Job 3

1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day.

Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth,

2 Job answered:

Job made answer and said,

3 "Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, 'A man is 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 Let that day be darkness. May God above not care about it, neither let the 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 the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it.

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 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the 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 Look, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come in it.

As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;

8 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse 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 look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

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 did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, nor did it hide trouble 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 did I not die from the womb? Why did I not give up the spirit when my mother bore me?

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 did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck?

Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk?

13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,

For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,

14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;

With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;

15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver;

16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw 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 cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.

There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest.

18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears.

19 The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.

The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.

20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,

Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;

21 Who long for death, but it doesn't come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;

22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find 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 a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?

To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God?

24 For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.

In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.

25 For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.

For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled.

26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes."

I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.