1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job 1 spoke, and said:
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"May a the day perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
'A male child is conceived.'
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May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
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May darkness and b the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
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As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not 2 rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
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Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
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May those curse it who curse the day,
Those c who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
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May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the 3 dawning of the day;
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Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
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"Why d did I not die at birth?
Why did I not 4 perish when I came from the womb?
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e Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
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For now I would have lain still and been quiet,
I would have been asleep;
Then I would have been at rest
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With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who f built ruins for themselves,
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Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
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Or why was I not hidden g like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
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There the wicked cease from troubling,
And there the 5 weary are at h rest.
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There the prisoners 6 rest together;
i They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
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The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.
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"Why j is light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the k bitter of soul,
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Who l long 7 for death, but it does not come,
And search for it more than m hidden treasures;
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Who rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad when they can find the n grave?
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Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
o And whom God has hedged in?
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For my sighing comes before 8 I eat,
And my groanings pour out like water.
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For the thing I greatly p feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
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I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes."