I saw the tears of the oppressed—
    and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
    and they have no comforter.^(B)
2 And I declared that the dead,^(C)
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.^(D)
3 But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,^(E)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.^(F)

³ “May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’^(B)

¹⁹ If only I had never come into being,
    or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!^(A)

¹⁴ Cursed be the day I was born!^(A)
    May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!