Job 3 · Clearspring

Job Laments His Birth

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.+ ²And this is what he said:+ ³“May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’+ ⁴If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.+ ⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.+ ⁶If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year; may it never be entered in any of the months. ⁷Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.+ ⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day — those prepared to rouse Leviathan.+ ⁹May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.+ ¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.+ ¹¹Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?+ ¹²Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should be nursed?+ ¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest+ ¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,+ ¹⁵or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.+ ¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?+ ¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.+ ¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.+ ¹⁹Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.+ ²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,+ ²¹who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,+ ²²who rejoice and greatly exult when they reach the grave?+ ²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?+ ²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.+ ²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.+ ²⁶I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”+

Job Laments His Birth

Study Job 3