Job Speaks

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.(A) He said:

“May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’(B)
That day—may it turn to darkness;
    may God above not care about it;
    may no light shine on it.
May gloom and utter darkness(C) claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.
That night—may thick darkness(D) seize it;
    may it not be included among the days of the year
    nor be entered in any of the months.
May that night be barren;
    may no shout of joy(E) be heard in it.
May those who curse days[a] curse that day,(F)
    those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.(G)
May its morning stars become dark;
    may it wait for daylight in vain
    and not see the first rays of dawn,(H)
10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
    to hide trouble from my eyes.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 3:8 Or curse the sea

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

And Job spake, and said,

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

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