| 1 At length it was Job who spoke, cursing the day of his birth. | |
| 2 This is what he said: | |
| 3 Cursed be the day I was born, and the night which whispered: A boy has been conceived. | |
| 4 May that day be dark, may God on high ignore it. May no light shine upon it. | |
| 5 May the shadow of death claim it as its own. May a cloud settle over it; may blackness obstruct its light. | |
| 6 Let darkness swallow that night let it not add to the rest of the year let it not be included in the month. | |
| 7 That night – oh, let it be barren, untouched by shouts of joy. | |
| 8 Let it be cursed by those who hate the light, sorcerers who call on the Devil. | |
| 9 Let its morning stars no longer shine; let it wait for light in vain and never see the first rays of dawn, | |
| 10 since it did not close the womb to keep my eyes from seeing doom. | |
| 11 Why didn’t I die at birth, or come from the womb without breath? | |
| 12 Why the knees that received me, why the breasts that suckled me? | |
| 13 For then I should have lain down asleep and been at rest | |
| 14 with kings and rulers of the earth who built for themselves lonely tombs; | |
| 15 or with princes who had gold to spare and houses stuffed with silver. | |
| 16 Why was I not stillborn, like others who did not see the light of morn? | |
| 17 There the trouble of the wicked ceases, there the weary find repose. | |
| 18 There the prisoners are at ease; they no longer hear the taskmaster’s voice. | |
| 19 Great and small fare equally there, where the slave is free from his master. | |
| 20 Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the embittered? | |
| 21 To those who long for death more than for hidden treasure? | |
| 22 They rejoice at the sight of their end, they are happy upon reaching the grave. | |
| 23 Why give light to a man whose path has vanished, whose ways God blocks at every side? | |
| 24 Instead of bread I feed on sighs. My groans are like water poured out. | |
| 25 For what I fear has come upon me, what I dread has befallen me. | |
| 26 I find no rest, I find no ease; only turmoil, nothing of peace! | |
