Job - Chapter 3 | New King James Version

  • 1. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
  • 2. And Job spoke, and said:
  • 3. "May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, 'A male child is conceived.'
  • 4. May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it.
  • 5. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.
  • 6. As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice {cf2super [5]} among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months.
  • 7. Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it!
  • 8. May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
  • 9. May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day;
  • 10. Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
  • 11. "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?
  • 12. Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
  • 13. For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest
  • 14. With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves,
  • 15. Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver;
  • 16. Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light?
  • 17. There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest.
  • 18. There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
  • 19. The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master.
  • 20. "Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,
  • 21. Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures;
  • 22. Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave?
  • 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?
  • 24. For my sighing comes before I eat, {cf2super [6]} And my groanings pour out like water.
  • 25. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.
  • 26. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes."
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