171 "My spirit is broken, my days used up, my grave dug and waiting. 2 See how these mockers close in on me? How long do I have to put up with their insolence? 3 "O God, pledge your support for me. Give it to me in writing, with your signature. You're the only one who can do it! 4 These people are so useless! You know firsthand how stupid they can be. You wouldn't let them have the last word, would you? 5 Those who betray their own friends leave a legacy of abuse to their children. 6 "God, you've made me the talk of the town - people spit in my face; 7 I can hardly see from crying so much; I'm nothing but skin and bones. 8 Decent people can't believe what they're seeing; the good-hearted wake up and insist I've given up on God. 9 "But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life, sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger!

10 "Maybe you'd all like to start over, to try it again, the bunch of you. So far I haven't come across one scrap of wisdom in anything you've said. 11 My life's about over. All my plans are smashed, all my hopes are snuffed out - 12 My hope that night would turn into day, my hope that dawn was about to break. 13 If all I have to look forward to is a home in the graveyard, if my only hope for comfort is a well-built coffin, 14 If a family reunion means going six feet under, and the only family that shows up is worms, 15 Do you call that hope? Who on earth could find any hope in that? 16 No. If hope and I are to be buried together, I suppose you'll all come to the double funeral!"

Job Bewails His Birth

31 Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate: 2  3 "Obliterate the day I was born. Blank out the night I was conceived! 4 Let it be a black hole in space. May God above forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books! 5 May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night. 6 And the night of my conception - the devil take it! Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac. 7 Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness - no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever! 8 May those who are good at cursing curse that day. Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it. 9 May its morning stars turn to black cinders, waiting for a daylight that never comes, never once seeing the first light of dawn. 10 And why? Because it released me from my mother's womb into a life with so much trouble.

11 "Why didn't I die at birth, my first breath out of the womb my last? 12 Why were there arms to rock me, and breasts for me to drink from? 13 I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain, 14 In the company of kings and statesmen in their royal ruins, 15 Or with princes resplendent in their gold and silver tombs. 16 Why wasn't I stillborn and buried with all the babies who never saw light, 17 Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest? 18 Prisoners sleep undisturbed, never again to wake up to the bark of the guards. 19 The small and the great are equals in that place, and slaves are free from their masters.

20 "Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, why bother keeping bitter people alive, 21 Those who want in the worst way to die, and can't, who can't imagine anything better than death, 22 Who count the day of their death and burial the happiest day of their life? 23 What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning? 24 "Instead of bread I get groans for my supper, then leave the table and vomit my anguish. 25 The worst of my fears has come true, what I've dreaded most has happened. 26 My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed. No rest for me, ever - death has invaded life."