Job
Chapter 3
Job breaks his silence after seven days and curses the day he was born. He wishes that day and night erased from the calendar, then asks why he did not die at birth, since death would have brought him rest alongside kings, prisoners, and slaves. He ends by asking why life is given to people who long to die, and says the thing he always dreaded has now happened to him.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
1After this, Job spoke up. He cursed the day he was born.
2And Job spake, and said,
2This is what Job said:
3Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
3I wish the day I was born had never happened. I wish the night they said, "A boy has been conceived," was gone.
4Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
4Let that day turn to darkness. Let God above pay it no attention. Let no light shine on it.
5Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
5Let darkness and deep shadow claim it. Let a cloud settle over it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
6As for that night, let thick darkness take it away. Do not count it among the days of the year or in any month.
7Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
7Look, let that night be empty and alone. Let no happy voice be heard in it.
8Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
8Let those who put curses on days curse that night — the ones ready to wake up Leviathan.
The KJV reads "raise up their mourning," but the word in Hebrew is Leviathan, a huge sea creature. The verse is about people thought to be able to call down curses.
9Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
9Let its morning stars stay dark. Let it wait for light and get none. Let it never see the dawn.
10Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
10That night did not shut the doors of my mother's womb. It did not hide this sorrow from my eyes.
11Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
11Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not stop breathing as I came out of my mother?
12Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
12Why were there knees waiting to hold me? Why were there breasts for me to nurse?
In 1611, "prevent" meant to go before or to meet, not to stop. The knees here are the arms and lap of someone welcoming a newborn.
13For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
13If I had died, I would be lying still and quiet now. I would be asleep and at rest,
14With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
14resting with kings and the wise men who advised them, who built places for themselves that now lie in ruins,
15Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
15or with rulers who owned gold and filled their houses with silver.
16Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
16Or why was I not hidden away like a baby born dead, like infants who never see daylight?
"An hidden untimely birth" means a baby born dead and buried without ever living.
17There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
17There the wicked stop causing trouble. There the worn-out find rest.
18There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
18There prisoners are at ease together. They no longer hear the shouting of the one who ruled them harshly.
19The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
19Both the unimportant and the important are there. The slave is free from his master.
20Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
20Why is light given to a person who is miserable? Why is life given to someone whose heart is bitter?
21Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
21They long for death, but it does not come. They dig for it harder than for buried treasure.
22Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
22They are filled with joy and gladness when they finally reach the grave.
23Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
23Why is life given to a man who cannot see the way ahead, a man God has fenced in?
24For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
24I sigh instead of eating. My groans pour out like water.
25For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
25The thing I feared most has happened to me. What I dreaded has come upon me.
26I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
26I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest. Trouble keeps coming.
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