Job 3

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

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

2 He said,

And Job spake, and said,

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

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a man child conceived.

4 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.

Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

5 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.

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

6 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.

As [for] that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

7 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.

Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

8 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.

Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

9 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.

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but [have] none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

10 [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.

Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother’s] womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

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

Why died I not from the womb? [why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

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

Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

13 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].

For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

14 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].

With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

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

Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

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

Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw light.

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

There the wicked cease [from] troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

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

[There] the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

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

The small and great are there; and the servant [is] free from his master.

20 (“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]?

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter [in] soul;

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

Which long for death, but it [cometh] not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

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

Which rejoice exceedingly, [and] are glad, when they can find the grave?

23 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]

[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

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

For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

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

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

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

I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.