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