Job 3

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

Finally, Job spoke, and he cursed the day that he was born.

2 Job made answer and said,

He said,

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.

“I wish that the day when I was born could be eradicated, and also the night when I was conceived.

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;

I wish that the day when I was born would have been covered in darkness. I wish that God who is in heaven [MTY] would have forgotten about that day, and that the sun would not have shone on 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.

I wish that thick/intense darkness would have filled that day, and that a black cloud would have come over it and blotted out all light and caused people to be terrified.

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.

I wish that the night when I was conceived would be erased from the calendar, with the result that it would never again appear as one night in any month, and that it would not be included in any calendar.

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

I wish that no child would again be conceived on that night of the month [MET], and that no one would again be happy on that night.

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

I want those people who (curse/put evil spells on) days—those who know how to arouse/awaken the great sea monster—to curse that day.

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.

I wish that the stars that shone early in the morning on that day [after I was conceived] will not shine again. I want those stars to have wished in vain for light to shine; and that they would not have shone on that day.

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

[That was an evil day] because my mother was able to conceive; instead, I was born, and I have now experienced all these terrible things.

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?

“I wish that I had died [RHQ] when I was born— at the time I emerged from my mother’s womb.

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

I wish that my mother had not [RHQ] allowed me to live. I wish that she had not nursed me.

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

If I had died at the time when I was born, I would be asleep, resting peacefully [in the place where the dead people are].

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

I would be resting with kings whose [beautiful palaces] that they built are now in ruins (OR, who rebuilt [palaces] that had previously been destroyed), and I would be resting with their officials [who have also died].

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

I would be resting with princes who were wealthy, whose palaces were filled with gold and 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.

I wish that I had been buried like a child who died in its mother’s womb and never lived to see the light.

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

After wicked people die, they do not cause any more troubles; those who are very tired now will rest.

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

Those who were in prison rest peacefully [after they die]; they no longer have slave-drivers who curse them.

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

Rich people and poor people are alike after they die, and those who were slaves are no longer controlled by their masters.

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

(“Why does God allow those who are suffering greatly [like me] to continue to remain alive?/I do not understand why God allows those who are suffering greatly [like me] to continue to remain alive.) [RHQ] Why does he allow those who are very miserable/distressed to keep living [RHQ]?

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

They long/want to die, but they do not die. They desire to die more than people desire to find a hidden treasure.

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

When they finally die and are buried, they are very happy.

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

Those who do not know where they are [eventually] going when they die [RHQ], people whom God has forced [MET] to continue to live in misery, (it is not right that they continue to live./why do they continue to live?) [RHQ]

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

I continually cry very much; as a result, I cannot eat; and I can never stop groaning.

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

Things that I always worried might happen to me, have happened to me; things that I always dreaded have happened to me.

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

Now I have no peace [in my inner being], I have no peace; I cannot rest; instead, I have only troubles.”