Chapter 3

After this opened¹ Job his mouth, and cursed¹⁷ his day.

And Job spake,⁴ and said,⁴

Let the day perish⁴ wherein I was born,¹¹ and the night [in which] it was said,¹ There is a man child conceived.²⁷

Let that day be darkness; let not God regard⁴ it from above, neither let the light shine⁵⁵ upon it.

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain⁴ it; let a cloud dwell⁴ upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify¹⁷ it.

As [for] that night, let darkness seize⁴ upon it; let it not be joined⁴ unto the days of the year, let it not come⁴ into the number of the months.

Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come⁴ therein.

Let them curse⁴ it that curse⁶ the day, who are ready to raise up³² their mourning.

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark;⁴ let it look¹⁷ for light, but [have] none; neither let it see⁴ the dawning of the day:

Because it shut¹ not up the doors of my [mother's] womb, nor hid⁵⁵ sorrow from mine eyes.

Why died⁴ I not from the womb? [why] did I [not] give up the ghost⁴ when I came out¹ of the belly?

Why did the knees prevent¹⁴ me? or why the breasts that I should suck?⁴

For now should I have lain still¹ and been quiet,⁴ I should have slept:¹ then had I been at rest,⁴

With kings and counsellors⁶ of the earth, which built⁶ desolate places for themselves;

Or with princes that had gold, who filled¹⁸ their houses with silver:

Or as an hidden⁷ untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw¹ light.

There the wicked cease¹ [from] troubling; and there the weary ³⁵⁸¹ be at rest.⁴

[There] the prisoners rest⁴⁰ together; they hear¹ not the voice of the oppressor.⁶

The small and great are there; and the servant [is] free from his master.

Wherefore is light given⁴ to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter [in] soul;

Which long¹⁸ for death, but it [cometh] not; and dig⁴ for it more than for hid treasures;

Which rejoice exceedingly, [and] are glad,⁴ when they can find⁴ the grave?

[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid,⁸ and whom God hath hedged in?⁵⁵

For my sighing cometh⁴ before I eat, and my roarings are poured out⁴ like the waters.

For the thing which I greatly feared¹ is come⁴ upon me, and that which I was afraid¹ of is come⁴ unto me.

I was not in safety,¹ neither had I rest,¹ neither was I quiet;¹ yet trouble came.⁴