Job

 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born,+

Also the night when someone said: ‘A man has been conceived!’

Let God above show no concern for it;

Let no light shine upon it.

 6 That night—let the gloom seize it;+

Let it not rejoice among the days of a year,

And let it not enter among the number of the months.

 7 Indeed! Let that night become barren;

Let no joyful cry be heard in it.

 8 Let those who curse the day put a curse on it,

Those who are able to awaken Le·viʹa·than.*+

 9 Let the stars of its twilight grow dark;

Let it wait in vain for daylight,

And let it not see the rays of dawn.

10 For it did not close the doors of my mother’s womb;+

Nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

12 Why were there knees to receive me

And breasts to nurse me?

13 For now I would be lying down undisturbed;+

I would be sleeping and at rest+

14 With kings of the earth and their advisers,

Who built for themselves places that are now in ruins,*

15 Or with princes who possessed gold,

Whose houses were filled with silver.

16 Or why was I not like a hidden miscarriage,

Like children who have never seen the light?

17 There even the wicked have ceased from agitation;

There the weary are at rest.+

18 There the prisoners are at ease together;

They do not hear the voice of the one forcing them to work.

19 Small and great are the same there,+

And the slave is set free from his master.

20 Why does he give light to one who is suffering

And life to those in bitter distress?*+

They dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

22 Those who are rejoicing greatly,

Who are happy when they find the grave.

23 Why does he give light to a man who has lost his way,

Whom God has hedged in?+

24 For in place of my food comes my sighing,+

And my groaning+ pours out like water.

25 For what I have dreaded has come upon me,

And what I have feared has befallen me.

26 I have had no peace, no quiet, no rest,

But trouble keeps coming.”