1At length Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
2And Job spake and said:
3Perish the day in which I was born, and the night which said, “A man-child is conceived!”
4Let that day be darkness; Let not God seek it from above; Yea, let not the light shine upon it!
5Let darkness and the shadow of death redeem it; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let whatever darkeneth the day terrify it!
6As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months!
7O let that night be unfruitful! Let there be in it no voice of joy;
8Let them that curse the day curse it, Who are skilful to stir up the leviathan!
9Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; Let it long for light, and have none; Neither let it see the eyelashes of the morning!
10Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, And hid not trouble from mine eyes.
11Why died I not at my birth? Why did I not expire when I came forth from the womb?
12Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I might suck?
13For now should I lie down and be quiet; I should sleep; then should I be at rest,
14With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built up for themselves—ruins!
15Or with princes that had gold, And filled their houses with silver;
16Or, as a hidden untimely birth, I had perished; As infants which never saw the light.
17There the wicked cease from troubling; There the weary are at rest.
18There the prisoners rest together; They hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19The small and the great are there, And the servant is free from his master.
20Why giveth He light to him that is in misery, And life to the bitter in soul,
21Who long for death, and it cometh not, And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22Who rejoice exceedingly, Yea, exult, when they can find a grave?
23Why is light given to a man from whom the way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?
24For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groans are poured out like water.
25For that which I dread overtaketh me; That at which I shudder cometh upon me.
26I have no peace, nor quiet, nor respite: Misery cometh upon me continually.