That day, be it darkness, - Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:

Let darkness and death-shade buy it back, May there settle down upon it a cloud, Let a day's dark eclipse cause it terror:

That night, darkness take it, - May it not rejoice among the days of the year, Into the number of months, let it not enter.

Let day-cursers denounce it, Those skilled in rousing the dragon of the sky:

Darkened be the stars of its twilight, - Let it wait for light, and there be none, neither let it see the eyelashes of the dawn:

Lo! that night, be it barren, Let no joyous shouting enter therein:

Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?

Because it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine eyes.

For what reason, were there prepared for me - knees? and why - breasts, that I might suck?

Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:

There, the lawless, cease from raging, and there the toil-worn are at rest:

With kings, and counselors of the earth, who had built them pyramids:

Perish, the day wherein I was born, and the night it was said, Lo! a manchild!

Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul? -

I was not careless, nor was I secure, nor had I settled down, - when there came - consternation!

So then Job began, and said:

Small and great, there, they are, and, the slave, is free from his master.

Or with rulers possessing, gold, - Who had filled their houses with silver:

At once are prisoners at peace, they hear not the voice of a driver:

To a man, whose way is concealed, And GOD hath straitly enclosed him?

Who long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:

Who rejoice unto exultation, Are glad, when they can find the grave:

For, in the face of my food, my sighing, cometh in, and, poured out like the water, are my groans:

For, a dread, I dreaded, and it hath come upon me, and, that from which I shrank, hath overtaken me.

After this, opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.