Job 3:1-19

Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said, “May the day on which I was to be born perish, As well as the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’ “May that day be darkness; May God above not care for it, Nor light shine on it. “May darkness and black gloom claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. “As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year; May it not come into the number of the months. “Behold, may that night be barren; May no joyful shout enter it. “May those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to disturb Leviathan. “May the stars of its twilight be darkened; May it wait for light but have none, And may it not see the breaking dawn; Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes. ¶“Why did I not die at birth, Come out of the womb and pass away? “Why were the knees there in front of me, And why the breasts, that I would nurse? “For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest, With kings and counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ruins for themselves; Or with rulers who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver. “Or like a miscarriage which is hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light. “There the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary are at rest. “The prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. “The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.