Job Laments His Birth

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

²And this is what he said:

³“May the day of my birth perish,and the night it was said,‘A boy is conceived.’

⁴If only that day had turned to darkness!May God above disregard it;may no light shine upon it.

⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it,and a cloud settle over it;may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

⁶If only darkness had taken that night away!May it not appear among the days of the year;may it never be entered in any of the months.

⁷Behold, may that night be barren;may no joyful voice come into it.

⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars grow dark;may it wait in vain for daylight;may it not see the breaking of dawn.

¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of the wombto hide the sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹Why did I not perish at birth;why did I not die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me,and breasts that I should be nursed?

¹³For now I would be lying down in peace;I would be asleep and at rest

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth,who built for themselves cities now in ruins,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold,who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,like an infant who never sees daylight?

¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging,and there the weary find rest.

¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease;they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁹Both small and great are there,and the slave is freed from his master.

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable,and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹who long for death that does not come,and search for it like hidden treasure,

²²who rejoice and greatly exultwhen they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden,whom God has hedged in?

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me,and my groans pour out like water.

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me,and what I dreaded has befallen me.

²⁶I am not at ease or quiet;I have no rest, for trouble has come.”

Job’s Plea to God

¹“I loathe my own life;I will express my complaintand speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God:Do not condemn me!Let me know why You prosecute me.

³Does it please You to oppress me,to reject the work of Your handsand favor the schemes of the wicked?

⁴Do You have eyes of flesh?Do You see as man sees?

⁵Are Your days like those of a mortal,or Your years like those of a man,

⁶that You should seek my iniquityand search out my sin—

⁷though You know that I am not guilty,and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

⁸Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me.Would You now turn and destroy me?

⁹Please remember that You molded me like clay.Would You now return me to dust?

¹⁰Did You not pour me out like milk,and curdle me like cheese?

¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh,and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and loving devotion,and Your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³Yet You concealed these things in Your heart,and I know that this was in Your mind:

¹⁴If I sinned, You would take note,and would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me!And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head.I am full of shameand aware of my affliction.

¹⁶Should I hold my head high,You would hunt me like a lion,and again display Your power against me.

¹⁷You produce new witnesses against meand multiply Your anger toward me.Hardships assault mein wave after wave.

¹⁸Why then did You bring me from the womb?Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!

¹⁹If only I had never come to be,but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are my days not few?Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,

²¹before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,

²²to a land of utter darkness,of deep shadow and disorder,where even the light is like darkness.”

Job Continues: Life Seems Futile

¹“Is not man consigned to labor on earth?Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

²Like a slave he longs for shade;like a hireling he waits for his wages.

³So I am allotted months of futility,and nights of misery are appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down I think:‘When will I get up?’But the night drags on,and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with wormsand encrusted with dirt;my skin is cracked and festering.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath.My eyes will never again see happiness.

⁸The eye that beholds me will no longer see me.You will look for me, but I will be no more.

⁹As a cloud vanishes and is gone,so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

¹⁰He never returns to his house;his place remembers him no more.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,that You must keep me under guard?

¹³When I think my bed will comfort meand my couch will ease my complaint,

¹⁴then You frighten me with dreamsand terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I would prefer strangling and deathover my life in this body.

¹⁶I loathe my life! I would not live forever.Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁷What is man that You should exalt him,that You should set Your heart upon him,

¹⁸that You attend to him every morning,and test him every moment?

¹⁹Will You never look away from me,or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to You,O watcher of mankind?Why have You made me Your target,so that I am a burden to You?

²¹Why do You not pardon my transgressionand take away my iniquity?For soon I will lie down in the dust;You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

You Have Searched Me and Known Me

¹O LORD, You have searched meand known me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise;You understand my thoughts from afar.

³You search out my path and my lying down;You are aware of all my ways.

⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,You know all about it, O LORD.

⁵You hem me in behind and before;You have laid Your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?Where can I flee from Your presence?

⁸If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn,if I settle by the farthest sea,

¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me;Your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,and the light become night around me”—

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You,but the night shines like the day,for darkness is as light to You.

¹³For You formed my inmost being;You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I praise You,for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Marvelous are Your works,and I know this very well.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from Youwhen I was made in secret,when I was woven togetherin the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body;all my days were written in Your bookand ordained for mebefore one of them came to be.

¹⁷How precious to me are Your thoughts,O God,how vast is their sum!

¹⁸If I were to count them,they would outnumber the grains of sand;and when I awake,I am still with You.

¹⁹O God, that You would slay the wicked—away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

²⁰who speak of You deceitfully;Your enemies take Your name in vain.

²¹Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD,and detest those who rise against You?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred;I count them as my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;test me and know my concerns.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me;lead me in the way everlasting.