International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
1After this, Job spoke up solemnly, cursing the day he was born. | 1At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. |
2This is what Job said: | 2He said: |
3"Let the day when I was born be annihilated, along with the night when it was announced, 'It's a boy!' | 3“Let the day of my birth be erased, and the night I was conceived. |
4Let that day be dark; let God above not care about it; let no light shine over it. | 4Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it. |
5Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it; let clouds settle down on it; let blackness in mid-day terrify it. | 5Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it. |
6Let darkness carry that night away; let it not take its place joyfully among the days of the year; let it not be entered into the calendar. | 6Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months. |
7"Yes, let that night be barren; let it not appear with its joyful shout. | 7Let that night be childless. Let it have no joy. |
8Let whoever curses days curse it— those who are ready to awaken monsters. | 8Let those who are experts at cursing— whose cursing could rouse Leviathan — curse that day. |
9Let the stars of its evening twilight be dark; let it hope for light but let there be none; let it not see the breaking rays of the dawn. | 9Let its morning stars remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light. |
10"Because that night refused to shut the doors of my mother's womb; it failed to keep me from seeing this trouble. | 10Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb, for letting me be born to see all this trouble. |
11Why didn't I die while I was still in the womb, or die while I was being born? | 11“Why wasn’t I born dead? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? |
12Why was there a lap to hold me, and why were there breasts to nurse me? | 12Why was I laid on my mother’s lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? |
13"If I had died, I would be lying down by now, undisturbed, asleep, and at rest, | 13Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace. I would be asleep and at rest. |
14along with kings and counselors of the earth, who used to build for themselves what are now only ruins, | 14I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers, whose great buildings now lie in ruins. |
15or princes who amassed gold for themselves, and who kept filling their houses with silver. | 15I would rest with princes, rich in gold, whose palaces were filled with silver. |
16"Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like babies who never saw the light? | 16Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light? |
17In that place, the wicked stop causing trouble, and there, those whose strength is exhausted are at rest. | 17For in death the wicked cause no trouble, and the weary are at rest. |
18In that place, those who once were prisoners will be at ease together; they won't hear the voice of oppressors. | 18Even captives are at ease in death, with no guards to curse them. |
19The unimportant and the important are both there, and the servant is free from his master. | 19Rich and poor are both there, and the slave is free from his master. |
20"Why does God give light to the sufferer or life to the bitter person: | 20“Oh, why give light to those in misery, and life to those who are bitter? |
21To those who are longing for death— even though it does not come? To those who search for it more than for hidden treasure? | 21They long for death, and it won’t come. They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure. |
22To those who are happy beyond measure when they reach their graves? | 22They’re filled with joy when they finally die, and rejoice when they find the grave. |
23To the formerly successful man who lost his way in life, and God fenced him in? | 23Why is life given to those with no future, those God has surrounded with difficulties? |
24"As far as I'm concerned, my food comes to me in the form of sighs, and my cries of anguish pour out like water. | 24I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. |
25For the dreaded thing that I feared has happened to me, what caused me to worry has engulfed me. | 25What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. |
26I will not be at ease; I will not be quiet; I will not rest; because trouble has arrived." | 26I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.” |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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