| 1 | Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth, |
| 2 | Job made answer and said, |
| 3 | Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world. |
| 4 | That day--let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it; |
| 5 | Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it. |
| 6 | That night--let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. |
| 7 | As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it; |
| 8 | Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake. |
| 9 | Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn. |
| 10 | Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes. |
| 11 | Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath? |
| 12 | Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk? |
| 13 | For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace, |
| 14 | With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves; |
| 15 | Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver; |
| 16 | Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light. |
| 17 | There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest. |
| 18 | There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears. |
| 19 | The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master. |
| 20 | Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul; |
| 21 | To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth; |
| 22 | Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place; |
| 23 | To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God? |
| 24 | In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water. |
| 25 | For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled. |
| 26 | I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me. |