約伯記 3
1 此後，約伯開口咒詛自己的生日，
After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
2 說：
Job answered:
3 願我生的那日 和說懷了男胎的那夜都滅沒。
“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
4 願那日變為黑暗； 願上帝不從上面尋找它； 願亮光不照於其上。
Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
5 願黑暗和死蔭索取那日； 願密雲停在其上； 願日蝕恐嚇它。
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 願那夜被幽暗奪取， 不在年中的日子同樂， 也不入月中的數目。
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.
7 願那夜沒有生育， 其間也沒有歡樂的聲音。
Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 願那咒詛日子且能惹動鱷魚的 咒詛那夜。
Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 願那夜黎明的星宿變為黑暗， 盼亮卻不亮， 也不見早晨的光線；
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 因沒有把懷我胎的門關閉， 也沒有將患難對我的眼隱藏。
because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11 我為何不出母胎而死？ 為何不出母腹絕氣？
“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
12 為何有膝接收我？ 為何有奶哺養我？
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
13 不然，我就早已躺臥安睡，
For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
14 和地上為自己重造荒邱的君王、謀士，
with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
15 或與有金子、將銀子裝滿了房屋的王子 一同安息；
or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
16 或像隱而未現、不到期而落的胎， 歸於無有，如同未見光的嬰孩。
or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
17 在那裏惡人止息攪擾， 困乏人得享安息，
There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
18 被囚的人同得安逸， 不聽見督工的聲音。
There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 大小都在那裏； 奴僕脫離主人的轄制。
The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
20 受患難的人為何有光賜給他呢？ 心中愁苦的人為何有生命賜給他呢？
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
21 他們切望死，卻不得死； 求死，勝於求隱藏的珍寶。
who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 他們尋見墳墓就快樂， 極其歡喜。
who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 人的道路既然遮隱， 上帝又把他四面圍困， 為何有光賜給他呢？
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24 我未曾吃飯就發出歎息； 我唉哼的聲音湧出如水。
For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
25 因我所恐懼的臨到我身， 我所懼怕的迎我而來。
For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.
26 我不得安逸，不得平靜， 也不得安息，卻有患難來到。
I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”
