Job 3
Expanded Bible
Job Curses His Birth
3 ·After seven days [L Afterward] Job ·cried out [L opened his mouth] and cursed ·the day he had been born [L his day; Jer. 20:14–18], 2 saying:
3 “Let the day I was born be destroyed,
and the night it was said, ‘A boy is ·born [L conceived]!’
4 Let that day turn to darkness [C contrast Gen. 1:3].
Don’t let God ·care about [L seek] it.
Don’t let light shine on it.
5 Let darkness and gloom ·have that day [L redeem it].
Let a cloud ·hide [L settle over] it.
Let thick darkness ·cover its light [overwhelm the day].
6 Let thick darkness capture that night.
Don’t count it among the days of the year
or put it in any of the months.
7 Let that night be ·empty [barren],
with no shout of joy ·to be heard [L entering it].
8 Let those who curse ·days [or the Sea; C a symbol of chaos] curse that day [C Balaam (Num. 22–24) is an example of a professional curser].
Let them prepare to wake up the sea monster Leviathan [C a creature in ancient Near Eastern texts that represents chaos; 41:1, 12; Ps. 74:14; 104:26; Is. 27:1].
9 Let that day’s morning stars ·never appear [L become dark];
let it ·wait [hope] for daylight that never comes.
Don’t let it see the first light of dawn,
10 because it ·allowed me to be born [L did not shut the doors of my (mother’s) womb]
and did not hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why didn’t I die as soon as I ·was born [L came out of the womb]?
Why didn’t I die when I came out of the ·womb [L belly; Eccl. 6:3–5]?
12 Why did my mother’s knees receive me,
and ·my mother’s breasts feed me [L why were there breasts that I could suck]?
13 If they had not been there,
I would be lying dead in peace;
I would be asleep and at rest
14 with kings and wise men of the earth
who built places for themselves that are now ruined.
15 I would be asleep with rulers
who filled their houses with gold and silver.
16 Why was I not ·buried [L hidden] like a ·child born dead [stillborn],
like a baby who never saw the light of day?
17 In the grave the wicked ·stop making trouble [or cease their agitation],
and the weary workers are at rest.
18 In the grave there is rest for the ·captives [prisoners]
who no longer hear the ·shout [L voice] of the ·slave driver [taskmaster].
19 People great and small are ·in the grave [L there],
and the ·slave [servant] is freed from his master.
20 “Why is light given to those in misery?
Why is life given to those who are ·so unhappy [depressed]?
21 They want to die, but death does not come.
They search for death more than for hidden treasure.
22 They are very happy
[L they celebrate] when they get to the grave.
23 They cannot see where they are going.
God has ·hidden the road ahead [L placed a hedge around him].
24 I ·make sad sounds [sigh] as I eat;
my groans pour out like water.
25 ·Everything I feared and dreaded
has happened to me.
[or For the dread I dreaded has come to me,
and what I feared has come to me.]
26 I have no peace or quietness.
I have no rest, only ·trouble [agitation].”
Job 3
Amplified Bible
Job’s Lament
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 [a]And Job said,
3
“Let the day on which I was born perish,
And the night which announced: ‘There is a man-child conceived.’
4
“May that day be darkness;
Let God above not care about it,
Nor light shine on it.
5
“Let darkness and gloom claim it for their own;
Let a cloud settle upon it;
Let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).
6
“As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not be counted in the number of the months.
7
“Behold, let that night be barren [and empty];
Let no joyful voice enter it.
8
“Let those curse it [b]who curse the day,
Who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.
9
“Let the stars of its early dawn be dark;
Let the morning wait in vain for the light,
Let it not see the eyelids of morning (the day’s dawning),
10
Because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11
“Why did I not die at birth,
Come forth from the womb and expire?
12
“Why did the knees receive me?
And why the breasts, that I would nurse?
13
“For now I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest [in death],
14
With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who built up [now desolate] ruins for themselves;
15
Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver.
16
“Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist,
Like infants who never saw light.
17
“There [in death] the wicked cease from raging,
And there the weary are at rest.
18
“There the prisoners rest together;
They do not hear the taskmaster’s voice.
19
“The small and the great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.(A)
20
“Why is the light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the bitter in soul,
21
Who wait for death, but it does not come,
And dig (search) for death more [diligently] than for hidden treasures,
22
Who rejoice exceedingly,
And rejoice when they find the grave?
23
“Why is the light of day given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?
24
“For my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And my cries [of despair] are poured out like water.
25
“For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me,
And that of which I am afraid has come upon me.
26
“I am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, and yet trouble still comes [upon me].”
Footnotes
- Job 3:2 The prose introduction ends at v 1 and the poetic heart of the book begins with v 2. One of the features of Hebrew poetry is the prevalence of pairs of statements in which the second statement either is parallel in thought to the first or contrasts with it. There is no rhyming or metrical correspondence.
- Job 3:8 Some ancient sorcerers claimed the ability to curse a day by calling up a terrifying, legendary creature, such as Leviathan, to devour the sun.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
