Job 3
World English Bible
3 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth. 2 Job answered:
3 “Let the day perish in which I was born,
the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness.
Don’t let God from above seek for it,
neither let the light shine on it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.
Let a cloud dwell on it.
Let all that makes the day black terrify it.
6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, let that night be barren.
Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark.
Let it look for light, but have none,
neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
10 because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why didn’t I die from the womb?
Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
13 For now I should have lain down and been quiet.
I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who built up waste places for themselves;
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver:
16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
as infants who never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling.
There the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together.
They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there.
The servant is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
life to the bitter in soul,
21 Who long for death, but it doesn’t come;
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly,
and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat.
My groanings are poured out like water.
25 For the thing which I fear comes on me,
That which I am afraid of comes to me.
26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest;
but trouble comes.”
Job 3
International Standard Version
Job Laments the Day He was Born
3 After this, Job spoke up solemnly, cursing[a] the day he was born.[b] 2 This is what Job said:
3 “Let the day when I was born be annihilated,
along with the night when it was announced,
‘It’s a boy!’[c]
4 Let that day be dark;
let God above not care about it;
let no light shine over it.
5 Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it;
let clouds settle down on it;
let blackness in mid-day terrify it.
6 Let darkness carry that night away;
let it not take its place joyfully among the days of the year;
let it not be entered into the calendar.[d]
7 “Yes, let that night be barren;
let it not appear with its joyful shout.
8 Let whoever curses days curse it—
those who are ready to awaken monsters.[e]
9 Let the stars of its evening twilight be dark;
let it hope for light but let there be none;
let it not see the breaking rays[f] of the dawn.
10 “Because that night[g] refused to shut the doors of my mother’s[h] womb;
it failed to keep me from seeing this trouble.
11 Why didn’t I die while I was still in the womb,
or die while I was being born?
12 Why was there a lap[i] to hold me,
and why were there breasts to nurse me?
13 “If I had died,[j] I would be lying down by now,
undisturbed, asleep, and at rest,
14 along with kings and counselors of the earth,
who used to build for themselves what are now only[k] ruins,
15 or princes who amassed[l] gold for themselves,
and who kept filling their houses with silver.
16 “Or why was I not buried[m] like a stillborn child,[n]
like babies[o] who never saw the light?
17 In that place, the wicked stop causing trouble,
and there, those whose strength is exhausted are at rest.
18 In that place, those who once were prisoners will be at ease together;
they won’t hear the voice of oppressors.
19 The unimportant and the important are both there,
and the servant is free from his master.
20 “Why does God[p] give light to the sufferer
or life to the bitter person:
21 To those who are longing for death—
even though it does not come?
To those who search for it
more than for hidden treasure?
22 To those who are happy beyond measure[q]
when they reach their graves?
23 To the formerly successful[r] man who lost his way in life,
and God fenced him in?
24 “As far as I’m concerned, my food comes to me in the form of sighs,
and my cries of anguish pour out like water.
25 For the dreaded thing that I feared has happened to me,
what caused me to worry has engulfed[s] me.
26 I will not be at ease;
I will not be quiet;
I will not rest;
because trouble has arrived.”
Footnotes
- Job 3:1 Or Job opened his mouth and cursed
- Job 3:1 The Heb. lacks he was born
- Job 3:3 Lit. A man has been conceived
- Job 3:6 Lit. entered among the numbering of months
- Job 3:8 Lit. Leviathan; i.e. an ancient sea creature
- Job 3:9 Lit. the eyelashes
- Job 3:10 Lit. It
- Job 3:10 The Heb. lacks mother’s
- Job 3:12 Lit. Why were there knees
- Job 3:13 Lit. For
- Job 3:14 The Heb. lacks only
- Job 3:15 The Heb. lacks who amassed
- Job 3:16 Lit. hidden
- Job 3:16 Or miscarriage
- Job 3:16 Lit. children
- Job 3:20 Lit. he
- Job 3:22 Lit. happy with great rejoicing
- Job 3:23 Lit. the valiant
- Job 3:25 Lit. come
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