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Job Laments His Birth

¹ After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.² And this is what he said:³ “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’⁴ If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.⁵ May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.⁶ If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year, or be entered in any of the months.⁷ Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.⁸ May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.⁹ May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.¹⁰ For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹ Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?¹² Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should be nursed?¹³ For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,¹⁵ or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.¹⁶ Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?¹⁷ There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.¹⁸ The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.¹⁹ Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

²⁰ Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,²¹ who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,²² who rejoice and greatly exult when they can find the grave?²³ Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?²⁴ I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.²⁵ For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.²⁶ I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”