3:3 May the day of my birth perish, and the night when it was said, “A child has been conceived!”
3:4 As for that day, let it be darkness! May God above have no concern for it. May light not shine on it.
3:5 May darkness and the shadow of death reclaim it. May a dark cloud settle over it. May whatever blackens the day terrify it.
3:6 As for that night, may deep darkness take it away! May it not be included among the days of the year or show up in the list of months.
3:7 Oh let that night be barren! May no joyful shout be heard in it.
3:8 May those who curse days cast a spell on it, those who are able to awaken Leviathan.
3:9 May its twilight stars be darkened. May it wait hopefully for light but receive none. May it never see the eyelids of dawn,
3:10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and it did not hide trouble from my eyes.
3:11 Why did I not die at birth or pass away as I came from the womb?
3:12 Why did my mother’s knees receive me? Why were her breasts there to nurse me?
3:13 For then I would be lying down peacefully. I would be sleeping and resting quietly
3:14 with the kings and counselors of the earth, with those who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,
3:15 with high officials who accumulated gold, with those who filled their houses with silver.
3:16 Why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like the infants who never see the light of day?
3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil. There the weary are at rest.
3:18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They no longer hear the voice of the slave driver.
3:19 There the small and great are alike, and the slave is free from his master.
3:20 Why is light given to those weighed down with grief? Why is life given to those whose spirit is bitter,
3:21 to those who yearn for death but it does not come, though they dig for it more than for buried treasure,
3:22 to those who will be thrilled with happiness, those who will celebrate when they reach the grave?
3:23 Why is light given to a man whose path is hidden, to one whom God has hedged in?
3:24 Now my sighing takes the place of my daily bread. My groans gush forth like water,
3:25 because what I feared has overwhelmed me, and that which I dreaded has come upon me.
3:26 I have no ease, no quiet, no rest. Instead, turmoil has come.
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