Job 3

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

²and this is what he said:

³May the day perish on which I was born, and the night, in which it was said, “A man has been conceived.”

⁴May that day be turned into darkness, may God not seek it from above, and may light not illuminate it.

⁵Let darkness and the shadow of death obscure it, let a fog overtake it, and let it be enveloped in bitterness.

⁶Let a whirlwind of darkness take hold of that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

⁷May that night be alone and unworthy of praise.

⁸May they curse it, who curse the day, who are prepared to awaken a leviathan.

⁹Let the stars be concealed with its darkness. Let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawn in the East.

¹⁰For it did not close the doors of the womb that bore me, nor take away evils from my eyes.

¹¹Why did I not die in the womb? Having left the womb, why did I not immediately perish?

¹²Why was I received upon the knees? Why was I suckled at the breasts?

¹³For by now, I should have been sleeping silently, and taking rest in my sleep

¹⁴with the kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes,

¹⁵either with princes, who possess gold and fill their houses with silver,

¹⁶or, like a hidden miscarriage, I should not have continued, just like those who, being conceived, have not seen the light.

¹⁷There the impious cease from rebellion, and there the wearied in strength take rest.

¹⁸And at such times, having been bound together without difficulty, they have not heard the voice of the bailiff.

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

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, and life to those who are in bitterness of soul,

²¹who expect death, and it does not arrive, like those who dig for treasure

²²and who rejoice greatly when they have found the grave,

²³to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has surrounded with darkness?

²⁴Before I eat, I sigh; and like overflowing waters, so is my howl,

²⁵for the terror that I feared has happened to me, and so has the dread befallen me.

²⁶Have I not remained hidden? Have I not kept silence? Have I not remained calm? Yet indignation has overcome me.

Job 3

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

²And Job spake, and said,

³Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

⁴Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

⁵Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

⁶As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

⁷Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

⁸Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

⁹Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

¹⁰Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

¹¹Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

¹²Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

¹³For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

¹⁴With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

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

¹⁶Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

¹⁸There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

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

²⁰Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

²¹Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

²²Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

²⁴For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

²⁵For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

²⁶I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.