Job 3

Job Regrets His Birth

1 ⌞Afterward⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “After thus”} Job opened his mouth and cursed ^{▼▼A different term than that employed in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9} his day. 2 Thus ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Job ⌞spoke up⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “answered”} and said,

3 “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’
4 Let that day become ^{▼▼Or “be”} darkness;
may God not seek it from above,
nor may daylight shine on it.
5 Let darkness and deep shadow claim it;
let clouds ^{▼▼Literally “cloud”} settle on it;
let them ^{▼▼Masculine plural referring to all three entities mentioned in this verse} terrify it with the blackness ^{▼▼Literally “blacknesses”} of day.
6 Let darkness seize that night; ^{▼▼Literally “That night, let darkness seize it”}
let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not enter among the number of the months.
7 Look, let that night become ^{▼▼Or “be”} barren;
let a joyful song not enter it.
8 Let those who curse the day curse it,
those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} there be none,
and let it not see the eyelids of dawn
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} did it hide trouble from my eyes.

Job Wishes He Had Died

11 “Why did I not die at ^{▼▼Literally “from”} birth?
Why did I not come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Why did the knees receive me
and the breasts, that I could suck?
13 For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace;
I would be asleep; then ⌞I would be at rest⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “it would be at rest for me”}
14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who ⌞rebuild⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “build”} ruins for themselves,
15 or with high officials ⌞who have gold⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “gold is for them”}
who fill up their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage,
like infants who did not see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the ⌞weary⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “weary of strength”} are at rest;
18 the prisoners are at ease together;
they do not hear the oppressor’s voice.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his masters. ^{▼▼Or “master”}

Job Wishes He Might Die

20 “Why does he ^{▼▼Most likely God} give light to one in misery
and life to those bitter of soul,
21 who wait for death, but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} ⌞it does not come⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “it is not”}
and search ^{▼▼Or “dig”} for it more than for treasures,
22 who rejoice ⌞exceedingly⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “unto rejoicing”}
and they are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why does he ^{▼▼Most likely God} give light to a man whose way is hidden,
and God has fenced him in all around?
24 For ^{▼▼Or perhaps emphatic, “Indeed”} my sighing comes ⌞before⌟ ^{▼▼Or “in place of” (NET); literally “to the faces of”} my bread, ^{▼▼Or “food”}
and my groanings gush forth like water
25 because the dread that I ⌞feel⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “dread”} has come upon me,
and what I feared befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, and I am not at peace,
and I do not have rest, thus ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} turmoil has come.”