1. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.
2. He said,
3. "Let the day be lost on which I was born, and the night which said, 'A boy is born.'
4. May that day be darkness. May God above not care for it. May light not shine on it.
5. Let darkness and a heavy shadow take it for their own. Let a cloud come upon it. Let the darkness of the day bring fear upon it.
6. As for that night, let darkness take hold of it. Let it not have joy among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of months.
7. Yes, let that night be alone and empty. Let no sound of joy come into it.
8. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are able to wake up the Leviathan.
9. Let the early morning stars be made dark. Let it wait for light but have none. Do not let it see the light of day.
10. Because it did not keep my mother from giving birth to me, or hide trouble from my eyes.
11. "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not come from my mother and die?
12. Why did the knees receive me, or why the breasts, that I should have milk?
13. For now I would have lain down and been quiet. I would have slept then. I would have been at rest,
14. with kings and wise men of the earth who built cities for themselves that are now destroyed.
15. I would have been at rest with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16. Why did I not die before I was born, hidden and put away, as babies that never see the light?
17. There the troubles of the sinful stop. There the tired are at rest.
18. Those in prison are at rest together. They do not hear the voice of the one who rules over their work.
19. The small and the great are there. And the servant is free from his owner.
20. "Why is light given to him who suffers? Why is life given to those who feel sad in their soul?
21. They wait for death, but there is none. They dig for it more than for hidden riches.
22. They are filled with much joy and are glad, when they find the grave.
23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and around whom God has built a wall?
24. For I cry inside myself in front of my food. My cries pour out like water.
25. What I was afraid of has come upon me. What filled me with fear has happened.
26. I am not at rest, and I am not quiet. I have no rest, but only trouble."