Job 3

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

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

2 So then Job began, and said:

And Job spoke, and said,

3 Perish, the day wherein I was born, and the night it was said, Lo! a manchild!

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

4 That day, be it darkness, —Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:

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

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

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.

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

7 Lo! that night, be it barren, Let no joyous shouting enter therein:

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

8 Let day-cursers denounce it, Those skilled in rousing the dragon of the sky:

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

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:

Let 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:

10 Because it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine eyes.

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

11 Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?

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

12 For what reason, were there prepared for me—knees? and why—breasts, that I might suck?

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

13 Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:

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

14 With kings, and counselors of the earth, who had built them pyramids:

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

15 Or with rulers possessing, gold, —Who had filled their houses with silver:

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

16 Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

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

17 There, the lawless, cease from raging, and there the toil-worn are at rest:

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

18 At once are prisoners at peace, they hear not the voice of a driver:

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

19 Small and great, there, they are, and, the slave, is free from his master.

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

20 Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul?—

Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul;

21 Who long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:

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

22 Who rejoice unto exultation, Are glad, when they can find the grave:

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

23 To a man, whose way is concealed, And GOD hath straitly enclosed him?

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

24 For, in the face of my food, my sighing, cometh in, and, poured out like the water, are my groans:

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

25 For, a dread, I dreaded, and it hath come upon me, and, that from which I shrank, hath overtaken me.

For the thing which I greatly feared is come on me, and that which I was afraid of is come to me.

26 I was not careless, nor was I secure, nor had I settled down, —when there came—consternation!

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