.
    Their palaces were full of gold and silver.
¹⁶ My parents should have buried me,
    like a child that is born dead.
    I would never have seen the light of day.
¹⁷ After death, wicked people can no longer cause any trouble.
    People who have become tired can rest.
¹⁸ Even prisoners can enjoy a time of peace.
    No guards are there to shout at them.
¹⁹ Great people and ordinary people are all there together.
    Slaves have no master that they must obey.

²⁰ I am suffering very much.
    Why does God let me wake up each day?
I am very upset,
    so why does God continue to let me live?
²¹ People like me only want to die. But death does not come.
    They would rather die than find valuable gold.
²² When their life finally finishes, they are very happy.
    They are happy to go into their graves.
²³ So why do I continue to live?
    God has stopped me moving forward in life.
    I cannot see which way to go.
²⁴ I am crying instead of eating.
    My tears pour out like a river of water.
²⁵ The things that frighten me most have happened to me.
²⁶ Because of all the trouble that has happened to me,
    I cannot rest. I have no peace in my mind.’