Job 3-4

Easy-to-Read Version

³ “I wish the day I was born would be lost forever.
    I wish the night they said, ‘It’s a boy!’ had never happened.
⁴ I wish that day had remained dark.
    I wish God above had forgotten that day
    and not let any light shine on it.
⁵ I wish that bitter day had remained as dark as death,
    covered with the darkest clouds.
⁶ I wish the darkness had carried away that night,
    that it was left off the calendar
    and not included in any of the months.
⁷ I wish that night had produced nothing
    and no happy shouts had been heard.
⁸ Some magicians think they can wake Leviathan.^[a]
    So let them say their curses and curse the day I was born.
⁹ Let that day’s morning star be dark.
    Let that night wait for a morning that never comes.
    I wish it had never seen the first rays of sunlight.
¹⁰ I wish it had stopped me from being born
    and kept me from seeing all these troubles.
¹¹ Why didn’t I die when I was born?
    Why didn’t I die as I came from my mother’s womb?
¹² Why did my mother hold me on her knees?
    Why did her breasts feed me?
¹³ If I had died when I was born,
    I would be at peace now.
I wish I were asleep and at rest
¹⁴     with the kings and their advisors
    who built palaces that are now in ruins.
¹⁵ I wish I were buried with rulers
    who filled their graves with gold and silver.
¹⁶ Why wasn’t I a child who died at birth
    and was put in the ground?
I wish I had been buried like a baby
    who never saw the light of day.
¹⁷ There the wicked stop causing trouble,
    and the weary find rest.
¹⁸ Even prisoners find relief there;
    they no longer hear their guards shouting at them.
¹⁹ Everyone—from the greatest to the least important—will be there,
    and even the slave is free from his master.

²⁰ “Why must a suffering person continue to live?
    Why let anyone live such a bitter life?
²¹ Such people want to die, but death does not come.
    They search for death more than for hidden treasure.
²² They would be happy to find their grave.
    They would rejoice to find their tomb.
²³ But God keeps their future a secret
    and builds a wall around them to protect them.
²⁴ When it is time to eat, all I can do is sigh with sadness, not joy.
    My groans pour out like water.
²⁵ I was afraid something terrible would happen,
    and what I feared most has happened.
²⁶ I cannot calm down or relax.
    I am too upset to rest!”

² “I must say something.
    Would it upset you if I speak?
³ Job, you have taught many people.
    You encouraged those who were ready to quit.
⁴ Your words helped those who were ready to fall.
    You gave strength to those who could not stand by themselves.
⁵ But now trouble comes to you,
    and you are discouraged.
Trouble hits you,
    and you are upset.
⁶ You worship God.
    You trust him.
You are a good man,
    so let that be your hope.
⁷ Can you think of any innocent person who was ever destroyed?
    Do you know of any place where good people are punished?
⁸ Yes, I have seen people whose lives were cut short,
    but they were evil troublemakers.
⁹ They lost the breath God gave them.
    They were cut off from his breath of life.
¹⁰ They were like roaring lions,
    like growling lions with broken teeth—
¹¹ like a lioness that cannot find prey.
    They died, and their cubs starved to death.

¹² “I happened to hear a message.
    My ears caught a whisper of it.
¹³ Like a bad dream^[b] in the night,
    it ruined my sleep.
¹⁴ It frightened me,
    and I trembled down to my bones.
¹⁵ A spirit passed by my face.
    The hair on my body stood up!
¹⁶ The spirit stood still,
    but I could not see what it was.
A shape stood before my eyes,
    and there was silence.
    Then I heard a quiet voice:
¹⁷ ‘A person cannot be more right than God.
    People cannot be more pure than their Maker.
¹⁸ Look, God cannot even trust his heavenly servants.
    He sees faults even in his angels.
¹⁹ So surely people are worse!
    They live in houses of clay^[c] built on dust.
    They can be crushed as easily as a moth!
²⁰ From dawn to sunset people are destroyed.
    They die—gone forever—and no one even notices.
²¹ The ropes of their tent are pulled up,
    and they die before gaining wisdom.’