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Job 3
American Standard Version
Job 3
American Standard Version
3 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job answered and said:
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born,
And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness;
Let not God from above seek for it,
Neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and [a]the shadow of death claim it for their own;
Let a cloud dwell upon it;
Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it:
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be [b]barren;
Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day,
Who are [c]ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark:
Let it look for light, but have none;
Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:
10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
11 Why died I not from the womb?
Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?
12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet;
I should have slept; then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth,
Who [d]built up waste places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
As infants that never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from [e]troubling;
And there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there:
And the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Who [f]long for death, but it cometh not,
And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Who rejoice [g]exceedingly,
And are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,
And whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh [h]before I eat,
And my [i]groanings are poured out like water.
25 For [j]the thing which I fear cometh upon me,
And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.
26 I [k]am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;
But trouble cometh.
Footnotes
- Job 3:5 Or, deep darkness (and so elsewhere)
- Job 3:7 Or, solitary
- Job 3:8 Or, skilful
- Job 3:14 Or, built solitary piles
- Job 3:17 Or, raging
- Job 3:21 Hebrew wait.
- Job 3:22 Or, unto exultation
- Job 3:24 Or, like my food
- Job 3:24 Hebrew roarings.
- Job 3:25 Or, the thing which I feared is come etc.
- Job 3:26 Or, was not at ease . . . yet trouble came
Job 3
New International Version
Job 3
New International Version
Job Speaks
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.(A) 2 He said:
3 “May the day of my birth perish,
and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’(B)
4 That day—may it turn to darkness;
may God above not care about it;
may no light shine on it.
5 May gloom and utter darkness(C) claim it once more;
may a cloud settle over it;
may blackness overwhelm it.
6 That night—may thick darkness(D) seize it;
may it not be included among the days of the year
nor be entered in any of the months.
7 May that night be barren;
may no shout of joy(E) be heard in it.
8 May those who curse days[a] curse that day,(F)
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.(G)
9 May its morning stars become dark;
may it wait for daylight in vain
and not see the first rays of dawn,(H)
10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
to hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not perish at birth,
and die as I came from the womb?(I)
12 Why were there knees to receive me(J)
and breasts that I might be nursed?
13 For now I would be lying down(K) in peace;
I would be asleep and at rest(L)
14 with kings and rulers of the earth,(M)
who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,(N)
15 with princes(O) who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.(P)
16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,(Q)
like an infant who never saw the light of day?(R)
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil,(S)
and there the weary are at rest.(T)
18 Captives(U) also enjoy their ease;
they no longer hear the slave driver’s(V) shout.(W)
19 The small and the great are there,(X)
and the slaves are freed from their owners.
20 “Why is light given to those in misery,
and life to the bitter of soul,(Y)
21 to those who long for death that does not come,(Z)
who search for it more than for hidden treasure,(AA)
22 who are filled with gladness
and rejoice when they reach the grave?(AB)
23 Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,(AC)
whom God has hedged in?(AD)
24 For sighing(AE) has become my daily food;(AF)
my groans(AG) pour out like water.(AH)
25 What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded(AI) has happened to me.(AJ)
26 I have no peace,(AK) no quietness;
I have no rest,(AL) but only turmoil.”(AM)
Footnotes
- Job 3:8 Or curse the sea
American Standard Version (ASV)
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New International Version (NIV) 
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