Job 3
1 Post hæc aperuit Job os suum, et maledixit diei suo,
After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
2 et locutus est:
Job answered:
3 [Pereat dies in qua natus sum, et nox in qua dictum est: Conceptus est homo.
“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
4 Dies ille vertatur in tenebras: non requirat eum Deus desuper, et non illustretur lumine.
Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
5 Obscurent eum tenebræ et umbra mortis; occupet eum caligo, et involvatur amaritudine.
Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes the day black terrify it.
6 Noctem illam tenebrosus turbo possideat; non computetur in diebus anni, nec numeretur in mensibus.
As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice amongst the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Sit nox illa solitaria, nec laude digna.
Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Maledicant ei qui maledicunt diei, qui parati sunt suscitare Leviathan.
Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 Obtenebrentur stellæ caligine ejus; expectet lucem, et non videat, nec ortum surgentis auroræ.
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,
10 Quia non conclusit ostia ventris qui portavit me, nec abstulit mala ab oculis meis.
because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11 Quare non in vulva mortuus sum? egressus ex utero non statim perii?
“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
12 Quare exceptus genibus? cur lactatus uberibus?
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
13 Nunc enim dormiens silerem, et somno meo requiescerem
For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
14 cum regibus et consulibus terræ, qui ædificant sibi solitudines;
with kings and counsellors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
15 aut cum principibus qui possident aurum, et replent domos suas argento;
or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
16 aut sicut abortivum absconditum non subsisterem, vel qui concepti non viderunt lucem.
or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
17 Ibi impii cessaverunt a tumultu, et ibi requieverunt fessi robore.
There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
18 Et quondam vincti pariter sine molestia, non audierunt vocem exactoris.
There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 Parvus et magnus ibi sunt, et servus liber a domino suo.
The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
20 Quare misero data est lux, et vita his qui in amaritudine animæ sunt:
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
21 qui expectant mortem, et non venit, quasi effodientes thesaurum;
who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 gaudentque vehementer cum invenerint sepulchrum?
who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 viro cujus abscondita est via et circumdedit eum Deus tenebris?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24 Antequam comedam, suspiro; et tamquam inundantes aquæ, sic rugitus meus:
For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
25 quia timor quem timebam evenit mihi, et quod verebar accidit.
For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.
26 Nonne dissimulavi? nonne silui? nonne quievi? et venit super me indignatio.]
I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”
