Job 3
1 After this Job has opened his mouth, and reviles his day.
After this time Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job answers and says:
And Job commenced, and said,
3 “Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that has said: A man-child has been conceived.
Oh that the day whereon I was born might perish, and the night when it was said, There hath been a male child conceived.
4 That day—let it be darkness, Do not let God require it from above, Nor let light shine on it.
May that day be [covered with] darkness; may not God from above inquire for it, and may no light beam 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.
Oh that darkness and the shadow of death might defile it; may a cloud rest upon it; may 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.
Yon night — let darkness seize upon it; let it not be united to the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the [periods lighted by the] moon.
7 Behold! That night—let it be barren, Let no singing come into it.
Lo, may that night be solitary, let no song of joy occur thereon.
8 Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.
Let those denounce it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning cry.
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 its twilight be darkened; let it hope for light, and there be none; and let it not behold the eyelids of the morning-dawn;
10 Because it has not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from my eyes.
Because God closed not against me the doors of the womb, and thus concealed trouble from my eyes.
11 Why do I not die from the womb? I have come forth from the belly and gasp!
Why did I not die [the moment I issued] from the womb, and [why] was I not born merely to perish at once?
12 Why have knees been before me? And what [are] breasts, that I suck?
Wherefore were knees ready to receive me? and for what purpose were breasts there that I might suck?
13 For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept—then there is rest to me,
For now should I be lying still and be quiet; I should sleep: then would I be at rest,
14 With kings and counselors of earth, These building ruins for themselves.
With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build up ruined places for themselves;
15 Or with princes—they have gold, They are filling their houses [with] silver.
Or with princes possessing gold, who fill their houses with silver;
16 (Or I am not as a hidden abortion, As infants—they have not seen light.)
Or as an untimely birth, hidden [from view] I should not exist; as infants that never have seen the light;
17 There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there the wearied rest in power.
There [where] the wicked cease from troubling; and where the exhausted weary are at rest;
18 Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor,
[Where] the prisoners repose together, [and] they hear no more the taskmaster's voice.
19 Small and great [are] the same there. And a servant [is] free from his lord.
The small with the great is there, and the servant free from his master.
20 Why does He give light to the miserable, and life to the bitter soul?
Wherefore giveth He now light to the labor-laden, and life unto the bitter in soul?
21 Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures.
Who wait for death, which [cometh] not; and who dig for it sooner than for hidden treasures;
22 Who are glad—to joy, They rejoice when they find a grave.
Who would rejoice even to exulting, who would be glad could they but find a 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 hidden, and around whom God hath placed a fence?
24 For before my food, my sighing comes, And my roarings [are] poured out as waters.
For before my food cometh my groaning, and like the water are poured forth my loud complaints.
25 For I feared a fear and it meets me, And what I was afraid of comes to me.
Because what I greatly dreaded is come upon me, and what I apprehended is come unto me.
26 I was not safe—nor was I quiet—Nor was I at rest—and trouble comes!”
I have had no safety, and no quiet, and no rest; and [now] harrowing trouble is come.
