Job 3-5

New Living Translation

³ “Let the day of my birth be erased,
    and the night I was conceived.
⁴ Let that day be turned to darkness.
    Let it be lost even to God on high,
    and let no light shine on it.
⁵ Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own.
    Let a black cloud overshadow it,
    and let the darkness terrify it.
⁶ Let that night be blotted off the calendar,
    never again to be counted among the days of the year,
    never again to appear among the months.
⁷ Let that night be childless.
    Let it have no joy.
⁸ Let those who are experts at cursing—
    whose cursing could rouse Leviathan^[a]—
    curse that day.
⁹ Let its morning stars remain dark.
    Let it hope for light, but in vain;
    may it never see the morning light.
¹⁰ Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb,
    for letting me be born to see all this trouble.

¹¹ “Why wasn’t I born dead?
    Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?
¹² Why was I laid on my mother’s lap?
    Why did she nurse me at her breasts?
¹³ Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace.
    I would be asleep and at rest.
¹⁴ I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers,
    whose great buildings now lie in ruins.
¹⁵ I would rest with princes, rich in gold,
    whose palaces were filled with silver.
¹⁶ Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child,
    like a baby who never lives to see the light?
¹⁷ For in death the wicked cause no trouble,
    and the weary are at rest.
¹⁸ Even captives are at ease in death,
    with no guards to curse them.
¹⁹ Rich and poor are both there,
    and the slave is free from his master.

²⁰ “Oh, why give light to those in misery,
    and life to those who are bitter?
²¹ They long for death, and it won’t come.
    They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure.
²² They’re filled with joy when they finally die,
    and rejoice when they find the grave.
²³ Why is life given to those with no future,
    those God has surrounded with difficulties?
²⁴ I cannot eat for sighing;
    my groans pour out like water.
²⁵ What I always feared has happened to me.
    What I dreaded has come true.
²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness.
    I have no rest; only trouble comes.”

² “Will you be patient and let me say a word?
    For who could keep from speaking out?

³ “In the past you have encouraged many people;
    you have strengthened those who were weak.
⁴ Your words have supported those who were falling;
    you encouraged those with shaky knees.
⁵ But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart.
    You are terrified when it touches you.
⁶ Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence?
    Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?

⁷ “Stop and think! Do the innocent die?
    When have the upright been destroyed?
⁸ My experience shows that those who plant trouble
    and cultivate evil will harvest the same.
⁹ A breath from God destroys them.
    They vanish in a blast of his anger.
¹⁰ The lion roars and the wildcat snarls,
    but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.
¹¹ The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey,
    and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.

¹² “This truth was given to me in secret,
    as though whispered in my ear.
¹³ It came to me in a disturbing vision at night,
    when people are in a deep sleep.
¹⁴ Fear gripped me,
    and my bones trembled.
¹⁵ A spirit^[b] swept past my face,
    and my hair stood on end.^[c]
16 The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape.
    There was a form before my eyes.
In the silence I heard a voice say,
¹⁷ ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God?
    Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’

¹⁸ “If God does not trust his own angels
    and has charged his messengers with foolishness,
¹⁹ how much less will he trust people made of clay!
    They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
²⁰ They are alive in the morning but dead by evening,
    gone forever without a trace.
²¹ Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses,
    and they die in ignorance.

⁸ “If I were you, I would go to God
    and present my case to him.
⁹ He does great things too marvelous to understand.
    He performs countless miracles.
¹⁰ He gives rain for the earth
    and water for the fields.
¹¹ He gives prosperity to the poor
    and protects those who suffer.
¹² He frustrates the plans of schemers
    so the work of their hands will not succeed.
¹³ He traps the wise in their own cleverness
    so their cunning schemes are thwarted.
¹⁴ They find it is dark in the daytime,
    and they grope at noon as if it were night.
¹⁵ He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong,
    and rescues them from the clutches of the powerful.
¹⁶ And so at last the poor have hope,
    and the snapping jaws of the wicked are shut.

¹⁷ “But consider the joy of those corrected by God!
    Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.
¹⁸ For though he wounds, he also bandages.
    He strikes, but his hands also heal.
¹⁹ From six disasters he will rescue you;
    even in the seventh, he will keep you from evil.
²⁰ He will save you from death in time of famine,
    from the power of the sword in time of war.
²¹ You will be safe from slander
    and have no fear when destruction comes.
²² You will laugh at destruction and famine;
    wild animals will not terrify you.
²³ You will be at peace with the stones of the field,
    and its wild animals will be at peace with you.
²⁴ You will know that your home is safe.
    When you survey your possessions, nothing will be missing.
²⁵ You will have many children;
    your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!
²⁶ You will go to the grave at a ripe old age,
    like a sheaf of grain harvested at the proper time!

²⁷ “We have studied life and found all this to be true.
    Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself.”