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

¹¶ I muri i tenei ka puaki te mangai o Hopa, a ka kanga e ia tona ra.

²Job answered:

²Na ka oho a Hopa, ka mea,

³“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’

³Kia ngaro te ra i whanau ai ahau, te po i korerotia ai, He tamaroa kei roto i te kopu.

⁴Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.

⁴Waiho taua ra mo te pouri; kaua e tirohia iho e te Atua i runga; kaua hoki e whitingia e te marama.

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

⁵Kia poke ia i te pouri, i te atarangi hoki o te mate; kia tauria iho e te kapua; kia whakawehia ano hoki e te whakapouritanga o te ra.

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

⁶Na ko taua po, kia mau pu i te pouri kerekere: kei honoa ki nga ra o te tau; kei huihuia atu ina taua nga marama.

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

⁷Nana, kia mokemoke taua po, kaua te reo koa e uru ki roto.

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

⁸Kia kanga hoki e te hunga kanga i te ra, e te hunga mohio ki te whakaara rewiatana.

⁹Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

⁹Kia pouri nga whetu o tona kakarauritanga; kia tatari ki te marama, a kahore noa iho; kei kite hoki i te takiritanga ata.

¹⁰because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

¹⁰Mona kihai i tutaki i nga tatau o te kopu o toku whaea, kihai i huna i te mauiui kei kitea e ahau.

¹¹“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?

¹¹¶ He aha ahau te mate ai i te kopu? He aha te hemo ai i toku putanga mai i te kopu?

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

¹²He aha i rite wawe ai nga turi moku, me nga u hei ngote maku?

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

¹³Me i pena, kua ata takoto ahau, te ai he whakaohooho, moe ana ahau: katahi ahau ka whai okiokinga,

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;

¹⁴I roto i nga kingi, i nga kaiwhakatakoto whakaaro o te whenua i hanga nei i nga wahi mokemoke mo ratou,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

¹⁵I roto ranei i nga rangatira whai koura, o ratou nei whare ki tonu i te hiriwa:

¹⁶or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.

¹⁶Kua kahore noa iho ranei, kua pera me te materoto e ngaro nei, me nga kohungahunga kahore nei e kite i te marama.

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

¹⁷Mutu ake i reira te whakararuraru a te hunga kino; okioki ana i reira te hunga kua mauiui nga uaua.

¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.

¹⁸Ata noho ana nga herehere i reira, te rongo i te reo o te kaitukino.

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

¹⁹Kei reira te iti, te rahi, kahore hoki he rangatira o te pononga.

²⁰“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,

²⁰¶ He aha te marama i homai ai ki te tangata kei roto nei i te mate? te ora ki te tangata kua kawa te wairua?

²¹Who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

²¹E koingo nei ki te mate, heoi kahore noa iho; e keri ana kia taea ia, nui atu i te keri i nga taonga huna.

²²who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

²²Hari pu ratou, koa ana, ina kitea te urupa.

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²³He aha ano te marama i homai ai ki te tangata kua huna nei tona ara, kua oti nei te tutakitaki mai e te Atua?

²⁴For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.

²⁴Kiano hoki ahau i kai, kua tae mai taku mapu: ano he wai oku hamama e ringihia ana.

²⁵For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.

²⁵No te mea kua tae mai ki ahau te mea whakawehi e wehi nei ahau; ko taku e pawera nei kua pa ki ahau.

²⁶I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes.”

²⁶Kahore oku humarie, kahore oku ata noho, ehara i te mea e okioki ana; na kua puta te raruraru.