| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. | 1At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. |
| 3“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’ | 3“Let the day of my birth be erased, and the night I was conceived. |
| 4Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. | 4Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no 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 the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness 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. | 6Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months. |
| 7Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. | 7Let that night be childless. Let it have no joy. |
| 8Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. | 8Let those who are experts at cursing— whose cursing could rouse Leviathan — curse that day. |
| 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 remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light. |
| 10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. | 10Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb, for letting me be born to see all this trouble. |
| 11“Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? | 11“Why wasn’t I born dead? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? |
| 12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? | 12Why was I laid on my mother’s lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? |
| 13For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, | 13Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace. I would be asleep and at rest. |
| 14with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, | 14I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers, whose great buildings now lie in ruins. |
| 15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. | 15I would rest with princes, rich in gold, whose palaces were filled with silver. |
| 16Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? | 16Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light? |
| 17There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. | 17For in death the wicked cause no trouble, and the weary are at rest. |
| 18There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. | 18Even captives are at ease in death, with no guards to curse them. |
| 19The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. | 19Rich and poor are both 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“Oh, why give light to those in misery, and life to those who are bitter? |
| 21who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, | 21They long for death, and it won’t come. They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure. |
| 22who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? | 22They’re filled with joy when they finally die, and rejoice when they find the grave. |
| 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? | 23Why is life given to those with no future, those God has surrounded with difficulties? |
| 24For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. | 24I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. |
| 25For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. | 25What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. |
| 26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” | 26I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.” |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
