Job, 3
Job expresseth his sense of the miseries of man's life, by cursing the day of his birth.
[1] After this, Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day 1, •
Cursed his day: Job cursed the day of his birth, not by way of wishing evil to any thing of God's creation; but only to express in a stronger manner his sense of human miseries in general, and of his own calamities in particular.
[2] And he said:
[3] Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived. •
[4] Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.
[5] Let darkness, and the shadow of death, cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.
[6] Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.
[7] Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise. •
[8] Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a leviathan: •
[9] Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day: •
[10] Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes. •
[11] Why did I not die in the womb? why did I not perish when I came out of the belly? •
[12] Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts? •
[13] For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep: •
[14] With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes: •
[15] Or with princes, that possess gold, and fill their houses with silver: •
[16] Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that, being conceived, have not seen the light. •
[17] There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest. •
[18] And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor. •
[19] The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. •
[20] Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?
[21] That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure: •
[22] And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave? •
[23] To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness? •
[24] Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring: •
[25] For the fear which I feared, hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me. •
[26] Have I not dissembled? have I not kept silence? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me. •