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Job's Opening Speech: Job 3.1-26

Job's First Speech

Finally, Job cursed the day of his birth
     by saying to God:
Blot out the day of my birth
    and the night when my parents created a son.
Forget about that day, cover it with darkness,
     and send thick, gloomy shadows to fill it with dread.
Erase that night from the calendar
    and conceal it with darkness.
Don't let children be created or joyful shouts be heard
    ever again in that night.
Let those with magic powers place a curse on that day.
Darken its morning stars and remove all hope of light,
    because it let me be born into a world of trouble.

Why didn't I die at birth? Why was I accepted
    and allowed to nurse at my mother's breast?
Now I would be at peace in the silent world below
with kings and their advisors whose palaces lie in ruins,
     and with rulers once rich with silver and gold.
I wish I had been born dead and then buried,
    never to see the light of day.
In the world of the dead, the wicked and the weary rest
    without a worry.
Everyone is there—
     where captives and slaves are free at last.

Why does God let me live
    when life is miserable and so bitter?
I keep longing for death
    more than I would seek a valuable treasure.
Nothing could make me happier than to be in the grave.
Why do I go on living when God has me surrounded,
    and I can't see the road?
Moaning and groaning are my food and drink,
     and my worst fears have all come true.
I have no peace or rest—
    only troubles and worries.

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