GOD'S WORD Translation GW
New King James Version NKJV
1 After all this, Job [finally] opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.
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After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 Job said,
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And Job spoke, and said:
3 "Scratch out the day I was born and the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived!'
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"May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, 'A male child is conceived.'
4 "That day-- let it be pitch-black. Let God above not [even] care about it. Let no light shine on it.
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May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it.
5 Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own. Let a dark cloud hang over it. Let the gloom terrify it.
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May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 "That night-- let the blackness take it away. Let it not be included in the days of the year or be numbered among the months.
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As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months.
7 Let that night be empty. Let no joyful singing be heard in it.
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Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it!
8 Let those who curse the day (those who know how to wake up Leviathan ) curse that night.
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May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
9 Let its stars turn dark before dawn. Let it hope for light and receive none. Let it not see the first light of dawn
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May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day;
10 because it did not shut the doors of the womb [from which I came] or hide my eyes from trouble.
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Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
11 "Why didn't I die as soon as I was born and breathe my last breath when I came out of the womb?
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"Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?
12 Why did knees welcome me? Why did breasts let me nurse?
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Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 Instead of being alive, I would now be quietly lying down. I would now be sleeping peacefully.
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For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest
14 I would be with the kings and the counselors of the world who built for themselves [what are now] ruins.
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With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves,
15 I would be with princes who had gold, who filled their homes with silver.
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Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver;
16 I would be buried like a stillborn baby. I would not exist. I would be like infants who never saw the light.
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Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light?
17 There the wicked stop their raging. There the weary are able to rest.
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There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest.
18 There the captives have no troubles at all. There they do not hear the shouting of the slave driver.
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There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19 There [you find] both the unimportant and important people. There the slave is free from his master.
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The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master.
20 "Why give light to one in misery and life to those who find it so bitter,
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"Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,
21 to those who long for death but it never comes-- though they dig for it more than for buried treasure?
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Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures;
22 They are ecstatic, delighted to find the grave.
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Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave?
23 Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden, to those whom God has fenced in?
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Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?
24 "When my food is in front of me, I sigh. I pour out my groaning like water.
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For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water.
25 What I fear most overtakes me. What I dread happens to me.
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For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.
26 I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming!"
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I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes."