Job 3
1 After this Job began speaking, cursing the day of his birth.
Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth,
2 He said,
Job made answer and said,
3 “Wipe out the day I was born, and the night when it was announced that a boy had been conceived.
Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world.
4 Turn that day to darkness. God above should not remember it. Don't let light shine on it.
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;
5 Take it back, darkness and death-shadow. A black cloud should overshadow it. It should be as terrifying as the darkness of an eclipse during the day.
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.
6 Blot out that night as if it never existed. Don't count it on the calendar. Don't let it have a day in any month.
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.
7 Let that night be childless, with no sounds of happiness heard.
As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;
8 Those who place curses on certain days should curse it, those who have the power to raise Leviathan.
Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake.
9 Its early morning stars should stay dark. Looking for light, may none come, may it not see the glimmer of dawn
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.
10 for it did not shut my mother's womb to prevent me from seeing trouble.
Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.
11 Why wasn't I stillborn? Why didn't I die at birth?
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?
12 Why was there a lap for me to lie on, or breasts for me to suck?
Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk?
13 For now I would be lying down in peace. I would be sleeping and at rest,
For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,
14 along with the kings of this world and their officials whose palaces now lie in ruins,
With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;
15 or with noblemen who collected gold and filled their houses with silver.
Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver;
16 Why wasn't I a miscarriage, buried in secret, a baby who never saw the light?
Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.
17 There in the grave the wicked give no more trouble, and those whose strength is gone have their rest.
There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest.
18 There prisoners take it easy—they don't hear the commands of their oppressors.
There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears.
19 Both small and great are there, and slaves are freed from their masters.
The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
20 Why does God give life to those who are suffering, living bitterly miserable lives,
Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;
21 those who are waiting for death that does not come and who are looking for death more desperately than hunting for treasure?
To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;
22 They're so incredibly happy when the reach the grave!
Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;
23 Why is light given to someone who doesn't know where they're going, someone God has fenced in?
To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God?
24 My groans are the bread I eat; my raging tears are the water I drink.
In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.
25 For all that I feared has happened to me; everything that I dreaded has come upon me.
For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled.
26 I have no peace, no quiet, no rest. All that comes is rage.”
I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.
