I said,“ Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.”
“ Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said,‘ A man has been conceived!’That day– let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it!Let darkness and the deepest shadow claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it!That night– let darkness seize it; let it not be included among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months!Indeed, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy penetrate it!Let those who curse the day curse it– those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes!“ Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb?Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them?For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peacewith kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate,or with princes who possessed gold, who filled their palaces with silver.Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?
