Job 3
1 After this Job has opened his mouth, and reviles his day.
AFTER this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job answers and says:
And Job spake, 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 the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4 That day—let it be darkness, Do not let God require it from above, Nor let light shine on it.
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon 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 darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify 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.
As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto 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.
Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.
Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
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 the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
10 Because it has not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from my eyes.
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
11 Why do I not die from the womb? I have come forth from the belly and gasp!
Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 Why have knees been before me? And what [are] breasts, that I suck?
Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept—then there is rest to me,
For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counselors of earth, These building ruins for themselves.
With kings and counsellers of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
15 Or with princes—they have gold, They are filling their houses [with] silver.
Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16 (Or I am not as a hidden abortion, As infants—they have not seen light.)
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17 There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there the wearied rest in power.
There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18 Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor,
There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 Small and great [are] the same there. And a servant [is] free from his lord.
The small and 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?
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures.
Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Who are glad—to joy, They rejoice when they find a grave.
Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 To a man whose way has been hidden, And whom God shuts up?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24 For before my food, my sighing comes, And my roarings [are] poured out as waters.
For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 For I feared a fear and it meets me, And what I was afraid of comes to me.
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not safe—nor was I quiet—Nor was I at rest—and trouble comes!”
I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
