| 1 | After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. | |
| 2 | And Job spoke, and said: | |
| 3 | "May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, 'A male child is conceived.' | |
| 4 | May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. | |
| 5 | May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. | |
| 6 | As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months. | |
| 7 | Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! | |
| 8 | May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. | |
| 9 | May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day; | |
| 10 | Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes. | |
| 11 | "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? | |
| 12 | Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? | |
| 13 | For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest | |
| 14 | With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, | |
| 15 | Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; | |
| 16 | Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? | |
| 17 | There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. | |
| 18 | There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. | |
| 19 | The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master. | |
| 20 | "Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul, | |
| 21 | Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures; | |
| 22 | Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can 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 before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. | |
| 25 | For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. | |
| 26 | I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes." | |