Job 3

1 After this time Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day.

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.

2 And Job commenced, and said,

He said,

3 Oh that the day whereon I was born might perish, and the night when it was said, There hath been a male child conceived.

“May the day on which I was born perish, the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived.'

4 May that day be [covered with] darkness; may not God from above inquire for it, and may no light beam upon it.

May that day be dark; may not God from above call it to mind, neither may the sun shine on it.

5 Oh that darkness and the shadow of death might defile it; may a cloud rest upon it; may the blackness of the day terrify it.

May darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. May a cloud live over it; may everything that makes the day black truly terrify it.

6 Yon night — let darkness seize upon it; let it not be united to the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the [periods lighted by the] moon.

As for that night, may thick darkness seize it. May it not rejoice among the days of the year; may it not come into the number of the months.

7 Lo, may that night be solitary, let no song of joy occur thereon.

See, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.

8 Let those denounce it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning cry.

May they curse that day, those who know how to wake up Leviathan.

9 Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; let it hope for light, and there be none; and let it not behold the eyelids of the morning-dawn;

May the stars of that day's dawn be dark. May that day look for light, but find none; neither may it see the eyelids of the dawn,

10 Because God closed not against me the doors of the womb, and thus concealed trouble from my eyes.

because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, and because it did not hide trouble from my eyes.

11 Why did I not die [the moment I issued] from the womb, and [why] was I not born merely to perish at once?

Why did I not die when I came out from the womb? Why did I not give up my spirit when my mother bore me?

12 Wherefore were knees ready to receive me? and for what purpose were breasts there that I might suck?

Why did her knees welcome me? Why did her breasts receive me so that I should suck?

13 For now should I be lying still and be quiet; I should sleep: then would I be at rest,

For now I would have been lying down quietly. I would have slept and been at rest

14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build up ruined places for themselves;

with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up tombs for themselves that are now in ruins.

15 Or with princes possessing gold, who fill their houses with silver;

Or I would have been lying with princes who once had gold, who had filled their houses with silver.

16 Or as an untimely birth, hidden [from view] I should not exist; as infants that never have seen the light;

Or perhaps I would have been stillborn, like infants that never see the light.

17 There [where] the wicked cease from troubling; and where the exhausted weary are at rest;

There the wicked cease from trouble; there the weary are at rest.

18 [Where] the prisoners repose together, [and] they hear no more the taskmaster's voice.

There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the slave driver.

19 The small with the great is there, and the servant free from his master.

Both small and great people are there; the servant is free from his master there.

20 Wherefore giveth He now light to the labor-laden, and life unto the bitter in soul?

Why is light given to him who is in misery? Why is life given to the one who is bitter in soul,

21 Who wait for death, which [cometh] not; and who dig for it sooner than for hidden treasures;

to one who longs for death without it coming; to one who digs for death more than for hidden treasure?

22 Who would rejoice even to exulting, who would be glad could they but find a grave?

Why is light given to one who rejoices very much and is glad when he finds the grave?

23 [Why is light given] to a man whose way is hidden, and around whom God hath placed a fence?

Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, a man whom God has hedged in?

24 For before my food cometh my groaning, and like the water are poured forth my loud complaints.

For my sighing happens instead of eating; my groaning is poured out like water.

25 Because what I greatly dreaded is come upon me, and what I apprehended is come unto me.

For the thing that I feared has come on me; what I was afraid of has come to me.

26 I have had no safety, and no quiet, and no rest; and [now] harrowing trouble is come.

I am not at ease, I am not quiet, and I have no rest; trouble comes instead.”