Job Deplores His Birth
1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.2 And Job spoke, and said:
3 "MayJob 10:18, 19; Jer. 20:14–18 the day perish on which I was born,
And the night inwhich it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
4 May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
5 May darkness and Job 10:21, 22; Jer. 13:16; Amos 5:8the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 Asfor that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
7 Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
8 May those curse it who curse the day,
Those Jer. 9:17who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
9 May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the dawning of the day;
10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
11 "WhyJob 10:18, 19 did I not die at birth?
Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?
12 Gen. 30:3Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet,
I would have been asleep;
Then I would have been at rest
14 With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who Job 15:28; Is. 58:12built ruins for themselves,
15 Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
16 Or why was I not hidden Ps. 58:8like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
And there the weary are at Job 17:16rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together;
Job 39:7They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.
20 "WhyJer. 20:18 is light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the 2 Kin. 4:27bitter of soul,
21 Who Rev. 9:6long for death, but it does not come,
And search for it more than Prov. 2:4hidden treasures;
22 Who rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad when they can find the Job 7:15, 16grave?
23 Whyislightgiven to a man whose way is hidden,
Job 19:8; Ps. 88:8; Lam. 3:7And whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat,
And my groanings pour out like water.
25 For the thing I greatly (Job 9:28; 30:15)feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes."