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
New Catholic Bible
First Cycle of Speeches
Job Curses the Day He Was Born
Chapter 3
Perish the Day on Which I Was Born. 1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:
3 “Perish the day on which I was born
and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born.’
4 May that day turn to darkness;[a]
may God not take note of it from above,
and may light not shine upon it.
5 May gloom and heavy darkness claim it;
let clouds spread over it
and blackness eclipse its light.
6 May thick darkness overpower it;
let it not be numbered among the days of the year
or reckoned in the cycle of the months.
7 “May that night be barren;
let no cry of joy be heard during it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the sea
and are prepared to rouse Leviathan.[b]
9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened;
let it wait in vain for daylight
and never behold the first rays of dawn,
10 because it refused to shut the doors
of the womb of my mother who bore me
and shield my eyes from sorrow.
Why Go On Living?[c]
11 “Why did I not die at birth,
perishing as I came forth from the womb?
12 Why were there knees to receive me
or breasts for me to feed on?
13 “For now I would be lying in tranquility,
asleep and resting peacefully
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who built palaces for themselves that now lie in ruins,
15 or with princes who possessed gold in abundance
and filled their homes with silver.
16 Or why was I not laid in a grave like a stillborn child,
like an infant that had never seen the light?
17 “In death[d] the wicked are free from worldly troubles
and the weary find rest.
18 There the captives enjoy the solace of peace
without having to cringe at the voice of their masters.
19 The small and the great are there as equals,
and servants are free from their masters.
What Good Is Life?[e]
20 “Why is light given to those in misery
and life to those whose hearts are bitter,
21 who long for death that never comes
and seek for it more than for hidden treasure,
22 who would rejoice to see the grave
and exult on reaching the tomb,
23 who are unable to find their way
and whom God has hemmed in on every side?[f]
24 “Sighs are for me my only food,
and my groans pour forth like water.
25 Everything that I fear has afflicted me,
and whatever I dread befalls me.
26 I am unable to find peace of mind or tranquility;
troubles assail me, and I find no rest.”
Footnotes
- Job 3:4 May that day turn to darkness: in the beginning God had said: “Let there be light” (Gen 1:3). Now Job so to speak says: “Let there be darkness,” negating God’s creative act.
- Job 3:8 This is an allusion to those sorcerers who claimed to be able to make days unlucky and to upset the order of the world. The sea: another possible translation is: “days.” Leviathan: here it symbolizes the dark forces in the primitive chaos that God conquered and relegated to the depths of the ocean (see Pss 74:14; 104:26; Isa 27:1; 51:9; Am 9:3). Other creatures have also been put forth for the Leviathan, e.g., a killer whale.
- Job 3:11 In his suffering, Job regrets that he ever lived and longs for the hereafter: a kind of sleep in which there is no longer any place for suffering or for the unjust inequalities of the human condition. This hereafter is not the grave but the netherworld, which is a great pit within the earth in which the dead, now only shadows of themselves, are gathered together.
- Job 3:17 In death: literally, “there.”
- Job 3:20 The author expands the debate and raises the fundamental question: Does life still have value for someone whom Providence has left without children?
- Job 3:23 Earlier in the Book, Job is said to have been in God’s safekeeping (Job 1:10). Now Job feels that God has hemmed him in on every side, leaving him in turmoil (see v. 26).
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
