Study Desk

Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed ^(F1)the day of his birth.

And Job ^(F1)said,

"^(C1)May the day on which I was to be born perish, As well as the night which said, 'A ^(F1)boy is conceived.'

-"May that day be darkness; May God above not care for it, Nor light shine on it.

-"May ^(C1)darkness and black gloom claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.

-"As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year; May it not come into the number of the months.

-"Behold, may that night be barren; May no joyful shout enter it.

-"May those curse it who curse the day, Who are ^(F1)prepared to ^(C1)disturb Leviathan.

-"May the stars of its twilight be darkened; May it wait for light but have none, And may it not see the ^(F1)breaking dawn;

Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes.

"^(C1)Why did I not die ^(F1)at birth, Come out of the womb and pass away?

-"Why were the knees there in front of me, And why the breasts, that I would nurse?

-"For now I ^(C1)would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,

With ^(C1)kings and ^(C2)counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ^(C3)ruins for themselves;

Or with ^(C1)rulers ^(C2)who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver.

-"Or like a miscarriage which is ^(F1)hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light.

-"There the wicked cease from raging, And there the ^(F1)weary are at ^(C1)rest.

-"The prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

-"The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.

"Why is ^(C1)light given to one burdened with grief, And life to the bitter of soul,

Who ^(F1)(C1)long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for ^(C2)hidden treasures;

Who are filled with jubilation, And rejoice when they find the grave?

-"Why is light given to a man ^(C1)whose way is hidden, And whom ^(C2)God has shut off?

-"For ^(C1)my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And ^(C2)my cries pour out like water.

-"For ^(F1)(C1)what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread ^(F2)encounters me.

-"I ^(C1)am not at ease, nor am I quiet, And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes."