Job 3:10-20

10 Parce qu'elle n'a pas fermé le sein qui me porta, et n'a point caché la douleur à mes yeux!
11 Que ne suis-je mort dès le sein de ma mère? Au sortir de ses flancs, que n'ai-je expiré?
12 Pourquoi des genoux se sont-ils présentés à moi, et pourquoi des mamelles pour être sucées?
13 Car, maintenant, je serais couché et tranquille, je dormirais, je serais en repos,
14 Avec les rois et les arbitres de la terre, qui se bâtissent des mausolées,
15 Avec les princes qui ont de l'or, qui remplissent d'argent leurs maisons.
16 Ou bien, comme l'avorton caché, je n'existerais pas; comme les petits enfants qui n'ont pas vu la lumière.
17 Là, les méchants ne tourmentent plus personne, et là se reposent les hommes fatigués;
18 Avec eux, les captifs sont tranquilles: ils n'entendent plus la voix de l'exacteur.
19 Là, le petit et le grand sont ensemble, et l'esclave est délivré de son maître.
20 Pourquoi donne-t-on la lumière au malheureux, et la vie à ceux dont l'âme est pleine d'amertume?

Job 3:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 3

In this chapter we have an account of Job's cursing the day of his birth, and the night of his conception; Job 3:1-3; first the day, to which he wishes the most extreme darkness, Job 3:4,5; then the night, to which he wishes the same and that it might be destitute of all joy, and be cursed by others as well as by himself, Job 3:6-9; The reasons follow, because it did not prevent his coming into the world, and because he died not on it, Job 3:10-12; which would, as he judged, have been an happiness to him; and this he illustrates by the still and quiet state of the dead, the company they are with, and their freedom from all trouble, oppression, and bondage, Job 3:13-19; but however, since it was otherwise with him, he desires his life might not be prolonged, and expostulates about the continuance of it, Job 3:20-23; and this by reason of his present troubles, which were many and great, and came upon him as he feared they would, and which had made him uneasy in his prosperity, Job 3:24-26.

The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.