Job 3

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

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

2 He said,

So then Job began, and said:

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

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

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

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

5 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.

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:

6 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.

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

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

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

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

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

9 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,

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:

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

Because it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine eyes.

11 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?

Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or with rulers possessing, gold, —Who had filled their houses with silver:

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

Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul?—

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

Who long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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