Job 3, side by side

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

¹After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

²And this is what he said:

²And Job spake, and said,

³“May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

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

⁴If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.

⁴Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

⁵Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

⁶If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year; may it never be entered in any of the months.

⁶As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

⁷Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.

⁷Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day— those prepared to rouse Leviathan.

⁸Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

⁹May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

⁹Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.

¹⁰Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

¹¹Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?

¹¹Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should be nursed?

¹²Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

¹³For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,

¹⁴With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

¹⁵or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁵Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?

¹⁶Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁸There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁹Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

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

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

²⁰Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

²¹who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,

²¹Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

²²who rejoice and greatly exult when they can find the grave?

²²Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

²⁴For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.

²⁵For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

²⁶I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”

²⁶I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.