> [[job-02|← Previous]] | [[job-00|TOC]] | [[job-04|Next →]] --- # Job, Chapter 3 ## Chapter 3 **Job’s Complaint.** 1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. ^job-03-1 2 Job spoke out and said: ^job-03-2 3 Perish the day on which I was born, ^job-03-3 the night when they said, “The child is a boy!” 4 May that day be darkness: ^job-03-4 may God above not care for it, may light not shine upon it! 5 May darkness and gloom claim it, ^job-03-5 clouds settle upon it, blackness of day affright it! 6 May obscurity seize that night; ^job-03-6 may it not be counted among the days of the year, nor enter into the number of the months! 7 May that night be barren; ^job-03-7 let no joyful outcry greet it! 8 Let them curse it who curse the Sea, ^job-03-8 those skilled at disturbing Leviathan! 9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened; ^job-03-9 may it look for daylight, but have none, nor gaze on the eyes of the dawn, 10 Because it did not keep shut the doors of the womb ^job-03-10 to shield my eyes from trouble! 11 Why did I not die at birth, ^job-03-11 come forth from the womb and expire? 12 Why did knees receive me, ^job-03-12 or breasts nurse me? 13 For then I should have lain down and been tranquil; ^job-03-13 had I slept, I should then have been at rest 14 With kings and counselors of the earth ^job-03-14 who rebuilt what were ruins 15 Or with princes who had gold ^job-03-15 and filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not buried away like a stillborn child, ^job-03-16 like babies that have never seen the light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, ^job-03-17 there the weary are at rest. 18 The captives are at ease together, ^job-03-18 and hear no overseer’s voice. 19 Small and great are there; ^job-03-19 the servant is free from the master. 20 Why is light given to the toilers, ^job-03-20 life to the bitter in spirit? 21 They wait for death and it does not come; ^job-03-21 they search for it more than for hidden treasures. 22 They rejoice in it exultingly, ^job-03-22 and are glad when they find the grave: 23 A man whose path is hidden from him, ^job-03-23 one whom God has hemmed in! 24 For to me sighing comes more readily than food; ^job-03-24 my groans well forth like water. 25 For what I feared overtakes me; ^job-03-25 what I dreaded comes upon me. 26 I have no peace nor ease; ^job-03-26 I have no rest, for trouble has come! --- \* (3:1) His day: that is, the day of his birth. \* (3:4) God: in Heb. *’Eloah*, another name for the divinity, used frequently in Job. \* (3:5) Blackness of day: that is, an eclipse. \* (3:8) Leviathan: a mythological sea monster symbolizing primeval chaos. It is parallel to Sea, which was the opponent of Baal in the Ugaritic legends. Cf. [9:13]; [26:13]; [40:25] – [41:26]; [Ps 74:13] – [14]; [104:26]; [Is 27:1]. \* (3:17) There: in death. \* (3:23) Hemmed in: contrast the same verb as used in [1:10]. --- a. (3:3) [Jer 20:14]. b. (3:11) [Jb 10:18] – [19]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. [[job-02|[← Previous]]] · [[job-04|[Next →]]]