Job 3

1 Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth,

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

2 Job made answer and said,

saying,

3 Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world.

Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a boy!

4 That day — let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it;

Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it.

5 Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it.

But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it;

6 That night — let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months.

7 As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;

But let that night be pain, and let not mirth come upon it, nor joy.

8 Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake.

But let him that curses that day curse it, [even] he that is ready to attack the great whale.

9 Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn.

Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain [dark], and not come into light; and let it not see the morning star arise:

10 Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.

because it shut not up the gates of my mother's womb, for [so] it would have removed sorrow from my eyes.

11 Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath?

For why died I not in the belly? and [why] did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately?

12 Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk?

and why did the knees support me? and why did I suck the breasts?

13 For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,

Now I should have lain down and been quiet, I should have slept and been at rest,

14 With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;

with kings [and] councillors of the earth, who gloried in [their] swords;

15 Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver;

or with rulers, whose gold was abundant, who filled their houses with silver:

16 Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.

or [I should have been] as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother's womb, or as infants who never saw light.

17 There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest.

There the ungodly have burnt out the fury of rage; there the wearied in body rest.

18 There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears.

And the men of old time have together ceased to hear the exactor's voice.

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

The small and great are there, and the servant that feared his lord.

20 Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;

For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those souls which are in griefs?

21 To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;

who desire death, and obtain it not, digging [for it] as [for] treasures;

22 Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;

and would be very joyful if they should gain it?

23 To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God?

Death [is] rest to [such] a man, for God has hedged him in.

24 In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.

For my groaning comes before my food, and I weep being beset with terror.

25 For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled.

For the terror of which I meditated has come upon me, and that which I had feared has befallen me.

26 I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.

I was not at peace, nor quiet, nor had I rest; yet wrath came upon me.