3
Job’s Lament
1 Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed 1Lit his daythe day of his birth. 2 And Job 1Lit answered and saidsaid,
3 “AJer 20:14-18Let the day perish on which I was to be born,
And the night which said, ‘A 1Lit man-childboy is conceived.’
4 “May that day be darkness;
Let not God above care for it,
Nor light shine on it.
5 “Let AJer 13:16darkness and black gloom claim it;
Let a cloud settle on it;
Let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 “As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 “Behold, let that night be barren;
Let no joyful shout enter it.
8 “Let those curse it who curse the day,
Who are 1Or skillfulprepared to AJob 41:1, 25rouse Leviathan.
9 “Let the stars of its twilight be darkened;
Let it wait for light but have none,
And let it not see the 1Lit eyelidsbreaking dawn;
10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.
Come forth from the womb and expire?
12 “Why did the knees receive me,
And why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 “For now I AJob 3:13-19; 7:8-10, 21; 10:21, 22; 14:10-15, 20-22; 16:22; 17:13-16; 19:25-27; 21:13, 23-26; 24:19, 20; 26:5, 6; 34:22would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
Who rebuilt CJob 15:28; Is 58:12ruins for themselves;
Who were filling their houses with silver.
16 “Or like a miscarriage which is 1Lit hiddendiscarded, I would not be,
As infants that never saw light.
17 “There the wicked cease from raging,
And there the 1Lit weary of strengthweary are at AJob 17:16rest.
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 AJer 20:18light given to him who suffers,
And life to the bitter of soul,
And dig for it more than for BProv 2:4hidden treasures,
22 Who rejoice greatly,
And exult when they find the grave?
And whom BJob 19:8; Ps 88:8; Lam 3:7God has hedged in?
24 “For AJob 6:7; 33:20my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And BJob 30:16; Ps 42:4my cries pour out like water.
And what I dread befalls me.
26 “I AJob 7:13, 14am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”
13:1 Lit his day
13:2 Lit answered and said
13:3 Lit man-child
13:8 Or skillful
13:9 Lit eyelids
A3:11 Job 10:18, 19
13:11 Lit from the womb
A3:13 Job 3:13-19; 7:8-10, 21; 10:21, 22; 14:10-15, 20-22; 16:22; 17:13-16; 19:25-27; 21:13, 23-26; 24:19, 20; 26:5, 6; 34:22
B3:15 Job 27:16, 17
13:16 Lit hidden
13:17 Lit weary of strength
13:21 Lit wait
B3:23 Job 19:8; Ps 88:8; Lam 3:7
13:25 Lit the fear I fear and