Job 2:11-3:16

New International Version

¹¹When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite,^(A) Bildad the Shuhite^(B) and Zophar the Naamathite,^(C) heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.^(D) ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him;^(E) they began to weep aloud,^(F) and they tore their robes^(G) and sprinkled dust on their heads.^(H) ¹³Then they sat on the ground^(I) with him for seven days and seven nights.^(J) No one said a word to him,^(K) because they saw how great his suffering was.

Job Speaks

3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.^(L) ²He said:

³“May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’^(M)
⁴That day—may it turn to darkness;
    may God above not care about it;
    may no light shine on it.
⁵May gloom and utter darkness^(N) claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.
⁶That night—may thick darkness^(O) seize it;
    may it not be included among the days of the year
    nor be entered in any of the months.
⁷May that night be barren;
    may no shout of joy^(P) be heard in it.
⁸May those who curse days^[a] curse that day,^(Q)
    those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.^(R)
⁹May its morning stars become dark;
    may it wait for daylight in vain
    and not see the first rays of dawn,^(S)
¹⁰for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
    to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why did I not perish at birth,
    and die as I came from the womb?^(T)
¹²Why were there knees to receive me^(U)
    and breasts that I might be nursed?
¹³For now I would be lying down^(V) in peace;
    I would be asleep and at rest^(W)
¹⁴with kings and rulers of the earth,^(X)
    who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,^(Y)
¹⁵with princes^(Z) who had gold,
    who filled their houses with silver.^(AA)
¹⁶Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,^(AB)
    like an infant who never saw the light of day?^(AC)