3:1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
3:2 He said:
3:3 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
3:4 That day - may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.
3:5 May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.
3:6 That night - may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.
3:7 May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.
3:8 May those who curse days* curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan. / *Or curse the sea
3:9 May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
3:10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
3:11 “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
3:12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
3:13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
3:14 with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
3:15 with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
3:16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.
3:18 Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
3:19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.
3:20 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
3:21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
3:22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
3:23 Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
3:24 For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.
3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
3:26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”