Job Regrets His Birth

3 ⌊Afterward⌋a Job opened his mouth and cursedb his day. 2 Thusc Job ⌊spoke up⌋d and said,

3 “Let the day perish on which I was born,

and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’

4 Let that day becomee darkness;

may God not seek it from above,

nor may daylight shine on it.

5 Let darkness and deep shadow claim it;

let cloudsf settle on it;

let themg terrify it with the blacknessh of day.

6 Let darkness seize that night;i

let it not rejoice among the days of the year;

let it not enter among the number of the months.

7 Look, let that night becomej barren;

let a joyful song not enter it.

8 Let those who curse the day curse it,

those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.

9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;

let it hope for light butk there be none,

and let it not see the eyelids of dawn

10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,

norl did it hide trouble from my eyes.

Job Wishes He Had Died

11 “Why did I not die atm birth?

Why did I not come forth from the womb and expire?

12 Why did the knees receive me

and the breasts, that I could suck?

13 For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace;

I would be asleep; then ⌊I would be at rest⌋n

14 with kings and counselors of the earth,

who ⌊rebuild⌋ o ruins for themselves,

15 or with high officials ⌊who have gold⌋,p

who fill up their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage,

like infants who did not see the light?

17 There the wicked cease from troubling,

and there the ⌊weary⌋q are at rest;

18 the prisoners are at ease together;

they do not hear the oppressor’s voice.

19 The small and the great are there,

and the slave is free from his masters.r

Job Wishes He Might Die

20 “Why does hes give light to one in misery

and life to those bitter of soul,

21 who wait for death, butt ⌊it does not come⌋,u

and searchv for it more than for treasures,

22 who rejoice ⌊exceedingly⌋,w

and they are glad when they find the grave?

23 Why does hex give light to a man whose way is hidden,

and God has fenced him in all around?

24 Fory my sighing comes ⌊before⌋z my bread,a

and my groanings gush forth like water

25 because the dread that I ⌊feel⌋b has come upon me,

and what I feared befalls me.

26 I am not at ease, and I am not at peace,

and I do not have rest, thusc turmoil has come.”