Job 3

At the end of those seven days, Job started speaking. He cursed the day when he was born.

He said, 3 “I wish that the day of my birth had never existed! {I feel the same way about} the night when my mother conceived me. \* 4 I wish that there would only be darkness on that day {so that it would not even be a day}. I wish that God in heaven would not care about that day and so not make the sun shine on it. 5 I wish that that day were only darkness, with clouds blocking out the sunlight and many other things also making it very dark. \* 6 I wish that the moon and stars would not shine on the night when my mother conceived me. I wish that the day of my birth was not part of any month. Indeed, I wish that it was not a day in the year at all. 7 I mean it—I wish that no mother would ever again bear a child on that date. I wish that no one would ever again rejoice {over a child’s birth} on that date. \* 8 There are magicians who know how to agitate the chaos monster. I want them to curse the day of my birth! 9 I wish that the stars that shone early in the morning of that day would never shine again. I wish that it would never become light on that day. I wish that not even the first rays of the rising sun would appear on that day. 10 I wish that day did not exist, because my mother gave birth to me on that day, and because I became alive, I have now experienced all these terrible things. \* 11 I wish that I had died right after my mother gave birth to me! I wish I had stopped breathing after being alive for only a short time! 12 I wish that my mother had never held me on her lap and nursed me! \* 13 If I had died shortly after my mother gave birth to me, I would now be resting peacefully among all the other people who had died. 14 {I would be resting} with great kings and their advisers. They built beautiful tombs on spacious grounds {and are now resting in them}. \* 15 Or {I would be resting} with princes who owned great quantities of gold and silver. 16 I wish that I had died in my mother’s womb and never lived for even a moment. Then people would have buried me privately. \* 17 After wicked people die, they do not cause any more trouble. That allows the people whom they were oppressing to rest. 18 Those who were prisoners all rest peacefully {after they die}. They no longer have slave drivers ordering them around. 19 Everyone, whether rich or poor, goes to the realm of the dead. Those who were slaves no longer have to obey their masters. \* 20 God should not allow those who are suffering greatly like me to continue to remain alive! God should not allow those who are very miserable to live! 21 They long to die, but they do not die. They desire to die more than people desire to find buried treasure. 22 {God should not give life in the first place} to people who are very happy when they finally die! \* 23 God should not give life to people if he is going to keep them from knowing what to do or from understanding what is really happening to them! 24 I am wishing that I were dead because now I cry so much that I cannot eat. I just keep groaning loudly. \* 25 There were things that I always worried might happen to me. Those things have now happened! 26 I really have no peace of mind at all. My troubles keep disturbing me.” \*