1Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:
3"Obliterate the day I was born. Blank out the night I was conceived!
4Let it be a black hole in space. May God above forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books!
5May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night.
6And the night of my conception—the devil take it! Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac.
7Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness— no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever!
8May those who are good at cursing curse that day. Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it.
9May its morning stars turn to black cinders, waiting for a daylight that never comes, never once seeing the first light of dawn.
10And why? Because it released me from my mother's womb into a life with so much trouble.
11"Why didn't I die at birth, my first breath out of the womb my last?
12Why were there arms to rock me, and breasts for me to drink from?
13I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain,
14In the company of kings and statesmen in their royal ruins,
15Or with princes resplendent in their gold and silver tombs.
16Why wasn't I stillborn and buried with all the babies who never saw light,
17Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest?
18Prisoners sleep undisturbed, never again to wake up to the bark of the guards.
19The small and the great are equals in that place, and slaves are free from their masters.
20"Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, why bother keeping bitter people alive,
21Those who want in the worst way to die, and can't, who can't imagine anything better than death,
22Who count the day of their death and burial the happiest day of their life?
23What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning?
24"Instead of bread I get groans for my supper, then leave the table and vomit my anguish.
25The worst of my fears has come true, what I've dreaded most has happened.
26My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed. No rest for me, ever—death has invaded life."