Here Job ceases his curses and offers a poetically expressed reason for not wanting to be born: because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb. It refers to “that night,” which has been the object of his curses in verses 6-9. My mother’s womb translates the Hebrew “my womb.” Job has been careful to avoid any direct reference to his parents. Here he refers to the womb from which he came, which Revised Standard Version renders my mother’s womb. The shutting of the womb is used in 1 Samuel 1.6 as a figure for the prevention of conception, and in Genesis 29.31-32 the opening of the womb allows conception to take place. Translations are divided between those that make the closing of the womb refer to birth (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) and those which avoid any specific reference to conception or birth (New English Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem).

When translating this verse it may be necessary to move away from the metaphor of the night shutting the doors of the womb, by saying, for example, “because on that night I was conceived in my mother’s womb” or “because … nothing was done to prevent me from being conceived.” We may also follow Good News Translation, but make the sense more explicitly related to conception; for example, “curse the night for letting me be conceived,” or in some languages, “curse the night for allowing me to start life in my mother’s womb.”

Nor hide trouble from my eyes: Jeremiah (20.18) says of his birth, “Why did I come forth from the womb, to see toil and sorrow…?” The word translated trouble in Revised Standard Version is a Hebrew term that refers to the hardships and agonies of Israel in Deuteronomy 26.7 and Isaiah 53.11 respectively. It may also refer to human wickedness in Psalm 94.20, where Good News Translation translates “injustice.” In 4.8 Eliphaz will pick up on Job’s use of this word as the evil which people reap for the sins they sow. Good News Translation has “trouble and grief,” which combine well to fit the present context. The second and third lines are negatively stated and thus maintain a poetic balance. In some languages it may be better, however, to restructure the final line as a positive statement; for example, “because it let me see so much grief” or “because it allowed me to have so much trouble.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .