Job 3

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

2Then Job spoke:

3May the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, “A male child has been conceived.”

4May that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, and may no light shine upon it.

5May darkness and deep shadow reclaim it; may a cloud dwell over it; may the day’s darkenings terrify it.

6As for that night, let darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not enter into the number of the months.

7Look, may that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.

8Let those who curse days curse it, those ready to rouse Leviathan.

9May the stars of its twilight be dark; may it wait for light, but there is none, and may it not see the eyelids of dawn.

10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb or hide trouble from my eyes.

11Why did I not die at birth, and breathe my last when I came out of the womb?

12Why did knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?

13For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept—then I would have been at rest.

14with kings and counselors of the earth, who built desolate places for themselves,

15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver—

16Or like a miscarried child hidden away, I would not exist, like infants who never saw light.

17There the wicked cease from their raging, and there those whose strength is spent find rest.

18There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

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

20Why is light given to one in misery, and life to those bitter in soul?

21who wait for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

22who rejoice exceedingly, who exult when they find the grave—

23to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

24For my sighing comes before my bread, and my roarings pour out like water.

25For the terror I feared has come upon me, and what I feared has come to me.

26I was not at ease, and I was not quiet; I was not at rest, and turmoil came.