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Job Curses the Day He Was Born

Then Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. He said,

“I wish the day I was born would be lost forever.
    I wish the night they said, ‘It’s a boy!’ had never happened.
I wish that day had remained dark.
    I wish God above had forgotten that day
    and not let any light shine on it.
I wish that bitter day had remained as dark as death,
    covered with the darkest clouds.
I wish the darkness had carried away that night,
    that it was left off the calendar
    and not included in any of the months.
I wish that night had produced nothing
    and no happy shouts had been heard.
Some magicians think they can wake Leviathan.[a]
    So let them say their curses and curse the day I was born.
Let that day’s morning star be dark.
    Let that night wait for a morning that never comes.
    I wish it had never seen the first rays of sunlight.
10 I wish it had stopped me from being born
    and kept me from seeing all these troubles.
11 Why didn’t I die when I was born?
    Why didn’t I die as I came from my mother’s womb?
12 Why did my mother hold me on her knees?
    Why did her breasts feed me?
13 If I had died when I was born,
    I would be at peace now.
I wish I were asleep and at rest
14     with the kings and their advisors
    who built palaces that are now in ruins.
15 I wish I were buried with rulers
    who filled their graves with gold and silver.
16 Why wasn’t I a child who died at birth
    and was put in the ground?
I wish I had been buried like a baby
    who never saw the light of day.
17 There the wicked stop causing trouble,
    and the weary find rest.
18 Even prisoners find relief there;
    they no longer hear their guards shouting at them.
19 Everyone—from the greatest to the least important—will be there,
    and even the slave is free from his master.

20 “Why must a suffering person continue to live?
    Why let anyone live such a bitter life?
21 Such people want to die, but death does not come.
    They search for death more than for hidden treasure.
22 They would be happy to find their grave.
    They would rejoice to find their tomb.
23 But God keeps their future a secret
    and builds a wall around them to protect them.
24 When it is time to eat, all I can do is sigh with sadness, not joy.
    My groans pour out like water.
25 I was afraid something terrible would happen,
    and what I feared most has happened.
26 I cannot calm down or relax.
    I am too upset to rest!”

Footnotes

  1. Job 3:8 Leviathan Here, this is probably a giant sea monster. Some people thought magicians were able to make it “swallow the sun,” that is, cause an eclipse.

Job Laments His Birth

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

(B)“Let the day perish on which I was born,
    and the night that said,
    ‘A man is conceived.’
Let that day be darkness!
    May God above not seek it,
    nor light shine upon it.
Let gloom and (C)deep darkness claim it.
    Let clouds dwell upon it;
    let the blackness of the day terrify it.
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.
Behold, let that night be barren;
    let no joyful cry enter it.
Let those curse it who curse the day,
    who are ready to rouse up (D)Leviathan.
Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
    let it hope for light, but have none,
    nor see (E)the eyelids of the morning,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
    nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why (F)did I not die at birth,
    come out from the womb and expire?
12 Why did (G)the knees receive me?
    Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
    I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
    who (H)rebuilt ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
    who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not as a hidden (I)stillborn child,
    as infants who never see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
    and there the weary are at (J)rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
    they hear not the voice of (K)the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
    and the slave is free from his master.

20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
    and life to (L)the bitter in soul,
21 who (M)long for death, but it comes not,
    and dig for it more than for (N)hidden treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly
    and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose (O)way is hidden,
    whom God has (P)hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes (Q)instead of[a] my bread,
    and my (R)groanings are poured out like water.
25 (S)For 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.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before