¹Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²And Job said, ³" Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, 'A boy is conceived.' ⁴"May that day be darkness; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it. ⁵"Let darkness and black gloom claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it. ⁶"As for that night, let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months. ⁷"Behold, let that night be barren; Let no joyful shout enter it. ⁸"Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. ⁹"Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; Let it wait for light but have none, And let it not see the breaking dawn; ¹⁰Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes. ¹¹" Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb and expire? ¹²"Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I should suck? ¹³"For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest, ¹⁴With kings and with counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ruins for themselves; ¹⁵Or with princes who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver. ¹⁶"Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light. ¹⁷"There the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary are at rest. ¹⁸"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 light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul, ²¹Who long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for hidden treasures, ²²Who rejoice greatly, And exult when they find the grave? ²³"Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? ²⁴"For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And my cries pour out like water. ²⁵"For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. ²⁶"I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes."

And Job said, " Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, 'A boy is conceived.' "May that day be darkness; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it.