NRSV Job 3 Chapter
3:1
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
3:2
Job said:
3:3
"Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man-child is conceived.'
3:4
Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it.
3:5
Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
3:6
That night-- let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
3:7
Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it.
3:8
Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.
3:9
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning--
3:10
because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.
3:11
"Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
3:12
Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck?
3:13
Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest
3:14
with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves,
3:15
or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.
3:16
Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light?
3:17
There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
3:18
There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
3:19
The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.
3:20
"Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
3:21
who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
3:22
who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave?
3:23
Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in?
3:24
For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
3:25
Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
3:26
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."