Job, 3

1. In the end it was Job who broke the silence and cursed the day of his birth.

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

2. This is what he said:

2. And Job said:

3. Perish the day on which I was born and the night that told of a boy conceived.

3. "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which said, `A man-child is conceived.'

4. May that day be darkness, may God on high have no thought for it, may no light shine on it.

4. Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.

5. May murk and shadow dark as death claim it for their own, clouds hang over it, eclipse swoop down on it.

5. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

6. See! Let obscurity seize on it, from the days of the year let it be excluded, into the reckoning of the months not find its way.

6. That night -- let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

7. And may that night be sterile, devoid of any cries of joy!

7. Yea, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it.

8. Let it be cursed by those who curse certain days and are ready to rouse Leviathan.

8. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled to rouse up Levi'athan.

9. Dark be the stars of its morning, let it wait in vain for light and never see the opening eyes of dawn.

9. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning;

10. Since it would not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide sorrow from my eyes.

10. because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11. Why was I not still-born, or why did I not perish as I left the womb?

11. "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?

12. Why were there knees to receive me, breasts for me to suck?

12. Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

13. Now I should be lying in peace, wrapped in a restful slumber,

13. For then I should have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then I should have been at rest,

14. with the kings and high viziers of earth who have built their dwellings in desolate places,

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

15. or with princes who have quantities of gold and silver cramming their tombs;

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

16. or, put away like an abortive child, I should not have existed, like little ones that never see the light.

16. Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never see the light?

17. Down there, the wicked bustle no more, there the weary rest.

17. There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

18. Prisoners, all left in peace, hear no more the shouts of the oppressor.

18. There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

19. High and low are there together, and the slave is free of his master.

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

20. Why give light to a man of grief? Why give life to those bitter of heart,

20. "Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

21. who long for a death that never comes, and hunt for it more than for buried treasure?

21. who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22. They would be glad to see the grave-mound and shout with joy if they reached the tomb.

22. who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they find the grave?

23. Why give light to one who does not see his way, whom God shuts in all alone?

23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?

24. My only food is sighs, and my groans pour out like water.

24. For my sighing comes as my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.

25. Whatever I fear comes true, whatever I dread befalls me.

25. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.

26. For me, there is no calm, no peace; my torments banish rest.

26. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."