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

11 “ ⁱWhy did I not die ^{▼▼Lit from the womb}at birth,
Come out of the womb and pass away?
12 “Why were the knees there in front of me,
And why the breasts, that I would nurse?
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 ^mcounselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ⁿruins for themselves;
15 Or with ^orulers ^pwho had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.
16 “Or like a miscarriage which is ^{▼▼I.e., buried}hidden, I would not exist,
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 one burdened with grief,
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 are filled with jubilation,
And rejoice when they find the grave?
23 “Why is light given to a man ^xwhose way is hidden,
And whom ^yGod has shut off?
24 “For ^zmy groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And ^aamy cries pour out like water.
25 “For ^{▼▼Lit I fear a fear, and it comes
,} ^acwhat I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread ^{▼▼Lit comes to me}encounters me.
26 “I ^aeam not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”