< Job 3 >

1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
此後約伯開口詛咒自己的生日。
2 And Job answered and said,
約伯開始說:
3 Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, There is a man child conceived.
願我誕生的那日消逝,願報告「懷了男胎」的那夜滅亡。
4 That day — let it be darkness, let not God care for it from above, neither let light shine upon it:
願那日成為黑暗,願天主從上面不再尋覓它,再沒有光燭照它。
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it; let clouds dwell upon it; let darkeners of the day terrify it.
願黑暗和陰影玷污它,濃雲遮蓋它,白晝失光的晦暗驚嚇它。
6 That night — let gloom seize upon it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
願那夜常為黑暗所制,不讓它列入年歲中,不讓它算在月分裏。
7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful sound come therein;
願那夜孤寂煢獨,毫無歡呼之聲。
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to rouse Leviathan;
願那詛咒白日者,有術召喚海怪者,前來詛咒那夜。
9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it wait for light, and have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the dawn:
願晨星昏暗,期待光明而光明不至,也不見晨光熹微,
10 Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, and hid not trouble from mine eyes.
因為它沒有關閉我母胎之門,遮住我眼前的愁苦。
11 Wherefore did I not die from the womb, — come forth from the belly and expire?
我為何一出母胎沒有立即死去﹖為何我一離母腹沒有斷氣﹖
12 Why did the knees meet me? and wherefore the breasts, that I should suck?
為何兩膝接住我﹖為何兩乳哺養我﹖
13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
不然現今我早已臥下安睡了,早已永眠獲得安息了,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build desolate places for themselves,
與那些為自己建陵墓的國王和百官,
15 Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
與那些金銀滿堂的王侯同眠;
16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.
或者像隱沒的流產兒,像未見光明的嬰孩;
17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the wearied are at rest.
在那裏惡人停止作亂,在那裏勞悴者得享安寧;
18 The prisoners together are at ease; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
囚徒相安無事,再不聞督工的呼叱聲,
19 The small and great are there, and the bondman freed from his master.
在那裏大小平等,奴隸脫離主人。
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in trouble, and life to those bitter of soul,
為何賜不幸者以光明,賜心中憂苦者以生命﹖
21 Who long for death, and it [cometh] not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
這些人渴望死,而死不至;尋求死亡勝於寶藏,
22 Who rejoice even exultingly and are glad when they find the grave? —
見到墳墓,感覺歡樂,且喜樂達於極點!
23 To the man whose way is hidden, and whom God hath hedged in?
人的道路,既如此渺茫,天主為何賜給他生命,又把他包圍﹖
24 For my sighing cometh before my bread, and my groanings are poured out like the waters.
歎習成了我的食物,不停哀嘆有如流水。
25 For I feared a fear, and it hath come upon me, and that which I dreaded hath come to me.
我所畏懼的,偏偏臨於我身;我所害怕的,卻迎面而來。
26 I was not in safety, neither had I quietness, neither was I at rest, and trouble came.
我沒有安寧,也沒有平靜,得不到休息,而只有煩惱。

< Job 3 >