1AFTER this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day wherein he was born. 2Then Job spoke and said,

3Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, A male child is conceived.

4Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

5Let the darkness and the shadow of death cover it; let a cloud overshadow it; let those whose days are bitter be terrified by it.

6As for that night, let thick darkness cover it; let that day not be reckoned in the number of the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

7Lo, let that night be desolate, let no voice of praise come therein.

8Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to stir up Leviathan.

9Let the stars of twilight thereof be dark; let the people wait for light, but receive none; neither let them see the dawning of the day;

10Because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11Why did I not die from the womb? Why did I come forth at birth?

12Why was I reared at my mother's knee? Why did I suck the breasts?

13For now I should have been laid in the grave and been quiet, I should have slept; then I should have been at rest,

14With kings and governors of the earth who built desolate places for themselves;

15Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;

16Or like a hidden untimely birth, as if I had not been; like infants that never saw the light.

17There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest.

18There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

19The small and the great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

20Why is light given to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul,

21Who long for death, but it comes not, and seek it as one seeks a hidden treasure;

22Who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave?

23Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?

24For my sighing comes before I eat, and my moanings are poured out like water.

25For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has befallen me.

26I am not at ease, neither am I calm, nor am I at rest; and yet misfortune came.