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

2And Iyoḇ spoke, and said,

3“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night it was said, ‘A male child has been conceived.’

4Let that day be darkness. Let not Eloah from above seek for it, nor let light shine upon it.

5Let darkness and the shadow of death buy it back, let a cloud dwell on it, let all that blackens the day frighten it.

6That night – let darkness seize it. Let it not be included among the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

7Look, let that night be silent! Let no singing come into it!

8Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to stir up Liwiathan.

9Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it wait for light, but have none. And let it not see the eyelashes of the dawn.

10For it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11Why did I not die from the womb, come forth from the belly and expire?

12Why were there knees to receive me? Or breasts for me to suck?

13For now I would have been lying in peace. I would have slept – then I would have been at rest,

14with sovereigns and counsellors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves,

15or with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver,

16or as a hidden untimely birth, as infants who never saw light?

17There the wrong cease raging, and there the weary are at rest,

18the prisoners rest together, they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

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

20Why does He give light to the sufferer, and life to the bitter of being,

21who are waiting for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than treasures;

22who rejoice exceedingly, they are glad when they find the grave?

23Why does He give light to a man whose way has been hidden, and whom Eloah has hedged in?

24For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water.

25For that which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I dreaded has overtaken me.

26I have not been at ease, nor have I been undisturbed, nor been at rest, yet trouble comes!”