| 3:1 | Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate: |
| 3:2 |  |
| 3:3 | "Obliterate the day I was born. Blank out the night I was conceived! |
| 3:4 | Let it be a black hole in space. May God above forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books! |
| 3:5 | May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night. |
| 3:6 | And the night of my conception--the devil take it! Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac. |
| 3:7 | Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness--no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever! |
| 3:8 | May those who are good at cursing curse that day. Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it. |
| 3:9 | May its morning stars turn to black cinders, waiting for a daylight that never comes, never once seeing the first light of dawn. |
| 3:10 | And why? Because it released me from my mother's womb into a life with so much trouble. |
| 3:11 | "Why didn't I die at birth, my first breath out of the womb my last? |
| 3:12 | Why were there arms to rock me, and breasts for me to drink from? |
| 3:13 | I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain, |
| 3:14 | In the company of kings and statesmen in their royal ruins, |
| 3:15 | Or with princes resplendent in their gold and silver tombs. |
| 3:16 | Why wasn't I stillborn and buried with all the babies who never saw light, |
| 3:17 | Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest? |
| 3:18 | Prisoners sleep undisturbed, never again to wake up to the bark of the guards. |
| 3:19 | The small and the great are equals in that place, and slaves are free from their masters. |
| 3:20 | "Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, why bother keeping bitter people alive, |
| 3:21 | Those who want in the worst way to die, and can't, who can't imagine anything better than death, |
| 3:22 | Who count the day of their death and burial the happiest day of their life? |
| 3:23 | What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning? |
| 3:24 | "Instead of bread I get groans for my supper, then leave the table and vomit my anguish. |
| 3:25 | The worst of my fears has come true, what I've dreaded most has happened. |
| 3:26 | My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed. No rest for me, ever--death has invaded life." |
Job 3 - The Message Bible
