Job 3:1-19

1After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2And Job said,

3“Let the day on which I was born perish, And the night which announced: ‘There is a man-child conceived.’

4May that day be darkness; Let God above not care about it, Nor light shine on it.

5Let 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).

6As 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.

7Behold, let that night be barren [and empty]; Let no joyful voice enter it.

8Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.

9Let 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),

10Because 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?

12Why did the knees receive me? And why the breasts, that I would nurse?

13For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest [in death],

14With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built up [now desolate] ruins for themselves;

15Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver.

16Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist, Like infants who never saw light.

17There [in death] the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary are at rest.

18There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the taskmaster’s voice.

19The small and the great are there, And the servant is free from his master.