3:3 “Let the day on which 1 I was born 2 perish,
and the night that said, 3
‘A man 4 has been conceived!’ 5
3:4 That day 6 – let it be darkness; 7
let not God on high regard 8 it,
nor let light shine 9 on it!
3:5 Let darkness and the deepest
shadow 10 claim it; 11
let a cloud settle on it;
let whatever blackens the day 12 terrify it!
3:6 That night – let darkness seize 13 it;
let it not be included 14 among the days of the year;
let it not enter among the number of the months! 15
3:7 Indeed, 16 let that night be barren; 17
let no shout of joy 18 penetrate 19 it!
3:8 Let those who curse the day 20 curse it 21 –
those who are prepared to rouse 22 Leviathan. 23
3:9 Let its morning stars 24 be darkened;
let it wait 25 for daylight but find none, 26
nor let it see the first rays 27 of dawn,
3:10 because it 28 did not shut the doors 29 of my mother’s womb on me, 30
nor did it hide trouble 31 from my eyes!
3:11 “Why did I not 33 die 34 at birth, 35
and why did I not expire
as 36 I came out of the womb?
3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, 37
and why were there 38 two breasts 39
that I might nurse at them? 40
3:13 For now 41 I would be lying down
and 42 would be quiet, 43
I would be asleep and then at peace 44
3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who built for themselves places now desolate, 45
3:15 or with princes who possessed gold, 46
who filled their palaces 47 with silver.
3:16 Or why 48 was 49 I not buried 50
like a stillborn infant, 51
like infants 52 who have never seen the light? 53
3:17 There 54 the wicked 55 cease 56 from turmoil, 57
and there the weary 58 are at rest.
3:18 There 59 the prisoners 60 relax 61 together; 62
they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 63
3:19 Small and great are 64 there,
and the slave is free 65 from his master. 66
3:20 “Why does God 68 give 69 light to one who is in misery, 70
and life to those 71 whose soul is bitter,
3:21 to 72 those who wait 73 for death that 74 does not come,
and search for it 75
more than for hidden treasures,
3:22 who rejoice 76 even to jubilation, 77
and are exultant 78 when 79 they find the grave? 80
3:23 Why is light given 81 to a man 82
whose way is hidden, 83
and whom God has hedged in? 84
3:24 For my sighing comes in place of 85 my food, 86
and my groanings 87 flow forth like water. 88
3:25 For the very thing I dreaded 89 has happened 90 to me,
and what I feared has come upon me. 91
3:26 I have no ease, 92 I have no quietness;
I cannot rest; 93 turmoil has come upon me.” 94