Job 3 | Lees | STEP | After this time Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day.

‏ Job 3

1 After this time Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. 2 And Job commenced, and said, 3 Oh that the day whereon I was born might perish, and the night when it was said, There hath been a male child conceived. 4 May that day be covered with darkness; may not God from above inquire for it, and may no light beam upon it. 5 Oh that darkness and the shadow of death might defile it; may a cloud rest upon it; may the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 Yon night—let darkness seize upon it; let it not be united to the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the periods lighted by the moon. 7 Lo, may that night be solitary, let no song of joy occur thereon. 8 Let those denounce it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning cry. 9 Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; let it hope for light, and there be none; and let it not behold the eyelids of the morning-dawn; 10 Because God closed not against me the doors of the womb, and thus concealed trouble from my eyes. 11 Why did I not die the moment I issued from the womb, and why was I not born merely to perish at once? 12 Wherefore were knees ready to receive me? and for what purpose were breasts there that I might suck? 13 For now should I be lying still and be quiet; I should sleep: then would I be at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build up ruined places for themselves; 15 Or with princes possessing gold, who fill their houses with silver; 16 Or as an untimely birth, hidden from view I should not exist; as infants that never have seen the light; 17 There where the wicked cease from troubling; and where the exhausted weary are at rest; 18 Where the prisoners repose together, and they hear no more the taskmaster’s voice. 19 The small with the great is there, and the servant free from his master. 20 Wherefore giveth He now light to the labor-laden, and life unto the bitter in soul? 21 Who wait for death, which cometh not; and who dig for it sooner than for hidden treasures; 22 Who would rejoice even to exulting, who would be glad could they but find a grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and around whom God hath placed a fence? 24 For before my food cometh my groaning, and like the water are poured forth my loud complaints. 25 Because what I greatly dreaded is come upon me, and what I apprehended is come unto me. 26 I have had no safety, and no quiet, and no rest; and now harrowing trouble is come.