(A)May the day on which I was to be born perish,
As well as the night which said, ‘A [a]boy is conceived.’
May that day be darkness;
May God above not care for it,
Nor light shine on it.
May (B)darkness and black gloom claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not rejoice among the days of the year;
May it not come into the number of the months.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 3:3 Lit man-child

“May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’(A)
That day—may it turn to darkness;
    may God above not care about it;
    may no light shine on it.
May gloom and utter darkness(B) claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.
That night—may thick darkness(C) seize it;
    may it not be included among the days of the year
    nor be entered in any of the months.

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10 (A)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a (B)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not (C)lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.

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10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,(A)
    a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!(B)
I have neither lent(C) nor borrowed,
    yet everyone curses(D) me.

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