Job 3

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

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

2 and this is what he said:

And Job answered and said:

3 May the day perish on which I was born, and the night, in which it was said, “A man has been conceived.”

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

4 May that day be turned into darkness, may God not seek it from above, and may light not illuminate it.

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

5 Let darkness and the shadow of death obscure it, let a fog overtake it, and let it be enveloped in bitterness.

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; let a cloud dwell upon it; let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

6 Let a whirlwind of darkness take hold of that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it: let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

7 May that night be alone and unworthy of praise.

Lo, let that night be barren; let no joyful voice come therein.

8 May they curse it, who curse the day, who are prepared to awaken a leviathan.

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

9 Let the stars be concealed with its darkness. Let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawn in the East.

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: let it look for light, but have none; neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

10 For it did not close the doors of the womb that bore me, nor take away evils from my eyes.

Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother’s] womb, nor hid trouble from mine eyes.

11 Why did I not die in the womb? Having left the womb, why did I not immediately perish?

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

12 Why was I received upon the knees? Why was I suckled at the breasts?

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

13 For by now, I should have been sleeping silently, and taking rest in my sleep

For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest:

14 with the kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes,

With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built up waste places for themselves;

15 either with princes, who possess gold and fill their houses with silver,

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

16 or, like a hidden miscarriage, I should not have continued, just like those who, being conceived, have not seen the light.

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

17 There the impious cease from rebellion, and there the wearied in strength take rest.

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

18 And at such times, having been bound together without difficulty, they have not heard the voice of the bailiff.

There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

19 The small and 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 is light given to the miserable, and life to those who are in bitterness of soul,

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

21 who expect death, and it does not arrive, like those who dig for treasure

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

22 and who rejoice greatly when they have found the grave,

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

23 to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has surrounded with darkness?

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

24 Before I eat, I sigh; and like overflowing waters, so is my howl,

For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like water.

25 for the terror that I feared has happened to me, and so has the dread befallen me.

For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, and that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.

26 Have I not remained hidden? Have I not kept silence? Have I not remained calm? Yet indignation has overcome me.

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble cometh.