約伯記 3
1 此後約伯開口詛咒自己的生日。
After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
2 約伯開始說：
Job answered:
3 願我誕生的那日消逝，願報告「懷了男胎」的那夜滅亡。
“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
4 願那日成為黑暗，願天主從上面不再尋覓它，再沒有光燭照它。
Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
5 願黑暗和陰影玷污它，濃雲遮蓋它，白晝失光的晦暗驚嚇它。
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.
6 願那夜常為黑暗所制，不讓它列入年歲中，不讓它算在月分裏。
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.
7 願那夜孤寂煢獨，毫無歡呼之聲。
Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 願那詛咒白日者，有術召喚海怪者，前來詛咒那夜。
Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 願晨星昏暗，期待光明而光明不至，也不見晨光熹微，
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,
10 因為它沒有關閉我母胎之門，遮住我眼前的愁苦。
because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11 我為何一出母胎沒有立即死去﹖為何我一離母腹沒有斷氣﹖
“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
12 為何兩膝接住我﹖為何兩乳哺養我﹖
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
13 不然現今我早已臥下安睡了，早已永眠獲得安息了，
For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
14 與那些為自己建陵墓的國王和百官，
with kings and counsellors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
15 與那些金銀滿堂的王侯同眠；
or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
16 或者像隱沒的流產兒，像未見光明的嬰孩；
or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
17 在那裏惡人停止作亂，在那裏勞悴者得享安寧；
There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
18 囚徒相安無事，再不聞督工的呼叱聲，
There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 在那裏大小平等，奴隸脫離主人。
The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
20 為何賜不幸者以光明，賜心中憂苦者以生命﹖
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
21 這些人渴望死，而死不至；尋求死亡勝於寶藏，
who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 見到墳墓，感覺歡樂，且喜樂達於極點!
who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 人的道路，既如此渺茫，天主為何賜給他生命，又把他包圍﹖
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24 歎習成了我的食物，不停哀嘆有如流水。
For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
25 我所畏懼的，偏偏臨於我身；我所害怕的，卻迎面而來。
For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.
26 我沒有安寧，也沒有平靜，得不到休息，而只有煩惱。
I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”
