| 1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. | 1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. |
| 2 And Job spake, and said, | 2 Job spoke out and said: |
| 3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. | 3 Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, "The child is a boy!" |
| 4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. | 4 May that day be darkness: let not God above call for it, nor light shine upon it! |
| 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. | 5 May darkness and gloom claim it, clouds settle upon it, the blackness of night affright it! |
| 6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. | 6 May obscurity seize that day; let it not occur among the days of the year, nor enter into the count of the months! |
| 7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. | 7 May that night be barren; let no joyful outcry greet it! |
| 8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. | 8 Let them curse it who curse the sea, the appointed disturbers of Leviathan! |
| 9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day: | 9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened; may it look for daylight, but have none, nor gaze on the eyes of the dawn, |
| 10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. | 10 Because it kept not shut the doors of the womb to shield my eyes from trouble! |
| 11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? | 11 Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? |
| 12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? | 12 Wherefore did the knees receive me? or why did I suck at the breasts? |
| 13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, | 13 For then I should have lain down and been tranquil; had I slept, I should then have been at rest |
| 14 With kings and counsellers of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; | 14 With kings and counselors of the earth who built where now there are ruins |
| 15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: | 15 Or with princes who had gold and filled their houses with silver. |
| 16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. | 16 Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light? |
| 17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. | 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest. |
| 18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. | 18 There the captives are at ease together, and hear not the voice of the slave driver. |
| 19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. | 19 Small and great are there the same, and the servant is free from his master. |
| 20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; | 20 Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? |
| 21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; | 21 They wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, |
| 22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? | 22 Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reach the grave: |
| 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? | 23 Men whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in! |
| 24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. | 24 For sighing comes more readily to me than food, and my groans well forth like water. |
| 25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. | 25 For what I fear overtakes me, and what I shrink from comes upon me. |
| 26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came. | 26 I have no peace nor ease; I have no rest, for trouble comes! |