Job 3
1 post haec aperuit Iob 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 inlustret 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 tenebrae 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 conputetur in diebus anni nec numeretur in mensibus
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.
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 stellae caligine eius expectet lucem et non videat nec ortum surgentis aurorae
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 terrae qui aedificant sibi solitudines
with kings and counselors 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 data est misero lux et vita his qui in amaritudine animae 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 cuius 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 quasi inundantes aquae 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.”
