Job 3

Job’s Lament

1 Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed ^{▼▼ Lit his day}the day of his birth. 2 And Job ^{▼▼ Lit answered and said}said, 3 ^c“Let the day perish on which I was to be born,
And the night which said, ‘A ^{▼▼ Lit man-child}boy is conceived.’
4 “May that day be darkness;
Let not God above care for it,
Nor light shine on it.
5 “Let ^edarkness and black gloom claim it;
Let a cloud settle on it;
Let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 “As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 “Behold, let that night be barren;
Let no joyful shout enter it.
8 “Let those curse it who curse the day,
Who are ^{▼▼ Or skillful}prepared to ^grouse Leviathan.
9 “Let the stars of its twilight be darkened;
Let it wait for light but have none,
And let it not see the ^{▼▼ Lit eyelids}breaking dawn;
10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.

11 ⁱ“Why did I not die ^{▼▼ Lit from the womb}at birth,
Come forth from the womb and expire?
12 “Why did the knees receive me,
And why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 “For now I ^kwould have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
14 With ^lkings and with ^mcounselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ⁿruins for themselves;
15 Or with ^oprinces ^pwho had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.
16 “Or like a miscarriage which is ^{▼▼ Lit hidden}discarded, I would not be,
As infants that never saw light.
17 “There the wicked cease from raging,
And there the ^{▼▼ Lit weary of strength}weary are at ^srest.
18 “The prisoners are at ease together;
They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 “The small and the great are there,
And the slave is free from his master.

20 “Why is ^tlight given to him who suffers,
And life to the bitter of soul,
21 Who ^{▼▼ Lit wait
,} ^vlong for death, but there is none,
And dig for it more than for ^whidden treasures,
22 Who rejoice greatly,
And exult when they find the grave?
23 “Why is light given to a man ^xwhose way is hidden,
And whom ^yGod has hedged in?
24 “For ^zmy groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And ^aamy cries pour out like water.
25 “For ^{▼▼ Lit the fear I fear and
,} ^acwhat I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread befalls me.
26 “I ^adam not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”