| 1 | After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. |
| 2 | Job said: |
| 3 | “Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’ |
| 4 | Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. |
| 5 | Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. |
| 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 | Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. |
| 8 | Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. |
| 9 | Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning — |
| 10 | because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes. |
| 11 | “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? |
| 12 | Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? |
| 13 | Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest |
| 14 | with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, |
| 15 | or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver. |
| 16 | Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? |
| 17 | There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. |
| 18 | There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. |
| 19 | The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters. |
| 20 | “Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, |
| 21 | who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; |
| 22 | who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? |
| 23 | Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in? |
| 24 | For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. |
| 25 | Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. |
| 26 | I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.” |