Job 3  New King James Version

³ “May^(A) the day perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
⁴ May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
⁵ May darkness and ^(B)the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶ As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not ^[b]rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
⁷ Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
⁸ May those curse it who curse the day,
Those ^(C)who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
⁹ May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the ^[c]dawning of the day;
¹⁰ Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹ “Why^(D) did I not die at birth?
Why did I not ^[d]perish when I came from the womb?
^12 (E)Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
¹³ For now I would have lain still and been quiet,
I would have been asleep;
Then I would have been at rest
¹⁴ With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who ^(F)built ruins for themselves,
¹⁵ Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
¹⁶ Or why was I not hidden ^(G)like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from troubling,
And there the ^[e]weary are at ^(H)rest.
¹⁸ There the prisoners ^[f]rest together;
^(I)They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
¹⁹ The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.

²⁰ “Why^(J) is light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the ^(K)bitter of soul,
²¹ Who ^(L)long^[g] for death, but it does not come,
And search for it more than ^(M)hidden treasures;
²² Who rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad when they can find the ^(N)grave?
²³ Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
^(O)And whom God has hedged in?
²⁴ For my sighing comes before ^[h]I eat,
And my groanings pour out like water.
²⁵ For the thing I greatly ^(P)feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
²⁶ I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.”