| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. | 1After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. |
| 2And Job said: | 2Job spoke up and said: |
| 3“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’ | 3"Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, 'A man has been conceived!' |
| 4Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. | 4That day--let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it! |
| 5Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. | 5Let darkness and the deepest shadow claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it! |
| 6That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. | 6That night--let darkness seize it; let it not be included among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months! |
| 7Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. | 7Indeed, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy penetrate it! |
| 8Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. | 8Let those who curse the day curse it--those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. |
| 9Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, | 9Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn, |
| 10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. | 10because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes! |
| 11“Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? | 11"Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb? |
| 12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? | 12Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them? |
| 13For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, | 13For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peace |
| 14with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, | 14with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate, |
| 15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. | 15or with princes who possessed gold, who filled their palaces with silver. |
| 16Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? | 16Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light? |
| 17There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. | 17There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. |
| 18There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. | 18There the prisoners relax together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. |
| 19The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. | 19Small and great are there, and the slave is free from his master. |
| 20“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, | 20"Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter, |
| 21who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, | 21to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures, |
| 22who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? | 22who rejoice even to jubilation, and are exultant when they find the grave? |
| 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? | 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? |
| 24For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. | 24For my sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water. |
| 25For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. | 25For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me, and what I feared has come upon me. |
| 26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” | 26I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me." |
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