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Job's Lament

¹ Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed ^(F1)the day of his birth.² And Job ^(F1)said,

³ "^(C1)May the day on which I was to be born perish,
As well as the night which said, 'A ^(F1)boy is conceived.'

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

⁵ "May ^(C1)darkness and black gloom claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.

⁶ "As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not rejoice among the days of the year;
May it not come into the number of the months.

⁷ "Behold, may that night be barren;
May no joyful shout enter it.

⁸ "May those curse it who curse the day,
Who are ^(F1)prepared to ^(C1)disturb Leviathan.

⁹ "May the stars of its twilight be darkened;
May it wait for light but have none,
And may it not see the ^(F1)breaking dawn;

¹⁰ Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ "^(C1)Why did I not die ^(F1)at birth,
Come out of the womb and pass away?

¹² "Why were the knees there in front of me,
And why the breasts, that I would nurse?

¹³ "For now I ^(C1)would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,

¹⁴ With ^(C1)kings and ^(C2)counselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ^(C3)ruins for themselves;

¹⁵ Or with ^(C1)rulers ^(C2)who had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.

¹⁶ "Or like a miscarriage which is ^(F1)hidden, I would not exist,
As infants that never saw light.

¹⁷ "There the wicked cease from raging,
And there the ^(F1)weary are at ^(C1)rest.

¹⁸ "The prisoners are at ease together;
They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

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

²⁰ "Why is ^(C1)light given to one burdened with grief,
And life to the bitter of soul,

²¹ Who ^(F1)(C1)long for death, but there is none,
And dig for it more than for ^(C2)hidden treasures;

²² Who are filled with jubilation,
And rejoice when they find the grave?

²³ "Why is light given to a man ^(C1)whose way is hidden,
And whom ^(C2)God has shut off?

²⁴ "For ^(C1)my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And ^(C2)my cries pour out like water.

²⁵ "For ^(F1)(C1)what I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread ^(F2)encounters me.

²⁶ "I ^(C1)am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes."