Job 3

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

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

2 He said,

And Job commenced, and said,

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

Oh that the day whereon I was born might perish, and the night when it was said, There hath been a male 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.

May that day be [covered with] darkness; may not God from above inquire for it, and may no light beam 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.

Oh that darkness and the shadow of death might defile it; may a cloud rest upon it; may 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.

Yon night — let darkness seize upon it; let it not be united to the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the [periods lighted by the] moon.

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, may that night be solitary, let no song of joy occur thereon.

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 those denounce it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning cry.

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 its twilight be darkened; let it hope for light, and there be none; and let it not behold the eyelids of the morning-dawn;

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 God closed not against me the doors of the womb, and thus concealed trouble from my eyes.

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

Why did I not die [the moment I issued] from the womb, and [why] was I not born merely to perish at once?

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

Wherefore were knees ready to receive me? and for what purpose were breasts there that I might 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 be lying still and be quiet; I should sleep: then would I be 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, who build up ruined places for themselves;

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

Or with princes possessing gold, who fill 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 untimely birth, hidden [from view] I should not exist; as infants that never have seen the light;

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

There [where] the wicked cease from troubling; and where the exhausted weary are at rest;

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

[Where] the prisoners repose together, [and] they hear no more the taskmaster's voice.

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 with the great is there, and the servant 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 giveth He now light to the labor-laden, 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.

Who wait for death, which [cometh] not; and who dig for it sooner than for hidden treasures;

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

Who would rejoice even to exulting, who would be glad could they but find a 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 hidden, and around whom God hath placed a fence?

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

For before my food cometh my groaning, and like the water are poured forth my loud complaints.

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

Because what I greatly dreaded is come upon me, and what I apprehended 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 have had no safety, and no quiet, and no rest; and [now] harrowing trouble is come.