Job 3
3
Job Wishes He Had Never Been Born
1After a while, Job opened his mouth to speak. He cursed the day he had been born. 2He said,
3“May the day I was born be wiped out.
May the night be wiped away when people said, ‘A boy is born!’
4May that day turn into darkness.
May God in heaven not care about it.
May no light shine on it.
5May gloom and total darkness take it back.
May a cloud settle over it.
May blackness cover it up.
6May deep darkness take over the night I was born.
May it not be included among the days of the year.
May it never appear in any of the months.
7May no children ever have been born on that night.
May no shout of joy be heard in it.
8May people say evil things about that day.
May people ready to wake the sea monster Leviathan say evil things about that day.
9May its morning stars become dark.
May it lose all hope of ever seeing daylight.
May it not see the first light of the morning sun.
10It didn’t keep my mother from letting me be born.
It didn’t keep my eyes from seeing trouble.
11“Why didn’t I die when I was born?
Why didn’t I die as I came out of my mother’s body?
12Why was I placed on her knees?
Why did her breasts give me milk?
13If all of that hadn’t happened,
I would be lying down in peace.
I’d be asleep and at rest in the grave.
14I’d be with the earth’s kings and rulers.
They had built for themselves places that are now destroyed.
15I’d be with princes who used to have gold.
They had filled their houses with silver.
16Why wasn’t I buried like a baby who was born dead?
Why wasn’t I buried like a child who never saw the light of day?
17In the grave, sinful people don’t cause trouble anymore.
And there tired people find rest.
18Prisoners also enjoy peace there.
They don’t hear a slave driver shouting at them anymore.
19The least important and most important people are there.
And there the slaves are set free from their owners.
20“Why should those who suffer ever be born?
Why should life be given to those whose spirits are bitter?
21Why is life given to those who long for death that doesn’t come?
Why is it given to those who would rather search for death
than for hidden treasure?
22Why is life given to those who are actually happy and glad
when they reach the grave?
23Why is life given to a man like me?
God hasn’t told me what will happen to me.
He has surrounded me with nothing but trouble.
24Sighs have become my food every day.
Groans pour out of me like water.
25What I was afraid of has come on me.
What I worried about has happened to me.
26I don’t have any peace and quiet.
I can’t find any rest. All I have is trouble.”
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Job 3
3
Job Laments His Birth
1After this Job #ch. 33:2; Ps. 78:2opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2And Job said:
3 # [ch. 10:18, 19]; See Jer. 20:14-18 “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
4Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
5Let gloom and #ch. 10:21, 22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; 38:17; Ps. 23:4; Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6That 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.
7Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
8Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up #ch. 41:1Leviathan.
9Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see #ch. 41:18the eyelids of the morning,
10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11“Why #ch. 10:18, 19did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
12Why did #Gen. 30:3; 50:23; Isa. 66:12the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14with kings and counselors of the earth
who #[Isa. 58:12]rebuilt ruins for themselves,
15or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16Or why was I not as a hidden #Ps. 58:8; Eccles. 6:3; [1 Cor. 15:8]stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
17There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at #ch. 17:16rest.
18There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of #Ex. 3:7the taskmaster.
19The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.
20“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to #Prov. 31:6the bitter in soul,
21who #Rev. 9:6 long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for #Prov. 2:4hidden treasures,
22who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
23Why is light given to a man whose #Isa. 40:27 way is hidden,
whom God has #[ch. 1:10]; See ch. 19:8hedged in?
24For my sighing comes #[Ps. 42:3; 80:5; 102:9] instead of#3:24 Or like; Hebrew before my bread,
and my #Ps. 22:1; 38:8groanings are poured out like water.
25 # [Prov. 10:24] For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”
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