Job Curses His Birth
1Afterward, Job began to speak and cursed the day of his birth. 2Job spoke up and said:
3Perish the day on which I was born,
And the night it was announced,
“A male has been conceived!”
4May that day be darkness;
May God above have no concern for it;
May light not shine on it;
5May darkness and deep gloom reclaim it;
May a pall lie over it; [ . . . ]
6May obscurity carry off that night;
May it not be counted among the days of the year;
May it not appear in any of its months; [ . . . ]
9May its twilight stars remain dark;
May it hope for light and have none;
May it not see the glimmerings of the dawn—
10Because it did not block my mother’s womb,
And hide trouble from my eyes.
11Why did I not die at birth,
Expire as I came forth from the womb?
12Why were there knees to receive me,
Or breasts for me to suck?
13For now would I be lying in repose, asleep and at rest,
14With the world’s kings and counselors who rebuild ruins for themselves,
15Or with nobles who possess gold and who fill their houses with silver.
16Or why was I not like a buried stillbirth,
Like babies who never saw the light?
17There the wicked cease from troubling;
There rest those whose strength is spent.
18Prisoners are wholly at ease;
They do not hear the taskmaster’s voice.
19Small and great alike are there,
And the slave is free of his master.
20Why does He give light to the sufferer
And life to the bitter in spirit;
21To those who wait for death but it does not come,
Who search for it more than for treasure,
22Who rejoice to exultation,
And are glad to reach the grave;
23To the man who has lost his way,
Whom God has hedged about?
24My groaning serves as my bread;
My roaring pours forth as water.
25For what I feared has overtaken me;
What I dreaded has come upon me.
26I had no repose, no quiet, no rest,
And trouble came.
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Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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Related Guide
What Is the Book of Job?
6th–4th Century BCE
The book of Job asks why bad things happen to good people, as an entry point into questions about the relationship between God and humans.
Related Guide
Writings: The Third Section of the Jewish Bible
10th–2nd Century BCE
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