Job 3

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

After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,

2 Job answered:

saying,

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

Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a man-child!

4 Let that day be darkness. Do not let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.

Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon 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.

But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it;

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.

let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months.

7 Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.

But let that night be pain, and let not mirth come upon it, nor joy.

8 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

But let him that curses that day curse it, [even] he that is ready to attack the great whale.

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,

Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain [dark], and not come into light; and let it not see the morning star arise:

10 because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

because it shut not up the gates of my mother's womb, for [so] it would have removed sorrow from my eyes.

11 “Why did not I die from the womb? Why did not I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?

For why died I not in the belly? and [why] did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately?

12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?

and why did the knees support me? and why did I suck the breasts?

13 For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,

Now I should have lain down and been quiet, I should have slept and been at rest,

14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;

with kings [and] councillors of the earth, who gloried in [their] swords;

15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;

or with rulers, whose gold was abundant, who filled their houses with silver:

16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.

or [I should have been] as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother's womb, or as infants who never saw light.

17 There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.

There the ungodly have burnt out the fury of rage; there the wearied in body rest.

18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

And the men of old time have together ceased to hear the exactor's voice.

19 The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.

The small and great are there, and the servant that feared his lord.

20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,

For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those souls which are in griefs?

21 who long for death, but it does not come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

who desire death, and obtain it not, digging [for it] as [for] treasures;

22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

and would be very joyful if they should gain it?

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

Death [is] rest to [such] a man, for God has hedged him in.

24 For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.

For my groaning comes before my food, and I weep being beset with terror.

25 For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.

For the terror of which I meditated has come upon me, and that which I had feared has befallen me.

26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”

I was not at peace, nor quiet, nor had I rest; yet wrath came upon me.