3:1. After this, Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,
Cursed his day. . .Job cursed the day of his birth, not by way of
wishing evil to any thing of God's creation; but only to express in a
stronger manner his sense of human miseries in general, and of his own
calamities in particular.
3:2. And he said:
3:3. Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it
was said: A man child is conceived.
3:4. Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from
above, and let not the light shine upon it.
3:5. Let darkness, and the shadow of death, cover it, let a mist
overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.
3:6. Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be
counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.
3:7. Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.
3:8. Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a
leviathan:
3:9. Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect
light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:
3:10. Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor
took away evils from my eyes.
3:11. Why did I not die in the womb? why did I not perish when I came
out of the belly?
3:12. Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts?
3:13. For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest
in my sleep:
3:14. With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves
solitudes:
3:15. Or with princes, that possess gold, and fill their houses with
silver:
3:16. Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that,
being conceived, have not seen the light.
3:17. There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in
strength are at rest.
3:18. And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard
the voice of the oppressor.
3:19. The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his
master.
3:20. Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them
that are in bitterness of soul?
3:21. That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a
treasure:
3:22. And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave?
3:23. To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with
darkness?
3:24. Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:
3:25. For the fear which I feared, hath come upon me: and that which I
was afraid of, hath befallen me.
3:26. Have I not dissembled? have I not kept silence? have I not been
quiet? and indignation is come upon me.