Job 3

Job’s Complaint to God

3^*Finally Job broke the silence and cursed the day on which he had been born.

^2–3*O God, put a curse on the day I was born;

put a curse on the night when I was conceived!

^4*Turn that day into darkness, God.

Never again remember that day;

never again let light shine on it.

^5*Make it a day of gloom and thick darkness;

cover it with clouds, and blot out the sun.

^6*Blot that night out of the year,

and never let it be counted again;

^7*make it a barren, joyless night.

^8*Tell the sorcerers to curse that day,

those who know how to control Leviathan.^f

^9*Keep the morning star from shining;

give that night no hope of dawn.

¹⁰Curse that night for letting me be born,

for exposing me to trouble and grief.

¹¹I wish I had died in my mother’s womb

or died the moment I was born.

¹²Why did my mother hold me on her knees?

Why did she feed me at her breast?

¹³If I had died then, I would be at rest now,

¹⁴sleeping like the kings and rulers

who rebuilt ancient palaces.

¹⁵Then I would be sleeping like princes

who filled their houses with gold and silver,

¹⁶or sleeping like a stillborn child.

¹⁷In the grave wicked people stop their evil,

and tired workers find rest at last.

¹⁸Even prisoners enjoy peace,

free from shouts and harsh commands.

¹⁹Everyone is there, the famous and the unknown,

and slaves at last are free.

²⁰Why let people go on living in misery?

Why give light to those in grief?

^21*They wait for death, but it never comes;

they prefer a grave to any treasure.

²²They are not happy till they are dead and buried;

²³God keeps their future hidden

and hems them in on every side.

²⁴Instead of eating, I mourn,

and I can never stop groaning.

²⁵Everything I fear and dread comes true.

²⁶I have no peace, no rest,

and my troubles never end.