18“Why then did you bring me out of the womb?

I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

19If only I had never come into being,

or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

20Are not my few days almost over?

Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy

21before I go to the place of no return,

to the land of gloom and deep shadow,^b

22to the land of deepest night,

of deep shadow and disorder,

where even the light is like darkness.”