约伯咒诅自己

后来,约伯开口咒诅自己的生日, 说:

“愿我出生的那日和怀我的那夜灭没。
愿那日一片黑暗,
被天上的上帝遗忘,
没有阳光照耀。
愿那日被黑暗和阴影笼罩,
被密云覆盖,
被阴暗淹没。
愿那夜被幽暗吞噬,
不列在年日中,
不算在岁月里。
愿那夜无人生育,
毫无快乐之声。
愿那些咒诅白日、
能惹动海怪的人,
咒诅那夜。
愿那夜的晨星昏暗,
等不到晨光的出现,
看不见黎明的眼帘。
10 因为那夜没有关闭我母胎的门,
以致让我看见患难。

11 “为何我不出生时就夭折,
出母胎时就断气?
12 为何要把我抱在膝上,
用乳汁哺育我?
13 不然我早已安然躺卧、长眠安息,
14 与世上的君王和谋臣作伴——他们建造的宫殿已荒废,
15 与房屋堆满金银的王侯同眠。
16 为何我没有像未见天日就流产的婴儿一样消逝?
17 那里,恶人不再搅扰,
疲惫者得到安息,
18 被囚者得到安宁,
听不见监工的斥责。
19 尊贵与卑贱的人都在那里,
奴仆不再受主人的辖制。

20 “为何赐光给受苦的人,
赐生命给心灵痛苦的人?
21 他们等候死亡却等不到,
他们求死胜于求宝藏。
22 他们归入坟墓时非常快乐,
欣喜若狂。
23 为何赐生命给前路渺茫、
被上帝围困的人?
24 我以叹息为食,
呻吟如水涌流。
25 我害怕的事发生了,
我恐惧的事来临了。
26 我不得安宁,
不得平静,
不得安息,
只有苦难。”

1 Job complaineth, and curseth the day of his birth.  11 He desireth to die, as though death were the end of all man’s misery.

Afterward [a]Job opened his mouth, and [b]cursed his day.

And Job cried out, and said,

Let the day [c]perish wherein I was born, and the night when it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Let that day be darkness, let not God [d]regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it,

But let darkness and the [e]shadow of death stain it: let the cloud remain upon it, and let them make it fearful as a bitter day.

Let darkness possess that night, let it not be joined unto the days of the year, nor let it come into the count of the months.

Yea, desolate be that night, and let no joy be in it.

Let them that curse the day, (being [f]ready to renew their mourning) curse it.

Let the stars of that twilight be dim through darkness of it: let it look for light, but have none: neither let it [g]see [h]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 [i]Why died I not in the birth? or why died I not, when I came out of the womb?

12 Why did the knees prevent me? and why did I suck the breasts?

13 For so should I now have [j]lain and been quiet, I should have slept then, and been at rest,

14 With the kings and counselors of the earth, which have built themselves [k]desolate places:

15 Or with the princes that had gold, and have filled their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not hid, as an untimely birth, either as infants, which have not seen the light?

17 The wicked [l]have there ceased from their tyranny, and there they that labored valiantly, are at rest.

18 The [m]prisoners rest together, and hear not the voice of the oppressor.

19 There are small and great, and the servant is free from his master.

20 Wherefore is the light given to him that is in misery? and [n]life unto them that have heavy hearts?

21 Which long for death, and if it come not, they would even search it more than treasures:

22 Which joy for gladness, and rejoice, when they can find the grave.

23 Why is the light given to the man whose way is [o]hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the water.

25 For the thing I [p]feared, is come upon me, and the thing that I was afraid of, is come unto me.

26 I had no peace, neither had I quietness, neither had I rest, [q]yet trouble is come.

Footnotes

  1. Job 3:1 The seven days ended, Job 2:13.
  2. Job 3:1 Here Job beginneth to feel his great imperfection in this battle between the spirit and the flesh, Rom. 7:18, and after a manner yieldeth, yet in the end he getteth victory, though he was in the mean time greatly wounded.
  3. Job 3:3 Men ought not to be weary of their life, and curse it, because of the infirmities that it is subject unto, but because they are given to sin and rebellion against God.
  4. Job 3:4 Let it be put out of the number of days, and let it not have the light of the Sun to separate it from the night.
  5. Job 3:5 That is, most obscure darkness, which maketh them afraid of death that are in it.
  6. Job 3:8 Which curse the day of their birth, let them lay that curse upon this night.
  7. Job 3:9 Let it be always night, and never see day.
  8. Job 3:9 Hebrew, The eyelids of the morning.
  9. Job 3:11 This, and that which followeth, declareth, that when man giveth place to his passions, he is not able to stay nor keep measure, but runneth headlong into all evil, except God call him back.
  10. Job 3:13 The vehemency of his afflictions made him to utter these words, as though death were the end of all miseries, and as if there were no life after this, which he speaketh not as though it were so, but the infirmities of his flesh caused him to burst out in this error of the wicked.
  11. Job 3:14 He noteth the ambition of them, which for their pleasure as it were change the order of nature, and build in most barren places, because they would hereby make their names immortal.
  12. Job 3:17 That is, by death the cruelty of the tyrants hath ceased.
  13. Job 3:18 All they that sustain any kind of calamity and misery in this world: which he speaketh after the judgment of the flesh.
  14. Job 3:20 He showeth that the benefits of God are not comfortable, expect the heart be joyful, and the conscience quieted.
  15. Job 3:23 That seeth not how to come out of his miseries, because he dependeth not on God’s providence.
  16. Job 3:25 In my prosperity I looked ever for a fall, as is come now to pass.
  17. Job 3:26 The fear of troubles that should ensue, caused my prosperity to seem to me as nothing, and yet I am not exempted from trouble.