Job 3

1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.

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

2 Job answered:

He said,

3 “Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’

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

4 Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light 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 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.

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, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice 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 Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.

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 them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse 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 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,

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 didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it 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 didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the 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 the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?

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

13 For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have 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 waste places 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 princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;

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

16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw 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 troubling. 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 don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.

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. 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 is light given to him who is in misery, 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 who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

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 rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find 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, 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 comes before I eat. My groanings are 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 which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes 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, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”

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