Verse 3 is the opening of the formal poetic body of the Book of Job. Job begins his curses by attacking the day of his birth and the night of his conception. The Hebrew is composed of two half-lines that are semantically parallel. The verb phrase Let … perish in Let the day perish wherein I was born serves double duty, since it must also be applied to line b. By not repeating the verb in line b, the poet has more line space in the Hebrew text to extend the birth image: A man-child is conceived. Through this technique of ellipsis the two Hebrew lines are kept compressed. Day followed by night is a commonly-used sequence in Hebrew poetry. If the parallelism were only “let the day perish” followed by “(let the) night (perish),” the parallelism would have little movement in the second line. However, the parallelism is between the commonplace statement in line a I was born and the more specific A man-child is conceived in the last line. There is a further dramatization of line b in that it is the night which is personified, that is, which speaks like a person and announces that a male child has been conceived. For instances of the personification of day and night, see Psalm 19.2-4. The poet has used this kind of dramatic parallelism to carry the idea in line a to a new pitch of intensity. Hence the last half does not merely repeat line a, but it goes beyond it and lifts it to a new poetic height. The two halves are a unit, and one cannot be dropped without causing a serious distortion of meaning. This intensification is an important feature of the poetic meaning. We may express it in English, for example, as “Cursed be the day I was born, and still more cursed the night I was conceived.” However, as was pointed out in the introduction, “Translating the Book of Job,” this English translation merely illustrates the way in which the b line carries the a line to a greater intensity. It may not be useful as a translation model because of its style. Furthermore, each language has to deal with the translation problems in each line. For example, in some languages it will be clearer and more natural to reverse the order of the lines so that being conceived occurs before being born. It may be necessary to recast the personification the night which said to say, for example, “the night people said.” The passive is conceived allows the reference to Job’s parents to be avoided. In some languages it will be necessary to shift to an active construction which will introduce “mother” or “parents.” And the expression man-child, which in Hebrew refers specifically to a male, may have to be rendered by a term equivalent to “baby,” in which no sex distinction is made.

These adjustments are often required to translate the parallel lines. As a result the translated lines may not retain the same poetic intensification and other feelings that the Hebrew lines create. However, the translator should aim to produce what will be recognized by the readers as an equally good arrangement of poetic lines.

Good News Translation and some others assume that God is implied as the operator of the curse, and therefore Job calls on God to “put a curse on the day I was born.” However, most modern versions consulted avoid explicit involvement of God in Job’s curses. In some languages, however, it will be necessary to make God the one called upon to operate the curse, while in other languages it can be left implicit.

English Let, as used in verse 3 and the following verses, is a command addressed in the third person. It has the sense of a request or wish, “I wish that…,” or more directly as a command, “Do so and so.” In some languages the request form in these verses must be addressed directly to God; for example, “How I wish that God would take away the day…,” or as a command, “God, take away the day….”

The Septuagint reads “behold a man” instead of the Hebrew text “a man has been conceived,” and in this way both day and night refer in the Septuagint to Job’s birth. Good News Translation keeps the parallelism and drops the personification, “put a curse on the night when I was conceived.” Some modern versions avoid the night’s “speaking” by using an impersonal subject, “the night when they said” (New American Bible), or a passive voice, “the night it was said” (New International Version).

Biblia Dios Habla Hoy attempts to restore the order of conception and birth by saying “Cursed be the night in which I was conceived and the day I was born.” As was pointed out above, this reversal of the Hebrew order may be required for reasons of style and naturalness.

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 .