< Job 3 >

1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
μετὰ τοῦτο ἤνοιξεν Ιωβ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ
2 Job answered:
καὶ κατηράσατο τὴν ἡμέραν αὐτοῦ λέγων
3 “Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθην καὶ ἡ νύξ ἐν ᾗ εἶπαν ἰδοὺ ἄρσεν
4 Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη εἴη σκότος καὶ μὴ ἀναζητήσαι αὐτὴν ὁ κύριος ἄνωθεν μηδὲ ἔλθοι εἰς αὐτὴν φέγγος
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes the day black terrify it.
ἐκλάβοι δὲ αὐτὴν σκότος καὶ σκιὰ θανάτου ἐπέλθοι ἐπ’ αὐτὴν γνόφος
6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice amongst the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.
καταραθείη ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη ἀπενέγκαιτο αὐτὴν σκότος μὴ εἴη εἰς ἡμέρας ἐνιαυτοῦ μηδὲ ἀριθμηθείη εἰς ἡμέρας μηνῶν
7 Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
ἀλλὰ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη εἴη ὀδύνη καὶ μὴ ἔλθοι ἐπ’ αὐτὴν εὐφροσύνη μηδὲ χαρμονή
8 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
ἀλλὰ καταράσαιτο αὐτὴν ὁ καταρώμενος τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ὁ μέλλων τὸ μέγα κῆτος χειρώσασθαι
9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
σκοτωθείη τὰ ἄστρα τῆς νυκτὸς ἐκείνης ὑπομείναι καὶ εἰς φωτισμὸν μὴ ἔλθοι καὶ μὴ ἴδοι ἑωσφόρον ἀνατέλλοντα
10 because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
ὅτι οὐ συνέκλεισεν πύλας γαστρὸς μητρός μου ἀπήλλαξεν γὰρ ἂν πόνον ἀπὸ ὀφθαλμῶν μου
11 “Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
διὰ τί γὰρ ἐν κοιλίᾳ οὐκ ἐτελεύτησα ἐκ γαστρὸς δὲ ἐξῆλθον καὶ οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀπωλόμην
12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
ἵνα τί δὲ συνήντησάν μοι γόνατα ἵνα τί δὲ μαστοὺς ἐθήλασα
13 For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
νῦν ἂν κοιμηθεὶς ἡσύχασα ὑπνώσας δὲ ἀνεπαυσάμην
14 with kings and counsellors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
μετὰ βασιλέων βουλευτῶν γῆς οἳ ἠγαυριῶντο ἐπὶ ξίφεσιν
15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
ἢ μετὰ ἀρχόντων ὧν πολὺς ὁ χρυσός οἳ ἔπλησαν τοὺς οἴκους αὐτῶν ἀργυρίου
16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
ἢ ὥσπερ ἔκτρωμα ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ μήτρας μητρὸς ἢ ὥσπερ νήπιοι οἳ οὐκ εἶδον φῶς
17 There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
ἐκεῖ ἀσεβεῖς ἐξέκαυσαν θυμὸν ὀργῆς ἐκεῖ ἀνεπαύσαντο κατάκοποι τῷ σώματι
18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
ὁμοθυμαδὸν δὲ οἱ αἰώνιοι οὐκ ἤκουσαν φωνὴν φορολόγου
19 The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
μικρὸς καὶ μέγας ἐκεῖ ἐστιν καὶ θεράπων οὐ δεδοικὼς τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
ἵνα τί γὰρ δέδοται τοῖς ἐν πικρίᾳ φῶς ζωὴ δὲ ταῖς ἐν ὀδύναις ψυχαῖς
21 who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
οἳ ὁμείρονται τοῦ θανάτου καὶ οὐ τυγχάνουσιν ἀνορύσσοντες ὥσπερ θησαυρούς
22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
περιχαρεῖς δὲ ἐγένοντο ἐὰν κατατύχωσιν
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
θάνατος ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυμα συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς κατ’ αὐτοῦ
24 For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
πρὸ γὰρ τῶν σίτων μου στεναγμός μοι ἥκει δακρύω δὲ ἐγὼ συνεχόμενος φόβῳ
25 For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.
φόβος γάρ ὃν ἐφρόντισα ἦλθέν μοι καὶ ὃν ἐδεδοίκειν συνήντησέν μοι
26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”
οὔτε εἰρήνευσα οὔτε ἡσύχασα οὔτε ἀνεπαυσάμην ἦλθεν δέ μοι ὀργή

< Job 3 >