Chapter 3

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