1 After this, Job opened {patach: began to speak} his mouth and cursed his day {yom: day of birth}.
2 Then Job {iyyov: afflicted sufferer} answered {vayan: gave a reply} and said.
3 Let the day perish {yovad: be wiped out} on which I was born, and the night that said, “A man {gaver: fully grown male} is conceived.”
4 Let that day be darkness; let God {Eloah, Supreme Arbiter} not seek it from above, nor let light {nehara: radiant brightness} shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim {yig'alu-hu: seize away} it; let a cloud settle upon it; let the blackness {kimrirei: deepest gloom} of the day terrify it.
6 That night—may darkness {ophel: utter gloom} seize it; let it not be joined among the days of the year {shanah: full annual cycle}, in the number of months, let it not enter.
7 Behold, that night {laylah: overshadowed moment}—let it be barren; let no joyful shout {renanah: triumphant rejoicing} enter it.
8 Let those who curse days {orerei-yom: ritual malediction experts} curse it, those who are prepared {haatidim: specially readied group} to rouse Leviathan {livyatan: feared chaos monster}.
9 Let the stars of its twilight {nishpo: dawn-twilight} be darkened; let it wait for light, but have none; and let it not see the eyelids of dawn {shachar: first light}.
10 Because it did not shut the doors of my womb {beten: inner birthplace}, nor did it hide trouble {amal: intense suffering} from my eyes.
11 Why did I not die from the womb {rechem: protected beginning}, come out from the belly, and expire {gava: life utterly ceased}?
12 Why did knees {birkayim: lap of acceptance} receive me, and why breasts {shadayim: source of sustenance} that I should nurse?
13 For now {atah: present moment} I would have lain down and would be quiet; I would have slept; then it would be rest {yanuakh: peaceful repose} for me.
14 With kings {melakhim: earthly rulers} and counselors of the earth, the builders {bonim: grand project planners} who rebuilt ruins for themselves.
15 Or with princes {sarim: high-ranking nobles} who had gold for themselves, who filled their houses with silver {kasef: precious metal currency}.
16 Or, like a stillborn child {nefel: untimely birth}, hidden, I would not exist; like infants who never saw the light {or: life experience}.
17 There the wicked {reshaim: morally guilty ones} cease from turmoil {rogez: intense inner agitation}, and there the weary of strength rest.
18 Together {yachad: in shared rest}, the prisoners are at ease; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster {nogesh: harsh driver}.
19 The small {qaton: socially insignificant} and the great are there, and the servant is free from his masters {adonav: those in authority}.
20 Why does He {Elohim, Sovereign Giver} give light to the miserable {amel: burdened sufferer}, and life to the bitter of soul?
21 To those who long {hamchakkim: restless expectation} for death, but it does not come, and who dig for it more than for hidden treasures {matmonim: secretly buried riches}.
22 Those who rejoice {hassemachim: intensely glad} exceedingly exult when they find the grave {qaver: place of burial}.
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden {nistarah: kept from understanding}, whom God {Eloah, Sovereign Limiter} has hedged in?
24 For before my bread, my sighing {ankhah: deep anguished breath} comes, and my groanings {shaagah: intense roaring grief} are poured out like water.
25 For the fear {pachad: Intense Inner Dread} that I feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded {yagor: Deeply Rooted Terror} has happened to me.
26 I was not at ease {shalavti: settled security}, nor was I quiet {shaqatti: undisturbed calm}, nor was I at rest, and turmoil came upon me.