Chapter 3

  After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,  

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  and he said:  

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  Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.  

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  Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.  

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  Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.  

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  Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.  

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  Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.  

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  Let them curse it who curse the day. who are ready to raise up a leviathan:  

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  Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:  

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  Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.  

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  Why did I not die in the womb, why did I not perish when I came out of the belly?  

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  Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts ?  

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  For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep.  

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  With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes:  

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  Or with princes, that possess gold, and All their houses with silver:  

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  Or as a hidden untimely birth I should not be, or as they that being conceived have not seen the light.  

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  There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest.  

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  And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor.  

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

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  Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?  

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  That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure:  

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  And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave.  

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  To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness?  

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  Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:  

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  For the fear which I feared hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me.  

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  Have I not dissembled ? have I not kept silence ? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.  

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