Job 3
1 After this Job has opened his mouth, and reviles his day.
Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth,
2 And Job answers and says:
Job made answer and said,
3 “Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that has said: A man-child has 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 That day—let it be darkness, Do not let God require it from above, Nor 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 Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud dwell on it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.
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 That night—let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Let it not come into the number of months.
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 Behold! That night—let it be barren, Let no singing come into it.
As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;
8 Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.
Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake.
9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the 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 Because it has not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from my eyes.
Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.
11 Why do I not die from the womb? I have come forth from the belly and gasp!
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 have knees been before me? And what [are] breasts, that I suck?
Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk?
13 For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept—then there is rest to me,
For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,
14 With kings and counselors of earth, These building ruins for themselves.
With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;
15 Or with princes—they have gold, They are filling their houses [with] silver.
Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver;
16 (Or I am not as a hidden abortion, As infants—they have not seen 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 the wicked have ceased troubling, And there the wearied rest in power.
There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest.
18 Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor,
There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears.
19 Small and great [are] the same there. And a servant [is] free from his lord.
The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
20 Why does He give light to the miserable, and life to the bitter soul?
Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;
21 Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures.
To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;
22 Who are glad—to joy, They rejoice when they find a grave.
Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;
23 To a man whose way has been hidden, And whom God shuts up?
To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God?
24 For before my food, my sighing comes, And my roarings [are] poured out as waters.
In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.
25 For I feared a fear and it meets me, And what I was afraid of comes to me.
For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled.
26 I was not safe—nor was I quiet—Nor was I at rest—and trouble comes!”
I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.
