¹ After this hath Job opened his mouth, and revileth his day.

² And Job answereth and saith: --

³ Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that hath said: `A man-child hath been conceived.'

⁴ That day--let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it.

⁵ Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.

⁶ That night--let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Into the number of months let it not come.

⁷ Lo! that night--let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it.

⁸ Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.

⁹ Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the dawn.

¹⁰ Because it hath not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from mine eyes.

¹¹ Why from the womb do I not die? From the belly I have come forth and gasp!

¹² Wherefore have knees been before me? And what are breasts, that I suck?

¹³ For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept--then there is rest to me,

¹⁴ With kings and counsellors of earth, These building wastes for themselves.

¹⁵ Or with princes--they have gold, They are filling their houses with silver.

¹⁶ (Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants--they have not seen light.)

¹⁷ There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there rest do the wearied in power.

¹⁸ Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor,

¹⁹ Small and great are there the same. And a servant is free from his lord.

²⁰ Why giveth He to the miserable light, and life to the bitter soul?

²¹ Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures.

²² Who are glad--unto joy, They rejoice when they find a grave.

²³ To a man whose way hath been hidden, And whom God doth shut up?

²⁴ For before my food, my sighing cometh, And poured out as waters are my roarings.

²⁵ For a fear I feared and it meeteth me, And what I was afraid of doth come to me.

²⁶ I was not safe--nor was I quiet--Nor was I at rest--and trouble cometh!