Job 3

¹After this hath Job opened his mouth, and revileth his day. ²And Job answereth and saith:— ³Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that hath said: ‘A man-child hath been conceived.’ ⁴That day—let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it. ⁵Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days. ⁶That night—let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Into the number of months let it not come. ⁷Lo! that night—let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it. ⁸Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan. ⁹Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the dawn. ¹⁰Because it hath not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from mine eyes.

¹¹Why from the womb do I not die? From the belly I have come forth and gasp! ¹²Wherefore have knees been before me? And what are breasts, that I suck? ¹³For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept—then there is rest to me, ¹⁴With kings and counsellors of earth, These building wastes for themselves. ¹⁵Or with princes—they have gold, They are filling their houses with silver. ¹⁶(Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants—they have not seen light.) ¹⁷There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there rest do the wearied in power. ¹⁸Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor, ¹⁹Small and great are there the same. And a servant is free from his lord.

²⁰Why giveth He to the miserable light, and life to the bitter soul? ²¹Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures. ²²Who are glad—unto joy, They rejoice when they find a grave. ²³To a man whose way hath been hidden, And whom God doth shut up? ²⁴For before my food, my sighing cometh, And poured out as waters are my roarings. ²⁵For a fear I feared and it meeteth me, And what I was afraid of doth come to me. ²⁶I was not safe—nor was I quiet—Nor was I at rest—and trouble cometh!

Chapter 4