Job 3
International Children’s Bible
Job Curses His Birth
3 After seven days Job spoke. He cursed the day he had been born. 2 Job said:
3 “Let the day I was born be destroyed.
And destroy the night when it was said, ‘A boy is born!’
4 Let that day turn to darkness.
Let God not even care about it.
Don’t let light shine on that day.
5 Let darkness and gloom have that day.
Let a cloud hide that day.
Let darkness cover its light.
6 Let thick darkness capture that night.
Don’t count it among the days of the year.
Don’t put it in any of the months.
7 Let that night be empty.
Let no shout of joy be heard in it.
8 Let the people who curse days curse that day.
They know how to wake up the sea monster Leviathan.
9 Let that day’s morning stars become dark.
Let it wait for daylight, but don’t let it come.
Don’t let it see the first light of dawn.
10 This is because it allowed me to be born.
That day did not hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why didn’t I die as soon as I was born?
Why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did my mother’s knees receive me?
Why did my mother’s breasts feed me?
13 If they had not been there, I would be lying dead in peace.
I would be asleep and at rest.
14 I would be asleep with kings and wise men of the earth.
They built places for themselves that are now ruined.
15 I would be asleep with rulers who had gold.
They filled their houses with silver!
16 Or why was I not buried like a child born dead?
I wish I were like a baby who never saw the light of day.
17 In the grave the wicked stop causing trouble.
And people who are tired are at rest.
18 In the grave there is rest for the captives.
They no longer hear the shout of the slave driver.
19 People great and small are in the grave.
And the slave is freed from his master.
20 “Why is life given to those who are in misery?
Why is it given to those who are so unhappy?
21 Some people want to die, but death does not come.
They search for death more than for hidden treasure.
22 They are very happy
when they get to the grave.
23 Life shouldn’t be given to a man who doesn’t know what will happen to him.
It shouldn’t be given to a man who feels trapped by God.
24 I make sad sounds as I eat.
My groans pour out like water.
25 The thing I was afraid of has happened to me.
And the thing I dreaded has happened.
26 I have no peace. I have no quietness.
I have no rest. I only have trouble.”
Job 3
King James Version
3 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job spake, and said,
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
