Job curses the day that he was born
1After the 7 days Job started to speak. He cursed the day that he was born. 2Job said:
3‘I wish that the day had never come
when I was born.
I wish that there had been no night like that,
when someone said that a son was born.
4I wish that the day had never started
and it had stayed dark.
God in heaven should never
have given that day to me.
The sun should not have come up on that day.
5That day should have stayed dark, very dark,
clouds should have covered that day
and the sun should have stayed dark.
6That night should have stayed dark.
It should not have been
one of the days of the year,
and it should not have become
one of the days of the month.
7That night should have been the last night,
and no one should have been happy.
8The people who curse days,
the people who know
how to wake up the Leviathan,
should also have cursed that day.
9The stars that shine early in the morning
should have stayed dark.
It should not have become light
when the night waited for the morning to come,
10because the night
did not stop me from being born
and it started my suffering.
11Why didn't I die before I was born?
Or why didn't I die immediately
after I was born?
12Why did my mother put me on her knees
and give me milk to drink?
13If that had not happened,
then I would have gone
to my grave in peace.
I would have slept and rested
14with the kings and the wise men
of the world,
the people who have built cities
for themselves from heaps of stones.
15I would have slept and rested
with the important people
who had gold and houses full of silver.
16I wish I had been buried like a stillborn baby,
like babies who have never seen the light.
17In the grave people who do wrong
can not make problems anymore.
Everyone who was tired is resting there.
18All the prisoners have peace there,
and they do not hear the guards
shouting at them anymore.
19There, children and older people are together
and slaves are free from their owners.
20Why does God give light
to someone who suffers all the time?
Why does He let someone live
who is always unhappy?
21Why does He let someone live
who wishes that he could die,
but his death does not come?
Why does God let someone live
who wants to die and
who is not looking for treasures,
22someone who will be happy
when he goes to his grave?
23Why does God let someone live
who does not know
what will happen to him?
God has cut him off from everything.
24I can not eat, and I keep on
sighing and moaning,
25because I am afraid of many things,
and they have all happened to me.
26I can not be calm and keep quiet,
and I can not rest. I have only trouble.’
