1 After all this, Job ⌞finally⌟ opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.
2 Job said,
3 “Scratch out the day I was born
4 “That day—
5 Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own.
6 “That night—
7 Let that night be empty.
8 Let those who curse the day
9 Let its stars turn dark before dawn.
10 because it did not shut the doors of the womb ⌞from which I came⌟
11 “Why didn’t I die as soon as I was born
12 Why did knees welcome me?
13 Instead of being alive,
14 I would be with the kings and the counselors of the world
15 I would be with princes
16 I would be buried like a stillborn baby.
17 There the wicked stop their raging.
18 There the captives have no troubles at all.
19 There ⌞you find⌟ both the unimportant and important people.
20 “Why give light to one in misery
21 to those who long for death but it never comes—
22 They are ecstatic,
23 Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden,
24 “When my food is in front of me, I sigh.
25 What I fear most overtakes me.
26 I have no peace!