Job 3

1 Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth,

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

2 Job made answer and said,

And Job spoke, and said,

3 Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world.

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

4 That day — let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it;

Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine on it.

5 Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it.

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

6 That night — let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

As for that night, let darkness seize on it; let it not be joined to the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

7 As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;

See, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

8 Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake.

Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

9 Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn.

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

10 Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.

Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from my eyes.

11 Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath?

Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

12 Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk?

Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

13 For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,

For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

14 With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;

With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;

15 Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver;

Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

16 Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.

Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

17 There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest.

There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

18 There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears.

There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

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

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

20 Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;

Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul;

21 To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;

Which long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22 Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;

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

23 To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God?

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

24 In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.

For my sighing comes before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

25 For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled.

For the thing which I greatly feared is come on me, and that which I was afraid of is come to me.

26 I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.

I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.