Job’s Lament

1 Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed 1the day of his birth.

2 And Job 1said,

3 “aLet the day perish on which I was to be born,

And the night which said, ‘A 1boy is conceived.’

4 “May that day be darkness;

Let not God above care for it,

Nor light shine on it.

5 “Let adarkness 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 1prepared to arouse Leviathan.

9 “Let the stars of its twilight be darkened;

Let it wait for light but have none,

And let it not see the 1breaking dawn;

10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,

Or hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “aWhy did I not die 1at birth,

Come forth from the womb and expire?

12 “Why did the knees receive me,

And why the breasts, that I should suck?