Job 3 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

Job wishes he had never been born

1 After a while, Job opened his mouth to speak. He cursed the day he had been born. 2 He said, 3 ‘May the day I was born be wiped out. May the night be wiped away when people said, “A boy is born!” 4 May that day turn into darkness. May God in heaven not care about it. May no light shine on it. 5 May gloom and total darkness take it back. May a cloud settle over it. May blackness cover it up. 6 May deep darkness take over the night I was born. May it not be included among the days of the year. May it never appear in any of the months. 7 May no children ever have been born on that night. May no shout of joy be heard in it. 8 May people say evil things about that day. May people ready to wake the sea monster Leviathan say evil things about that day. 9 May its morning stars become dark. May it lose all hope of ever seeing daylight. May it not see the first light of the morning sun. 10 It didn’t keep my mother from letting me be born. It didn’t keep my eyes from seeing trouble. 11 ‘Why didn’t I die when I was born? Why didn’t I die as I came out of my mother’s body? 12 Why was I placed on her knees? Why did her breasts give me milk? 13 If all of that hadn’t happened, I would be lying down in peace. I’d be asleep and at rest in the grave. 14 I’d be with the earth’s kings and rulers. They had built for themselves places that are now destroyed. 15 I’d be with princes who used to have gold. They had filled their houses with silver. 16 Why wasn’t I buried like a baby who was born dead? Why wasn’t I buried like a child who never saw the light of day? 17 In the grave, sinful people don’t cause trouble anymore. And there tired people find rest. 18 Prisoners also enjoy peace there. They don’t hear a slave driver shouting at them anymore. 19 The least important and most important people are there. And there the slaves are set free from their owners. 20 ‘Why should those who suffer ever be born? Why should life be given to those whose spirits are bitter? 21 Why is life given to those who long for death that doesn’t come? Why is it given to those who would rather search for death than for hidden treasure? 22 Why is life given to those who are actually happy and glad when they reach the grave? 23 Why is life given to a man like me? God hasn’t told me what will happen to me. He has surrounded me with nothing but trouble. 24 Sighs have become my food every day. Groans pour out of me like water. 25 What I was afraid of has come on me. What I worried about has happened to me. 26 I don’t have any peace and quiet. I can’t find any rest. All I have is trouble.’

English Standard Version

Job Laments His Birth

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. (Job 33:2; Ps 78:2) 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’ (Job 10:18; Jer 20:14) 4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. 5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. (Job 10:21; Job 12:22; Job 24:17; Job 28:3; Job 34:22; Job 38:17; Ps 23:4; Isa 9:2; Mt 4:16)

Job 10:21Job 12:22Job 24:17Job 28:3Job 34:22Job 38:17Ps 23:4Isa 9:2Mt 4:16

6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. 8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. (Job 41:1) 9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, (Job 41:18) 10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? (Job 10:18) 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? (Ge 30:3; Ge 50:23; Isa 66:12) 13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, (Isa 58:12) 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? (Ps 58:8; Ec 6:3; 1Co 15:8) 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. (Job 17:16) 18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. (Ex 3:7) 19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, (Pr 31:6) 21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, (Pr 2:4; Re 9:6) 22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? (Job 1:10; Job 19:8; Isa 40:27) 24 For my sighing comes instead of^[1] my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. (Ps 22:1; Ps 38:8; Ps 42:3; Ps 80:5; Ps 102:9)

Ps 22:1Ps 38:8Ps 42:3Ps 80:5Ps 102:9

25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. (Pr 10:24) 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”