[1] After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. [2] Job spoke up and said: [3] "Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, 'A man has been conceived!' [4] That day-let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it! [5] Let darkness and the deepest shadow claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it. [6] That night-let darkness seize it; let it not be included among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months! [7] Indeed, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy penetrate it! [8] Let those who curse the day curse it-those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. [9] Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn, [10] because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes. [11] "Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb? [12] Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them? [13] For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peace [14] with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate, [15] or with princes who possessed gold, who filled their palaces with silver. [16] Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light? [17] There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. [18] There the prisoners relax together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. [19] Small and great are there, and the slave is free from his master. [20] "Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter, [21] to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures, [22] who rejoice even to jubilation, and are exultant 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 sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water. [25] For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me, and what I feared has come upon me. [26] I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me."
