Job 3

Chapter 3

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

²And he said:

³Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.

⁴Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.

⁵Let darkness, and the shadow of death, cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.

⁶Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

⁷Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.

⁸Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a leviathan:

⁹Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:

¹⁰Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.

¹¹Why did I not die in the womb? why did I not perish when I came out of the belly?

¹²Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts?

¹³For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep:

¹⁴With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes:

¹⁵Or with princes, that possess gold, and fill their houses with silver:

¹⁶Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that, being conceived, have not seen the light.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest.

¹⁸And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor.

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

²⁰Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?

²¹That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure:

²²And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave?

²³To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness?

²⁴Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:

²⁵For the fear which I feared, hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me.

²⁶Have I not dissembled? have I not kept silence? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.