1After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day he was born.
2Job spoke, and said:
3"Let the day I was born be destroyed, and the night which said, 'A boy is conceived.'"
4"Let that day be darkness. Let God above not care about it, and let no light shine on it."
5"Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it. Let a cloud settle on it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it."
6"As for that night, let darkness seize it. Let it not be joined to the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months."
7"Look, let that night be empty and alone. Let no joyful voice come into it."
8"Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to stir up their mourning."
9"Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none. Let it not see the first rays of the dawn."
10"For it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide sorrow from my eyes."
11"Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not breathe my last when I came out of the womb?"
12"Why did the knees receive me? Why were there breasts for me to drink from?"
13"For by now I would have lain still and been quiet. I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,"
14"with kings and counsellors of the earth, who built ruined places for themselves,"
15"or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver."
16"Or I would not exist, like a hidden child born too soon, like infants who never saw light."
17"There the wicked stop their troubling, and there the weary are at rest."
18"There the prisoners rest together. They do not hear the voice of the one who oppresses them."
19"The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master."
20"Why is light given to the one who is in misery, and life to those who are bitter in soul?"
21"They long for death, but it does not come. They dig for it more than for hidden treasure."
22"They rejoice greatly, and are glad, when they can find the grave."
23"Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has fenced in?"
24"My sighing comes before I eat, and my groans pour out like water."
25"For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I was afraid of has come to me."
26"I was not safe, I had no rest, I was not quiet; yet trouble came."