Job 3

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

2Job said:

3“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A boy has been conceived.’

4That day—let it be darkness! May God above not seek it out, and may no light shine on it.

5Let darkness and deep shadow claim it; let a cloud settle over it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it.

6That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the count of the months.

7Yes, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy come into it.

8Let those who curse days curse it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

9Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it wait for light but have none, and let it not see the eyelids of the dawn,

10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb or hide trouble from my eyes.

11Why did I not die at birth, come out of the womb and perish?

12Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to nurse?

13For then I would be lying down in quiet; I would be asleep and at rest

14with kings and counselors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves,

15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16Or I would not exist, like a stillborn child hidden away, like infants who never saw the light.

17There the wicked stop their raging, and there the weary are at rest.

18Prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the slave driver.

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

20Why is light given to one who suffers, and life to the bitter in soul,

21who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasure,

22who rejoice with great joy and are glad when they find the grave?

23Why is it given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

24For my sighing comes before my food, and my groans pour out like water.

25The very thing I feared has come on me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

26I have no ease, no quiet, no rest; only turmoil comes.”