Job 3

Job Regrets His Birth

1 Afterward*Literally "After thus" Job opened his mouth and cursed*A different term than that employed in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 his day. 2 Thus*Hebrew "And" Job spoke up*Literally "answered" and said,

3 "Let the day perish on which I was born,

and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’

4 Let that day become*Or "be" darkness;

may God not seek it from above,

nor may daylight shine on it.

5 Let darkness and deep shadow claim it;

let clouds*Literally "cloud" settle on it;

let them*Masculine plural referring to all three entities mentioned in this verse terrify it with the blackness*Literally "blacknesses" of day.

6 Let darkness seize that night;*Literally "That night, let darkness seize it"

let it not rejoice among the days of the year;

let it not enter among the number of the months.

7 Look, let that night become*Or "be" barren;

let a joyful song not enter it.

8 Let those who curse the day curse it,

those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.

9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;

let it hope for light but*Hebrew "and" there be none,

and let it not see the eyelids of dawn

10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,

nor*Hebrew "And" did it hide trouble from my eyes.

Job Wishes He Had Died

11 "Why did I not die at*Literally "from" birth?

Why did I not come forth from the womb and expire?

12 Why did the knees receive me

and the breasts, that I could suck?

13 For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace;

I would be asleep; then I would be at rest*Literally "it would be at rest for me"

14 with kings and counselors of the earth,

who rebuild *Literally "build" ruins for themselves,

15 or with high officials who have gold,*Literally "gold is for them"

who fill up their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage,

like infants who did not see the light?

17 There the wicked cease from troubling,

and there the weary*Literally "weary of strength" are at rest;

18 the prisoners are at ease together;

they do not hear the oppressor’s voice.

19 The small and the great are there,

and the slave is free from his masters.*Or "master"

Job Wishes He Might Die

20 "Why does he*Most likely God give light to one in misery

and life to those bitter of soul,

21 who wait for death, but*Hebrew "and" it does not come,*Literally "it is not"

and search*Or "dig" for it more than for treasures,

22 who rejoice exceedingly,*Literally "unto rejoicing"

and they are glad when they find the grave?

23 Why does he*Most likely God give light to a man whose way is hidden,

and God has fenced him in all around?

24 For*Or perhaps emphatic, "Indeed" my sighing comes before*Or "in place of" (NET); literally "to the faces of" my bread,*Or "food"

and my groanings gush forth like water

25 because the dread that I feel*Literally "dread" has come upon me,

and what I feared befalls me.

26 I am not at ease, and I am not at peace,

and I do not have rest, thus*Hebrew "and" turmoil has come."