Study

3. Job Speaks

    ³ “May the day of my birth perish,
   and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
⁴ That day—may it turn to darkness;
   may God above not care about it;
   may no light shine on it.
⁵ May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more;
   may a cloud settle over it;
   may blackness overwhelm it.
⁶ That night—may thick darkness seize it;
   may it not be included among the days of the year
   nor be entered in any of the months.
⁷ May that night be barren;
   may no shout of joy be heard in it.
⁸ May those who curse days Or curse the sea curse that day,
   those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
⁹ May its morning stars become dark;
   may it wait for daylight in vain
   and not see the first rays of dawn,
¹⁰ for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
   to hide trouble from my eyes.

    ¹¹ “Why did I not perish at birth,
   and die as I came from the womb?
¹² Why were there knees to receive me
   and breasts that I might be nursed?
¹³ For now I would be lying down in peace;
   I would be asleep and at rest
¹⁴ with kings and rulers of the earth,
   who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
¹⁵ with princes who had gold,
   who filled their houses with silver.
¹⁶ Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,
   like an infant who never saw the light of day?
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from turmoil,
   and there the weary are at rest.
¹⁸ Captives also enjoy their ease;
   they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
   and the slaves are freed from their owners.

    ²⁰ “Why is light given to those in misery,
   and life to the bitter of soul,
²¹ to those who long for death that does not come,
   who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
²² who are filled with gladness
   and rejoice when they reach the grave?
²³ Why is life given to a man
   whose way is hidden,
   whom God has hedged in?
²⁴ For sighing has become my daily food;
   my groans pour out like water.
²⁵ What I feared has come upon me;
   what I dreaded has happened to me.
²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness;
   I have no rest, but only turmoil.”