271 And Job again took up his discourse, and said: 2 "As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, 3 as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. 5 Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. 6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7 "Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. 8 For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? 9 Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? 10 Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. 12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain? 13 "This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty: 14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread. 15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep. 16 Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay, 17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. 18 He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes. 19 He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. 20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off. 21 The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. 22 It[1] hurls at him without pity; he flees from its[2] power in headlong flight. 23 It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.
31 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 "Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.' 4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. 5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 That night--let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. 8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. 9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, 10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 "Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. 19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24 For my sighing comes instead of[3] my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes."
