Job 3

Job speaks to God about the things that have happened ^{▼▼3:0 So many bad things have happened. Job knows that God is good. So he does not understand why these things have happened. He thinks that God is not fair. And he has so many troubles and so much pain that he wants to die.}

1 In the end, Job cursed the day when he was born.

2 He said,

3 ‘Forget the day of my birth.

Forget the night when a son was born to my parents.

4 Forget about that day because it was a bad day.

5 I want people to think about that day as a dark day.

I want it to be as dark as night.

6 Make it a date that no one remembers.

Hide it from the thoughts of everyone.

7 Do not let children be born on that date.

Do not let people be happy on that date.

8 Some people know how to cause monsters to attack.

Let those people curse that day.

9 On that date, make dark the stars that shine in the morning.

Do not let the sun shine at dawn.

10 I ask all this because on that day I was born into a world full of trouble.

11 It would have been better if I had died at birth.

My mother should have let me die.

12 Instead, she put me on her knee and I drank from her breast.

13 If I had died at birth, I would now be with all the other dead people.

14 Kings and rulers are there, too.

Those kings had lived in buildings that had been beautiful. And I would be with them.

15 I would be with rulers who once were rich with gold and silver.

16 If I had been born dead, my friends would have buried me.

Then I would not have lived to wake each day.
Then I would not have had a life full of trouble.

17 After death, no one causes any more troubles.

This is true for people who have done wrong things during their lives.
And people who have been very tired during their lives can rest.

18 It is a place where no one is in prison.

It is a place where slaves do not hear the voice of a master.

19 Important people and people who are not important are there.

Slaves are free there. They do not have a master there.

20 My life is so difficult that I always feel sad.

So I want to know why God lets people like me live.

21 They want to die. But they are still alive.

They would rather die than discover gold.

22 When, in the end, they are dying, they are very happy.

23 They want to know why they should go on living.

They do not know what will happen to them.
They feel like people that God has put in a prison.

24 I cannot eat because I am crying so much.

I cannot drink because I weep all the time.

25 The things that frighten me most have happened to me.

26 I cannot rest because of all the troubles that I have.’