Job 3

NASB

Job 3

Job’s Lament

^{Tools
1} Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed ^(a)the day of his birth. ^{Tools
2} And Job ^(b)said,

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“^(A)Let the day perish on which I was to be born,
And the night which said, ‘A ^(c)boy is conceived.’

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“May that day be darkness;
Let not God above care for it,
Nor light shine on it.

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“Let ^(B)darkness and black gloom claim it;
Let a cloud settle on it;
Let the blackness of the day terrify it.

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“As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.

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“Behold, let that night be barren;
Let no joyful shout enter it.

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“Let those curse it who curse the day,
Who are ^(d)prepared to ^(C)rouse Leviathan.

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“Let the stars of its twilight be darkened;
Let it wait for light but have none,
And let it not see the ^(e)breaking dawn;

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Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.

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“^(D)Why did I not die ^(f)at birth,
Come forth from the womb and expire?

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“Why did the knees receive me,
And why the breasts, that I should suck?

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“For now I ^(E)would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,

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With ^(F)kings and with ^(G)counselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ^(H)ruins for themselves;

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Or with ^(I)princes ^(J)who had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.

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“Or like a miscarriage which is ^(g)discarded, I would not be,
As infants that never saw light.

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“There the wicked cease from raging,
And there the ^(h)weary are at ^(K)rest.

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“The prisoners are at ease together;
They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

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19}

“The small and the great are there,
And the slave is free from his master.

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“Why is ^(L)light given to him who suffers,
And life to the bitter of soul,

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Who ⁽ⁱ⁾^(M)long for death, but there is none,
And dig for it more than for ^(N)hidden treasures,

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Who rejoice greatly,
And exult when they find the grave?

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“Why is light given to a man ^(O)whose way is hidden,
And whom ^(P)God has hedged in?

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“For ^(Q)my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And ^(R)my cries pour out like water.

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“For ^(j)^(S)what I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread befalls me.

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“I ^(T)am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”

Footnotes:

a. Job 3:1: ['Lit ', his day]

b. Job 3:2: ['Lit ', answered and said]

c. Job 3:3: ['Lit ', man-child]

d. Job 3:8: ['Or ', skillful]

e. Job 3:9: ['Lit ', eyelids]

f. Job 3:11: ['Lit ', from the womb]

g. Job 3:16: ['Lit ', hidden]

h. Job 3:17: ['Lit ', weary of strength]

i. Job 3:21: ['Lit ', wait]

j. Job 3:25: ['Lit ', the fear I fear and]

Cross references:

A. Job 3:3: Jeremiah 20:14-18

B. Job 3:5: Jeremiah 13:16

C. Job 3:8: Job 41:1; Job 41:25

D. Job 3:11: Job 10:18; Job 10:19

E. Job 3:13: Job 3:13-19; Job 7:8-10; Job 7:21; Job 10:21; Job 10:22; Job 14:10-15; Job 14:20-22; Job 16:22; Job 17:13-16; Job 19:25-27; Job 21:13; Job 21:23-26; Job 24:19; Job 24:20; Job 26:5; Job 26:6; Job 34:22

F. Job 3:14: Job 12:18

G. Job 3:14: Job 12:17

H. Job 3:14: Job 15:28; Isaiah 58:12

I. Job 3:15: Job 12:21

J. Job 3:15: Job 27:16; Job 27:17

K. Job 3:17: Job 17:16

L. Job 3:20: Jeremiah 20:18

M. Job 3:21: Revelation 9:6

N. Job 3:21: Proverbs 2:4

O. Job 3:23: Job 19:6; Job 19:8; Job 19:12

P. Job 3:23: Job 19:8; Psalm 88:8; Lamentations 3:7

Q. Job 3:24: Job 6:7; Job 33:20

R. Job 3:24: Job 30:16; Psalm 42:4

S. Job 3:25: Job 9:28; Job 30:15

T. Job 3:26: Job 7:13; Job 7:14