Job Curses the Day He Was Born

3After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²Job said:
³‘Let the day perish on which I was born,
   and the night that said,
   “A man-child is conceived.”
¹¹‘Why did I not die at birth,
   come forth from the womb and expire?
¹²Why were there knees to receive me,
   or breasts for me to suck?
¹³Now I would be lying down and quiet;
   I would be asleep; then I would be at rest
¹⁴with kings and counsellors of the earth
   who rebuild ruins for themselves,
¹⁵or with princes who have gold,
   who fill their houses with silver.
¹⁶Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child,
   like an infant that never sees the light?
¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling,
   and there the weary are at rest.
¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together;
   they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
¹⁹The small and the great are there,
   and the slaves are free from their masters.

²⁰‘Why is light given to one in misery,
   and life to the bitter in soul,
²¹who long for death, but it does not come,
   and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
²²who rejoice exceedingly,
   and are glad when they find the grave?
²³Why is light given to one who cannot see the way,
   whom God has fenced in?