< Job 3 >

1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
Emva kwalokho uJobe wavula umlomo wakhe, waqalekisa usuku lwakhe.
2 Job answered:
UJobe wasephendula wathi:
3 “Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
Kalubhubhe usuku engazalwa ngalo, lobusuku okwathiwa ngalo: Kukhulelwe umntwana wesilisa.
4 Let that day be darkness. Do not let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
Lolosuku kalube ngumnyama, uNkulunkulu angalunanzi ephezulu, lokukhanya kungalukhanyisi.
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.
Umnyama lethunzi lokufa kakuluhlenge, iyezi lihlale phezu kwalo, umnyama welanga ulwesabise.
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.
Lobobusuku, umnyama ububambe, lungathokozi ensukwini zomnyaka, lungezi kunani lezinyanga.
7 Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
Khangela, lobobusuku kabube yinyumba, umsindo wentokozo ungangeni kubo.
8 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
Kababuqalekise abaqalekisi bosuku, abalungele ukuvusa uLeviyathani.
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,
Zibe mnyama inkanyezi zokusa kwabo, bulindele ukukhanya, kodwa kungabi khona, bungaboni inkophe zokusa.
10 because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
Ngoba bungavalanga iminyango yesisu sikamama wami, bungafihlanga usizi emehlweni ami.
11 “Why did not I die from the womb? Why did not I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
Kungani ngingafanga kusukela esizalweni, ngiphele ekuphumeni kwami esiswini?
12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
Kungani amadolo angandulela? Kungani lamabele ukuthi ngimunye?
13 For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
Ngoba khathesi ngabe ngacambalala ngathula, ngalala, khona ngaba lokuphumula,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
kanye lamakhosi labeluleki bomhlaba abazakhela amanxiwa,
15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
kumbe kanye leziphathamandla ezazilegolide ezagcwalisa izindlu zazo ngesiliva.
16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
Kumbe njengomphunzo ofihliweyo ngingabi khona, njengensane ezingabonanga ukukhanya.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
Lapho ababi bayekela ukuhlupha, lapho abakhathele ngamandla bephumula.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
Izibotshwa ziyaphumula ndawonye, kazizwa ilizwi lomcindezeli.
19 The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
Omncinyane lomkhulu balapho, lesigqili sikhululekile enkosini yaso.
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
Kungani enika ukukhanya kohluphekayo, lempilo kwabalokubaba komphefumulo;
21 who long for death, but it does not come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
abalindele ukufa, kodwa kungekho, bekugebha kulenotho efihliweyo,
22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
abathabayo kakhulu ngentokozo, bajabule lapho bethola ingcwaba?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
Emuntwini yini, ondlela yakhe ifihliwe, uNkulunkulu ambiyeleyo?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
Ngoba ukububula kwami kuza phambi kokudla kwami, lokubhonga kwami kuthululeka njengamanzi.
25 For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.
Ngoba engikwesabayo ngokwesaba sekungehlele, lengilovalo ngakho kufikile kimi.
26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”
Ngangingahlalisekanga, ngingaphumuli, ngingelakuthula, lohlupho lweza.

< Job 3 >