Job 3
Complete Jewish Bible
3 (2) Iyov said,
2 (3) “Perish the day I was born
and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’
3 (4) May that day be darkness,
may God on high not seek it,
may no light shine on it,
4 (5) may gloom dark as death defile it,
may clouds settle on it,
may it be terrified by its own blackness.
5 (6) “As for that night, may thick darkness seize it,
may it not be joined to the days of the year,
may it not be numbered among the months;
6 (7) may that night be desolate,
may no cry of joy be heard in it;
7 (8) may those who curse days curse it,
those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan;
8 (9) may the stars of its twilight be dark,
may it look for light but get none,
may it never see the shimmer of dawn —
9 (10) because it didn’t shut the doors of the womb I was in
and shield my eyes from trouble.
10 (11) “If I had been stillborn,
if I had died at birth,
11 (12) had there been no knees to receive me
or breasts for me to suck.
12 (13) Then I would be lying still and in peace,
I would have slept and been at rest,
13 (14) along with kings and their earthly advisers,
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
14 (15) or with princes who had [plenty of] gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
15 (16) Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried
child that never saw light.
16 (17) “There the wicked cease their raging,
there the weary are at rest,
17 (18) prisoners live at peace together
without hearing a taskmaster’s yells.
18 (19) Great and small alike are there,
and the slave is free of his master.
19 (20) “So why must light be given to the miserable
and life to the bitter in spirit?
20 (21) They long for death, but it never comes;
they search for it more than for buried treasure;
21 (22) when at last they find the grave,
they are so happy they shout for joy.
22 (23) [Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly,
whom God shuts in on every side?
23 (24) “My sighing serves in place of my food,
and my groans pour out in a torrent;
24 (25) for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me,
what I dreaded has happened to me.
25 (26) I have no peace, no quiet, no rest;
and anguish keeps coming.”
Job 3
King James Version
3 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job spake, and said,
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 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.
7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9 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.
11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.