Job’s Lament
Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed 1the day of his birth.Lit his day 2 And Job 1said,Lit answered and said
3 “aMay the day on which I was to be born perish,As well as the night which said, ‘A 1boy is conceived.’Lit man-childJer 20:14-184 “May that day be darkness;May God above not care for it,Nor light shine on it.5 “May adarkness and black gloom claim it;May a cloud settle on it;May the blackness of the day terrify it.Jer 13:166 “As for that night, may darkness seize it;May it not rejoice among the days of the year;May it not come into the number of the months.7 “Behold, may that night be barren;May no joyful shout enter it.8 “May those curse it who curse the day,Who are 1prepared to adisturb Leviathan.Or skillfulJob 41:1, 259 “May the stars of its twilight be darkened;May it wait for light but have none,And may it not see the 1breaking dawn;Lit eyelids of dawn10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,Or hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “aWhy did I not die 1at birth,Come out of the womb and pass away?Lit from the wombJob 10:18, 1912 “Why were the knees there in front of me,And why the breasts, that I would nurse?13 “For now I awould have lain down and been quiet;I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,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; 34:2214 With akings and bcounselors of the earth,Who rebuilt cruins for themselves;Job 12:18Job 12:17Job 15:28; Is 58:1215 Or with arulers bwho had gold,Who were filling their houses with silver.Job 12:21Job 27:16, 1716 “Or like a miscarriage which is 1hidden, I would not exist,As infants that never saw light.I.e., buried17 “There the wicked cease from raging,And there the 1weary are at arest.Lit weary of strengthJob 17:1618 “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 alight given to one burdened with grief,And life to the bitter of soul,Jer 20:1821 Who 1along for death, but there is none,And dig for it more than for bhidden treasures;Lit waitRev 9:6Prov 2:422 Who are filled with jubilation,And rejoice when they find the grave?23 “Why is light given to a man awhose way is hidden,And whom bGod has shut off?Job 19:6, 8, 12Job 19:8; Ps 88:8; Lam 3:724 “For amy groaning comes at the sight of my food,And bmy cries pour out like water.Job 6:7; 33:20Job 30:16; Ps 42:425 “For 1awhat I fear comes upon me,And what I dread 2encounters me.Lit I fear a fear, and it comesLit comes to meJob 9:28; 30:1526 “I aam not at ease, nor am I quiet,And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”Job 7:13, 14