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 Job answered and said,

So then Job began, and said:

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

Perish, the day wherein I was born, and the night it was said, Lo! a manchild!

4 That day — let it be darkness, let not God care for it from above, neither let light shine upon it:

That day, be it darkness, —Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:

5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it; let clouds dwell upon it; let darkeners of the day terrify it.

Let darkness and death-shade buy it back, May there settle down upon it a cloud, Let a day’s dark eclipse cause it terror:

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.

That night, darkness take it, —May it not rejoice among the days of the year, Into the number of months, let it not enter.

7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful sound come therein;

Lo! that night, be it barren, Let no joyous shouting enter therein:

8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to rouse Leviathan;

Let day-cursers denounce it, Those skilled in rousing the dragon of the sky:

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:

Darkened be the stars of its twilight, —Let it wait for light, and there be none, neither let it see the eyelashes of the dawn:

10 Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, and hid not trouble from mine eyes.

Because it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine eyes.

11 Wherefore did I not die from the womb, — come forth from the belly and expire?

Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?

12 Why did the knees meet me? and wherefore the breasts, that I should suck?

For what reason, were there prepared for me—knees? and why—breasts, that I might suck?

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

Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:

14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build desolate places for themselves,

With kings, and counselors of the earth, who had built them pyramids:

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

Or with rulers possessing, gold, —Who had filled their houses with silver:

16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.

Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the wearied are at rest.

There, the lawless, cease from raging, and there the toil-worn are at rest:

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

At once are prisoners at peace, they hear not the voice of a driver:

19 The small and great are there, and the bondman freed from his master.

Small and great, there, they are, and, the slave, is free from his master.

20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in trouble, and life to those bitter of soul,

Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul?—

21 Who long for death, and it [cometh] not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;

Who long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:

22 Who rejoice even exultingly and are glad when they find the grave? —

Who rejoice unto exultation, Are glad, when they can find the grave:

23 To the man whose way is hidden, and whom God hath hedged in?

To a man, whose way is concealed, And GOD hath straitly enclosed him?

24 For my sighing cometh before my bread, and my groanings are poured out like the waters.

For, in the face of my food, my sighing, cometh in, and, poured out like the water, are my groans:

25 For I feared a fear, and it hath come upon me, and that which I dreaded hath come to me.

For, a dread, I dreaded, and it hath come upon me, and, that from which I shrank, hath overtaken me.

26 I was not in safety, neither had I quietness, neither was I at rest, and trouble came.

I was not careless, nor was I secure, nor had I settled down, —when there came—consternation!