1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job answered and said:
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born,
And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness;
Let not God from above seek for it,
Neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own;
Let a cloud dwell upon it;
Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it:
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be barren;
Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day,
Who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark:
Let it look for light, but have none;
Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:
10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
11 Why died I not from the womb?
Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?
12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet;
I should have slept; then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth,
Who built up waste places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
As infants that never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling;
And there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there:
And the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Who long for death, but it cometh not,
And dig for it more than for hid 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 hid,
And whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh before I eat,
And my groanings are poured out like water.
25 For the thing which I fear cometh upon me,
And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.
26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;
But trouble cometh.
1 After this hath Job opened his mouth, and revileth his day.
2 And Job answereth and saith: --
3 Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that hath said: `A man-child hath been conceived.`
4 That day -- let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.
6 That night -- let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Into the number of months let it not come.
7 Lo! that night -- let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it.
8 Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the dawn.
10 Because it hath not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from mine eyes.
11 Why from the womb do I not die? From the belly I have come forth and gasp!
12 Wherefore have knees been before me? And what [are] breasts, that I suck?
13 For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept -- then there is rest to me,
14 With kings and counsellors of earth, These building wastes for themselves.
15 Or with princes -- they have gold, They are filling their houses [with] silver.
16 (Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants -- they have not seen light.)
17 There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there rest do the wearied in power.
18 Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor,
19 Small and great [are] there the same. And a servant [is] free from his lord.
20 Why giveth He to the miserable light, and life to the bitter soul?
21 Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures.
22 Who are glad -- unto joy, They rejoice when they find a grave.
23 To a man whose way hath been hidden, And whom God doth shut up?
24 For before my food, my sighing cometh, And poured out as waters [are] my roarings.
25 For a fear I feared and it meeteth me, And what I was afraid of doth come to me.
26 I was not safe -- nor was I quiet -- Nor was I at rest -- and trouble cometh!