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Job Curses the Day He Was Born

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After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²Job said:

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“Let the day perish in which I was born,

and the night that said,

‘A man-child is conceived.’

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Let that day be darkness!

May God above not seek it,

or light shine on it.

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Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.

Let clouds settle upon it;

let the blackness of the day terrify it.

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That night—let thick darkness seize it!

let it not rejoice among the days of the year;

let it not come into the number of the months.

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Yes, let that night be barren;

let no joyful cry be heard in it.

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Let those curse it who curse the Sea,

those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.

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Let the stars of its dawn be dark;

let it hope for light, but have none;

may it not see the eyelids of the morning—

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because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,

and hide trouble from my eyes.

 

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“Why did I not die at birth,

come forth from the womb and expire?

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Why were there knees to receive me,

or breasts for me to suck?

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Now I would be lying down and quiet;

I would be asleep; then I would be at rest

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with kings and counselors of the earth

who rebuild ruins for themselves,

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or with princes who have gold,

who fill their houses with silver.

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Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child,

like an infant that never sees the light?

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There the wicked cease from troubling,

and there the weary are at rest.

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There the prisoners are at ease together;

they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

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The small and the great are there,

and the slaves are free from their masters.

 

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“Why is light given to one in misery,

and life to the bitter in soul,

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who long for death, but it does not come,

and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;

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who rejoice exceedingly,

and are glad when they find the grave?

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Why is light given to one who cannot see the way,

whom God has fenced in?

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For my sighing comes like my bread,

and my groanings are poured out like water.

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Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me,

and what I dread befalls me.

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I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;

I have no rest; but trouble comes.”