Job 3

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

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

2 He said,

He said,

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

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

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

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 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.

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 See, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into 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 May they curse that day, those who know how to wake up Leviathan.

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 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,

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 shut up the doors of my mother's womb, and because it did not hide trouble 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 I not die when I came out from the womb? Why did I not give up my spirit when my mother bore me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16 Or perhaps I would have been stillborn, like infants that never see 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 wicked cease from trouble; there the weary are at 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 ease together; they do not hear the voice of the slave driver.

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

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

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

20 Why is light given to him who is in misery? Why is life given to the one who is 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 one who longs for death without it coming; to one who digs for death more than for hidden treasure?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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