Job Laments his Birth

1After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day, 2and he said:

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

4Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.

5Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.

6Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

7Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.

8Let them curse it who curse the day. who are ready to raise up a leviathan:

9Let 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:

10Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.

11Why did I not die in the womb, why did I not perish when I came out of the belly?

12Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts ?

13For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep.

14With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes:

15Or with princes, that possess gold, and All their houses with silver:

16Or as a hidden untimely birth I should not be, or as they that being conceived have not seen the light.

17There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest.

18And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor.

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

20Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?

21That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure:

22And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave.

23To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness?

24Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:

25For the fear which I feared hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me.

26Have I not dissembled ? have I not kept silence ? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.