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[1] After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,
[2] saying,
[3] Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a man-child!
[4] Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it.
[5] But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it;
[6] let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months.
[7] But let that night be pain, and let not mirth come upon it, nor joy.
[8] But let him that curses that day curse it, even he that is ready to attack the great whale.
[9] Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain dark, and not come into light; and let it not see the morning star arise:
[10] because it shut not up the gates of my mother's womb, for so it would have removed sorrow from my eyes.
[11] For why died I not in the belly? and why did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately?
[12] and why did the knees support me? and why did I suck the breasts?
[13] Now I should have lain down and been quiet, I should have slept and been at rest,
[14] with kings and councillors of the earth, who gloried in their swords;
[15] or with rulers, whose gold was abundant, who filled their houses with silver:
[16] or I should have been as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother's womb, or as infants who never saw light.
[17] There the ungodly have burnt out the fury of rage; there the wearied in body rest.
[18] And the men of old time have together ceased to hear the exactor's voice.
[19] The small and great are there, and the servant that feared his lord.
[20] For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those souls which are in griefs?
[21] who desire death, and obtain it not, digging for it as for treasures;
[22] and would be very joyful if they should gain it?
[23] Death is rest to such a man, for God has hedged him in.
[24] For my groaning comes before my food, and I weep being beset with terror.
[25] For the terror of which I meditated has come upon me, and that which I had feared has befallen me.
[26] I was not at peace, nor quiet, nor had I rest; yet wrath came upon me.
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