Job 3 (New American Standard)

Job's Lament

1 Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed ^athe day of his birth. 2 And Job ^bsaid , 3 "¹Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, 'A ^cboy is conceived.' 4 "May that day be darkness ; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it. 5 "Let ²darkness and black gloom claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 "As for that night, let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year ; Let it not come into the number of the months. 7 "Behold, let that night be barren ; Let no joyful shout enter it. 8 "Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are ^dprepared to ³rouse Leviathan. 9 "Let the stars of its twilight be darkened ; Let it wait for light but have none, And let it not see the ^ebreaking dawn ; 10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes. 11 "⁴Why did I not die ^fat birth, Come forth from the womb and expire ? 12 "Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I should suck ? 13 "For now I ⁵would have lain down and been quiet ; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest, 14 With ⁶kings and with ⁷counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ⁸ruins for themselves; 15 Or with ⁹princes ¹⁰who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver. 16 "Or like a miscarriage which is ^gdiscarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light. 17 "There the wicked cease from raging, And there the ^hweary are at ¹¹rest. 18 "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 slave is free from his master. 20 "Why is ¹²light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul, 21 Who ⁱ¹³long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for ¹⁴hidden treasures, 22 Who rejoice greatly, And exult when they find the grave ? 23 "Why is light given to a man ¹⁵whose way is hidden, And whom ¹⁶God has hedged in? 24 "For ¹⁷my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And ¹⁸my cries pour out like water. 25 "For ^j19what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. 26 "I ²⁰am not at ease, nor am I quiet, And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes."