Job, 3

¹ It was after this that Job began to speak and to curse the day of his birth.^*1

² Job said:

³ “Let the day perish on which I was born, Also the night when someone said: ‘A man has been conceived!’

⁴ Let that day be darkness. Let God above show no concern for it; Let no light shine upon it.

⁵ Let the deepest darkness^*1 reclaim it. Let a rain cloud settle over it. Let whatever darkens the day terrify it.

⁶ That night—let the gloom seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of a year, And let it not enter among the number of the months.

⁷ Indeed! Let that night become barren; Let no joyful cry be heard in it.

⁸ Let those who curse the day put a curse on it, Those who are able to awaken Le·viʹa·than.^*1

⁹ Let the stars of its twilight grow dark; Let it wait in vain for daylight, And let it not see the rays of dawn.

¹⁰ For it did not close the doors of my mother’s womb; Nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?

¹² Why were there knees to receive me And breasts to nurse me?

¹³ For now I would be lying down undisturbed; I would be sleeping and at rest

¹⁴ With kings of the earth and their advisers, Who built for themselves places that are now in ruins,^*1

¹⁵ Or with princes who possessed gold, Whose houses were filled with silver.

¹⁶ Or why was I not like a hidden miscarriage, Like children who have never seen the light?

¹⁷ There even the wicked have ceased from agitation; There the weary are at rest.

¹⁸ There the prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the one forcing them to work.

¹⁹ Small and great are the same there, And the slave is set free from his master.

²⁰ Why does he give light to one who is suffering And life to those in bitter distress?^*1

²¹ Why do they long for death, but it does not come? They dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

²² Those who are rejoicing greatly, Who are happy when they find the grave.

²³ Why does he give light to a man who has lost his way, Whom God has hedged in?

²⁴ For in place of my food comes my sighing, And my groaning pours out like water.

²⁵ For what I have dreaded has come upon me, And what I have feared has befallen me.

²⁶ I have had no peace, no quiet, no rest, But trouble keeps coming.”