- After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day
- and this is what he said
- May the day perish on which I was born, and the night, in which it was said, “A man has been conceived.
- May that day be turned into darkness, may God not seek it from above, and may light not illuminate it
- Let darkness and the shadow of death obscure it, let a fog overtake it, and let it be enveloped in bitterness
- Let a whirlwind of darkness take hold of that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months
- May that night be alone and unworthy of praise
- May they curse it, who curse the day, who are prepared to awaken a leviathan
- Let the stars be concealed with its darkness. Let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawn in the East
- For it did not close the doors of the womb that bore me, nor take away evils from my eyes
- Why did I not die in the womb? Having left the womb, why did I not immediately perish
- Why was I received upon the knees? Why was I suckled at the breasts
- For by now, I should have been sleeping silently, and taking rest in my slee
- with the kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes
- either with princes, who possess gold and fill their houses with silver
- or, like a hidden miscarriage, I should not have continued, just like those who, being conceived, have not seen the light
- There the impious cease from rebellion, and there the wearied in strength take rest
- And at such times, having been bound together without difficulty, they have not heard the voice of the bailiff
- The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master
- Why is light given to the miserable, and life to those who are in bitterness of soul
- who expect death, and it does not arrive, like those who dig for treasur
- and who rejoice greatly when they have found the grave
- to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has surrounded with darkness
- Before I eat, I sigh; and like overflowing waters, so is my howl
- for the terror that I feared has happened to me, and so has the dread befallen me
- Have I not remained hidden? Have I not kept silence? Have I not remained calm? Yet indignation has overcome me