Job 3

1After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

1Finally, Job began to speak, and he cursed the day he was born.

2And Job answered and said:

2Job expressed his feelings and said:

3Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.

3Let the day I was born be wiped out, along with the night they said, 'A baby boy has been conceived.'

4Let that day be darkness; Let not God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine upon it.

4Let that day be total darkness. Let God in heaven ignore it, and let no light shine on it.

5Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

5Let the deepest shadows of death claim it; let a dark cloud cover it, and let total darkness terrify that day.

6As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it: Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months.

6As for that night, let thick darkness seize it; let it not be included in the days of the year or the count of the months.

7Lo, let that night be barren; Let no joyful voice come therein.

7Let that night be lonely and silent, with no sounds of joy.

8Let them curse it that curse the day, Who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

8Let those who curse the day also curse my birth night—those who are ready to wake up the sea monster Leviathan.

9Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

9Let its evening stars stay dark; let it wait for a dawn that never comes, and let it never see the first rays of morning light.

10Because it shut not up the doors of mymother’swomb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.

10This is because that night did not keep me from being born, and it did not hide this misery from my eyes.

11Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?

11Why didn't I die at the moment of my birth? Why didn't I perish as I came out of the womb?

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

12Why were there knees to hold me? Why were there breasts to nurse me?

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

13If I had died then, I would be lying in peace now; I would be sleeping and at rest.

14With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built up waste places for themselves;

14I would be with the kings and rulers of the earth who built great monuments for themselves that now lie in ruins.

15Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver:

15I would be with princes who owned gold and filled their houses with silver.

16Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.

16Or why wasn't I buried like a stillborn baby, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

17There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary are at rest.

17In the grave, the wicked stop their causing trouble, and the exhausted find rest.

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

18In death, the prisoners are at ease together; they no longer hear the shouts of the slave driver.

19The small and the great are there: And the servant is free from his master.

19The unimportant and the great are both there, and the slave is finally free from his master.

20Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul;

20Why is light given to those who are suffering? Why is life given to those who are bitter in spirit?

21Who long for death, but it cometh not, And dig for it more than for hid treasures;

21They wait for death, but it does not come; they search for it more than people look for hidden treasure.

22Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad, when they can find the grave?

22They are filled with joy and are glad when they finally reach the grave.

23Why is light givento a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?

23Why is life given to a man whose future is hidden, and whom God has trapped on every side?

24For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groanings are poured out like water.

24Instead of eating, I sigh, and my groans pour out like water.

25For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.

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

26I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; But trouble cometh.

26I have no peace, I have no quiet, and I have no rest; only trouble comes to me.