Job 3
1 After this, opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Finally, Job spoke, and he cursed the day that he was born.
2 So then Job began, and said:
He said,
3 Perish, the day wherein I was born, and the night it was said, Lo! a manchild!
“I wish that the day when I was born could be eradicated, and also the night when I was conceived.
4 That day, be it darkness, —Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:
I wish that the day when I was born would have been covered in darkness. I wish that God who is in heaven [MTY] would have forgotten about that day, and that the sun would not have shone on it.
5 Let darkness and death-shade buy it back, May there settle down upon it a cloud, Let a day’s dark eclipse cause it terror:
I wish that thick/intense darkness would have filled that day, and that a black cloud would have come over it and blotted out all light and caused people to be terrified.
6 That night, darkness take it, —May it not rejoice among the days of the year, Into the number of months, let it not enter.
I wish that the night when I was conceived would be erased from the calendar, with the result that it would never again appear as one night in any month, and that it would not be included in any calendar.
7 Lo! that night, be it barren, Let no joyous shouting enter therein:
I wish that no child would again be conceived on that night of the month [MET], and that no one would again be happy on that night.
8 Let day-cursers denounce it, Those skilled in rousing the dragon of the sky:
I want those people who (curse/put evil spells on) days—those who know how to arouse/awaken the great sea monster—to curse that day.
9 Darkened be the stars of its twilight, —Let it wait for light, and there be none, neither let it see the eyelashes of the dawn:
I wish that the stars that shone early in the morning on that day [after I was conceived] will not shine again. I want those stars to have wished in vain for light to shine; and that they would not have shone on that day.
10 Because it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine eyes.
[That was an evil day] because my mother was able to conceive; instead, I was born, and I have now experienced all these terrible things.
11 Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?
“I wish that I had died [RHQ] when I was born— at the time I emerged from my mother’s womb.
12 For what reason, were there prepared for me—knees? and why—breasts, that I might suck?
I wish that my mother had not [RHQ] allowed me to live. I wish that she had not nursed me.
13 Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:
If I had died at the time when I was born, I would be asleep, resting peacefully [in the place where the dead people are].
14 With kings, and counselors of the earth, who had built them pyramids:
I would be resting with kings whose [beautiful palaces] that they built are now in ruins (OR, who rebuilt [palaces] that had previously been destroyed), and I would be resting with their officials [who have also died].
15 Or with rulers possessing, gold, —Who had filled their houses with silver:
I would be resting with princes who were wealthy, whose palaces were filled with gold and silver.
16 Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:
I wish that I had been buried like a child who died in its mother’s womb and never lived to see the light.
17 There, the lawless, cease from raging, and there the toil-worn are at rest:
After wicked people die, they do not cause any more troubles; those who are very tired now will rest.
18 At once are prisoners at peace, they hear not the voice of a driver:
Those who were in prison rest peacefully [after they die]; they no longer have slave-drivers who curse them.
19 Small and great, there, they are, and, the slave, is free from his master.
Rich people and poor people are alike after they die, and those who were slaves are no longer controlled by their masters.
20 Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul?—
(“Why does God allow those who are suffering greatly [like me] to continue to remain alive?/I do not understand why God allows those who are suffering greatly [like me] to continue to remain alive.) [RHQ] Why does he allow those who are very miserable/distressed to keep living [RHQ]?
21 Who long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:
They long/want to die, but they do not die. They desire to die more than people desire to find a hidden treasure.
22 Who rejoice unto exultation, Are glad, when they can find the grave:
When they finally die and are buried, they are very happy.
23 To a man, whose way is concealed, And GOD hath straitly enclosed him?
Those who do not know where they are [eventually] going when they die [RHQ], people whom God has forced [MET] to continue to live in misery, (it is not right that they continue to live./why do they continue to live?) [RHQ]
24 For, in the face of my food, my sighing, cometh in, and, poured out like the water, are my groans:
I continually cry very much; as a result, I cannot eat; and I can never stop groaning.
25 For, a dread, I dreaded, and it hath come upon me, and, that from which I shrank, hath overtaken me.
Things that I always worried might happen to me, have happened to me; things that I always dreaded have happened to me.
26 I was not careless, nor was I secure, nor had I settled down, —when there came—consternation!
Now I have no peace [in my inner being], I have no peace; I cannot rest; instead, I have only troubles.”
