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

And Job responded and said,

Let the day on which I was born perish, And the night which said, A man has been conceived.

Let that day be darkness; Let God not seek it from above, Nor let light shine upon it.

Let darkness and the shadow of death reclaim it; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let the things that blacken the day terrify it.

As for that night, let deep darkness take hold of it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come up in the number of the months.

Behold, let that night be barren; Let no joyous shout come in it.

Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are ready to rouse leviathan.

Let its predawn stars be dark; Let it wait for light and there be none, And do not let it see the eyelids of the dawn.

For it did not shut up the doors of the womb that bore me, Nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb and expire?

Why did the knees receive me? And why the breasts, that I should suck?

For now I would have lain down and been undisturbed; 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 princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver.

Or like a miscarriage that has been concealed, I would not have been, Like infants that do not see the light.

There the wicked cease from their troubling, And there the weary rest.

Captives are altogether at ease; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

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

Why does He give light to him who suffers And life to the bitter in soul,

Who wait for death, but it is not there; And dig for it more than for hidden treasures;

Who rejoice to the point of exultation And are glad when they have found the grave;

To the man whose way is hidden And whom God has hedged in?

For my sighing comes as my food, And my groaning pours out like water.

For I dread something, and it comes upon me; And what I fear comes to me.

I have no ease and I have no quiet And I have no rest, but trouble comes.