¹Shure kwaizvozvo Jobho wakashamisa muromo wake, akatuka zuva rake.

¹After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

²Jobho akapindura akati,

²And Job answered and said:

³Zuva randakaberekwa naro ngarirove, Nousiku uhwo hwavakati, Mwana womukomana agamuchirwa.

³Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.

⁴Zuva iro ngarive rima; Mwari ari kumusoro ngaarege kurirangarira, Nechiedza ngachirege kurivhenekera.

⁴Let that day be darkness; Let not God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine upon it.

⁵Rima nomumvuri worufu ngazviritore rive razvo; Gore ngarigare pamusoro paro; Zvose zvinosvibisa zuva ngazvirivhunduse.

⁵Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

⁶Kana huri vusiku uhwo, ngahubatwe nerima guru; Ngahurege kufara pakati pamazuva egore; Ngahurege kurahwa pakati pemwedzi.

⁶As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it: Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months.

⁷Usiku uhwo ngahuve ngomwa; inzwi romufaro ngarirege kupinda mahuri.

⁷Lo, let that night be barren; Let no joyful voice come therein.

⁸Vanotuka zuva iro ngavavutukewo, Ivo vanogona kumutsa shato huru.

⁸Let them curse it that curse the day, Who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

⁹Nyeredzi dzamambakwedza ahwo ngadzisvibe; Ngahumirire chiedza, asi huchishaiwe; Ngaurege kuona fungiro dzameso amangwanani;

⁹Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

¹⁰Zvahusina kupfiga mikova yemimba yamai vangu, Kana kuvanza kutambudzika pameso angu.

¹⁰Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother's] womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.

¹¹Ndakaregereiko kufa ndichiri mumimba? Ndakaregerei kuparara ndichibuda mudumbu,

¹¹Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?

¹²Mabvi akandigamuchirireiko? Kana mazamu, kuti ndimwe?

¹²Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck?

¹³nekuti ndingadai zvino ndakatandavara, ndinyerere; Ndingadai ndivete; ipapo ndingadai ndazorora;

¹³For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest,

¹⁴Pamwechete namadzimambo namakurukota enyika Vakazvivakira matongo;

¹⁴With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built up waste places for themselves;

¹⁵Kana namachinda, aiva nendarama, Akazadza dzimba dzawo nesirivha;

¹⁵Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver:

¹⁶Kana ndingadai ndisina kuvapo somwana akaponiwa nguva isina kusvika; Savacheche vasina kutongoona chiedza.

¹⁶Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.

¹⁷Vakaipa vanorega kutambudza kwavo ipapo; Vakaneta vanozorora ipapo.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸Vasungwa vanorugare pamwechete ipapo; Havanzwi inzwi romutariri.

¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together; They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

¹⁹Vaduku navakuru varipo; Uye muranda akasununguka panatenzi wake.

¹⁹The small and the great are there: And the servant is free from his master.

²⁰Munhu ari panjodzi anopirweiko chiedza, Noupenyu kuno ane shungu pamoyo;

²⁰Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul;

²¹Avo vanoshuva rufu, asi haruuyi; Vanoruchera kupfuura fuma yakavanzwa pasi;

²¹Who long for death, but it cometh not, And dig for it more than for hid treasures;

²²Vanopembera kwazvo, Nokufara, kana vachiwana hwiro?

²²Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad, when they can find the grave?

²³Munhu, akadzimira nzira yake, anopirweiko upenyu, Iye akadzivirirwa norumhanda naMwari?

²³[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?

²⁴Nekuti ndinogomera ndisati ndadya, Kuvuvura kwangu kunodururwa semvura.

²⁴For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groanings are poured out like water.

²⁵Nekuti chinhu chandaitya chandiwira, Nechandinoteta chandivinga.

²⁵For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.

²⁶Handina mufaro, kana kunyarara, kana kuzorora; Asi njodzi inongosiuya.

²⁶I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; But trouble cometh.