The Arguments Between Job and His Friends:
Round One: Job's First Speech:
I curse the day I was born
31Finally, Job opened his lips and cursed the day of his birth. 2Job said:
3May the day of my birth perish,
and the night when it was said, “A child has been conceived!”
4As for that day, let it be darkness!
May God above have no concern for it.
May light not shine on it.
5May darkness and the shadow of death[] reclaim it. May a dark cloud settle over it.
May whatever blackens the day terrify it.
6As for that night, may deep darkness take it away!
May it not be included[] among the days of the year or show up in the list of months.
7Oh let that night be barren!
May no joyful shout be heard in it.
8May those who curse days cast a spell on it,
those who are able to awaken Leviathan.[] 9May its twilight stars be darkened.
May it wait hopefully for light but receive none.
May it never see the eyelids of dawn,
10because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
and it did not hide trouble from my eyes.
11Why did I not die at birth
or pass away as I came from the womb?
12Why did my mother's knees receive me?
Why were her breasts there to nurse me?
13For then I would be lying down peacefully.
I would be sleeping and resting quietly
14with the kings and counselors of the earth,
with those who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,[] 15with high officials who accumulated gold,
with those who filled their houses with silver.
16Why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,
like the infants who never see the light of day?
17There the wicked cease from turmoil.
There the weary are at rest.
18There the prisoners are at ease together.
They no longer hear the voice of the slave driver.
19There the small and great are alike,
and the slave is free from his master.
20Why is light given to those weighed down with grief?
Why is life given to those whose spirit is bitter,
21to those who yearn for death but it does not come,
though they dig for it more than for buried treasure,
22to those who will be thrilled with happiness,
those who will celebrate when they reach the grave?
23Why is light given to a man whose path is hidden,
to one whom God has hedged in?
24Now my sighing takes the place of my daily bread.
My groans gush forth like water,
25because what I feared has overwhelmed me,
and that which I dreaded has come upon me.
26I have no ease, no quiet, no rest.
Instead, turmoil has come.