Job Laments His Birth

Job opens his mouth and curses the day of his birth, wishing both the day and the night that announced him could be swallowed by darkness. He imagines them erased from joy, light, and memory because they did not keep him from coming into misery.

A¹fter this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²And this is what he said: ³“May the day of my birth perish, ⁴If only that day had turned to darkness! ⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, ⁶If only darkness had taken that night away! ⁷Behold, may that night be barren; ⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day — ⁹May its morning stars grow dark; ¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of the womb

Job asks why he did not die at birth or disappear like a stillborn child, because then he would now be at rest. In death, as he imagines it, the turmoil of rank, oppression, and toil gives way to stillness shared by kings, prisoners, servants, and masters alike.

¹¹Why did I not perish at birth; ¹²Why were there knees to receive me, ¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; ¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, ¹⁵or with princes who had gold, ¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, ¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging, ¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease; ¹⁹Both small and great are there,

Job asks why light and life are given to those who long for death but cannot find it. He ends by naming his own condition plainly: sighing has replaced ease, what he feared has come upon him, and rest is nowhere to be found.

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, ²¹who long for death that does not come, ²²who rejoice and greatly exult ²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, ²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, ²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, ²⁶I am not at ease or quiet;