¶ After¹ this opened² Job his mouth, and cursed³ his day⁴.

And Job spake⁵, and said,

Let the day⁶ perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Let that day be darkness⁷; let not God regard⁸ it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Let darkness and the shadow⁹ of death stain it;¹⁰ let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness¹¹ of the day terrify it.

As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days¹² of the year, let it not come into the number of the months¹⁴.

Lo, let that night be solitary¹⁵, let no joyful voice come therein.

Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready¹⁶ to raise up their mourning¹⁷.

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light¹⁸, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day¹⁹:

¶ Because it shut not²⁰ up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid²¹ sorrow from mine eyes.

¶ Why died I²² not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came²³ out of the belly?

Why did the knees²⁴ prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest²⁵,

With kings²⁶ and counsellors of the earth, which built²⁷ desolate places for themselves;

Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses²⁸ with silver:

Or as an hidden²⁹ untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

There the wicked³⁰ cease from troubling; and there the weary³¹ be at rest.

There the prisoners rest together; they³² hear not the voice of the oppressor.

The small³³ and great are there; and the servant³⁴ is free from his master.

¶ Wherefore³⁵ is light³⁶ given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter³⁷ in soul;

Which long³⁸ for death, but it cometh not; and dig³⁹ for it more than for hid treasures;

Which rejoice exceedingly⁴⁰, and are glad, when they can find the grave⁴¹?

Why is light given to a man whose way⁴² is hid, and whom God hath hedged in⁴³?

For my sighing⁴⁴ cometh before I eat⁴⁵, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

For the thing⁴⁶ which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came⁴⁷.