Job’s Dialogue With His Friends (3:1-27:33)

Job Regrets His Birth

3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. 3:2 Job spoke up and said:

3:3 “Let the day in which I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived!’

3:4 That day — let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it!

3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it!

3:6 That night — let darkness seize it; let it not be included among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months!

3:7 Indeed, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy penetrate it!

3:8 Let those who curse the day curse it — those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.

3:9 Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

3:10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes!

Job Wishes He Had Died at Birth

3:11 “Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire when I came out of the womb?

3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them?

3:13 For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peace

3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate,

3:15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

3:16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?

3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.