Job 3

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

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

2 So then Job began, and said:

He said,

3 Perish, the day wherein I was born, and the night it was said, Lo! a manchild!

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

4 That day, be it darkness, —Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:

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

5 Let darkness and death-shade buy it back, May there settle down upon it a cloud, Let a day’s dark eclipse cause it terror:

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 That night, darkness take it, —May it not rejoice among the days of the year, Into the number of months, let it not enter.

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! that night, be it barren, Let no joyous shouting enter therein:

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

8 Let day-cursers denounce it, Those skilled in rousing the dragon of the sky:

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

9 Darkened be the stars of its twilight, —Let it wait for light, and there be none, neither let it see the eyelashes of the 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 it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine 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 Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?

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 For what reason, were there prepared for me—knees? and why—breasts, that I might suck?

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

13 Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:

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

14 With kings, and counselors of the earth, who had built them pyramids:

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

15 Or with rulers possessing, gold, —Who had filled 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 that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

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

17 There, the lawless, cease from raging, and there the toil-worn are at rest:

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

18 At once are prisoners at peace, they hear not the voice of a driver:

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

19 Small and great, there, they are, and, the slave, is free from his master.

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

20 Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered 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 long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:

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

22 Who rejoice unto exultation, Are glad, when they can find the grave:

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

23 To a man, whose way is concealed, And GOD hath straitly enclosed him?

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

24 For, in the face of my food, my sighing, cometh in, and, poured out like the water, are my groans:

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

25 For, a dread, I dreaded, and it hath come upon me, and, that from which I shrank, hath overtaken me.

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

26 I was not careless, nor was I secure, nor had I settled down, —when there came—consternation!

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