1 A fter this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day (birthday).

2 A nd Job said,

3 L et the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which announced, There is a man-child conceived.

4 L et that day be darkness! May not God above regard it, nor light shine upon it.

5 L et gloom and deep darkness claim it for their own; let a cloud dwell upon it; let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).

6 A s for 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.

7 Y es, let that night be solitary and barren; let no joyful voice come into it.

8 L et those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.

9 L et the stars of the early dawn of that day be dark; let look in vain for the light, nor let it behold the day’s dawning,

10 B ecause it shut not the doors of my mother’s womb nor hid sorrow and trouble from my eyes.

11 W hy was I not stillborn? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bore me?

12 W hy did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

13 F or then would I have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then would I have been at rest

14 W ith kings and counselors of the earth, who built up desolate ruins for themselves,

15 O r with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16 O r was I not a miscarriage, hidden and put away, as infants who never saw light?

17 T here the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

18 T here the prisoners rest together; they hear not the taskmaster’s voice.

19 T he small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.

20 W hy is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

21 W ho long and wait for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

22 W ho rejoice exceedingly and are elated when they find the grave?

23 t o a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

24 F or my sighing comes before my food, and my groanings are poured out like water.

25 F or the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me.

26 I was not or am not at ease, nor had I or have I rest, nor was I or am I quiet, yet trouble came and still comes.