Job Curses the Day He Was Born
3 1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said: 3 "Let the day I was born perish, and the night that said, 'A boy is conceived. 4 That day—let it be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor let light shine upon it. 5 Let darkness and deep shadow claim it; let a cloud settle over it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 That night—let thick darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year, nor be counted among the months. 7 Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry come into it. 8 Let those who curse days curse it—those ready to rouse Leviathan. a a v8 Professional cursers were believed in the ancient world to have power over auspicious and unlucky days. 9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light and find none, and never see the first rays of morning— 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 from the womb and breathe my last? 12 Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to nurse? b b v12 In the ancient Near East, placing a newborn on a relative's knees was a formal act of accepting the child. 13 For now I would be lying down in quiet; I would be asleep and at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who built ruins for themselves, c c v14 These kings built grand monuments for themselves that have long since crumbled to ruins. 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not a buried stillborn child, like infants who never saw the light? 17 There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary are at rest. 18 Together the captives are at ease; they no longer hear the slave driver's voice. 19 The small and the great are there alike, and the slave is free from his master. 20 Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 21 who long for death that does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasure, 22 who leap for joy and are glad when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24 For my sighing comes before my bread, and my groans pour out like water. 25 For the thing I dreaded has come upon me, and what I feared has overtaken me. 26 I have no ease, no quiet, no rest—only turmoil.