3 After this opened Iyov his mouth, and cursed his yom.

² And Iyov spoke, and said,

³ Let the yom perish wherein I was born, and halailah in which it was said, There is a gever born.

⁴ Let that yom be choshech; let not Elohim regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

⁵ Let choshech and the tzalmavet (shadow of death) claim it; let an anan dwell upon it; let the blackness of the yom terrify it.

⁶ As for that lailah, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the yamim of the shanah, let it not come into the number of the months.

⁷ Hinei, let that lailah be barren; let no joyful shout come therein.

⁸ Let them curse it that curse the yam, who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹ Let the kokhavim of the dawn thereof be dark; let it look for ohr, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the shachar,

¹⁰ Because it shut not up the dalatot of my mother’s womb, nor hid amal (tzoros) from mine eyes.

¹¹ Why did I not come to mot at birth? Why did I not perish when I came out of the beten (belly, womb)?

¹² Madua (why) were there birkayim to receive me? Or why the shadayim that from them I should nurse?

¹³ For atah (now) I would be lying still and quiet, have slept and been at rest,

¹⁴ With melachim and yo’atzim of ha’aretz, which build ruins for themselves;

¹⁵ Or with sarim (princes) that had zahav, who filled their batim (houses) with kesef;

¹⁶ Or as a hidden stillborn—I had not been!—as olelim which never saw ohr.

¹⁷ There the resha’im cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸ There the asirim (prisoners, captives) rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁹ The katon and gadol are there; and the eved is free from his adon.

²⁰ Why is ohr given to him that is in misery, and chayyim unto the bitter in nefesh;

²¹ Which long for mavet, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;

²² Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the kever?

²³ Why is ohr given to a gever whose derech is hidden, and whom Elohim hath hedged in?

²⁴ For my sighing cometh instead of lechem, and my groanings are poured out like the mayim.

²⁵ For the pachad (terror) which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I dreaded is come unto me.

²⁶ I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; and rogez (tzoros, turmoil) came.