² Job said:
³ Perish the day I was born,
    the night someone said,
    “A boy has been conceived.”
⁴ That day—let it be darkness;
    may God above ignore it,
    and light not shine on it.
⁵ May deepest darkness claim it
    and a cloud linger over it;
    may all that darkens the day terrify it.
⁶ May gloom seize that night;
    may it not be counted in the days of a year;
    may it not appear in the months.
⁷ May that night be childless;
    may no happy singing come in it.
⁸ May those who curse the day curse it,
    those with enough skill to awaken Leviathan.
⁹ May its evening stars stay dark;
    may it wait in vain for light;
    may it not see dawn’s gleam,
¹⁰     because it didn’t close the doors of my mother’s womb,^[a]
    didn’t hide trouble from my eyes.

² If one tries to answer you, will you be annoyed?
    But who can hold words back?
³ Look, you’ve instructed many
    and given strength to drooping hands.
⁴ Your words have raised up the falling;
    you’ve steadied failing knees.
⁵ But now it comes to you, and you are dismayed;
    it has struck you, and you are frightened.
⁶ Isn’t your religion the source of^[a] your confidence;
    the integrity of your conduct, the source of your hope?

⁷ Think! What innocent person has ever perished?
    When have those who do the right thing been destroyed?
⁸ As I’ve observed, those who plow sin
    and sow trouble will harvest it.
⁹ When God breathes deeply, they perish;
    by a breath of his nostril they are annihilated.

¹¹ But I won’t keep quiet;
    I will speak in the adversity of my spirit,
    groan in the bitterness of my life.
¹² Am I Sea^[a] or the Sea Monster^[b]
    that you place me under guard?
¹³ If I say, “My couch will comfort me,”
    my bed will diminish my murmuring.
¹⁴ You scare me with dreams,
    frighten me with visions.
¹⁵ I would choose strangling
    and death instead of my bones.
¹⁶ I reject life;^[c] I don’t want to live long;
    leave me alone, for my days are empty.

¹⁷ What are human beings, that you exalt them,
    that you take note of them,
¹⁸     visit them each morning,
    test them every moment?
¹⁹ Why not look away from me;
    let me alone until I swallow my spit?
²⁰ If I sinned, what did I do to you,
    guardian of people?
Why have you made me your target
    so that I’m a burden to myself?
²¹ Why not forgive my sin,
    overlook my iniquity?
Then I would lie down in the dust;
    you would search hard for me,
    and I would not exist.