Job3
King James Version · Public Domain
1After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2And Job spake, and said,
3Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
10Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
11Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
15Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
20Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Job complains that he was born. (1–10). Job complaining. (11–19). He complains of his life. (20–26).
vv1-10
For seven days Job's friends sat by him in silence, without offering consolidation: at the same time Satan assaulted his mind to shake his confidence, and to fill him with hard thoughts of God. The permission seems to have extended to this, as well as to torturing the body. Job was an especial type of Christ, whose inward sufferings, both in the garden and on the cross, were the most dreadful; and arose in a great degree from the assaults of Satan in that hour of darkness. These inward trials show the reason of the change that took place in Job's conduct, from entire submission to the will of God, to the impatience which appears here, and in other parts of the book. The believer, who knows that a few drops of this bitter cup are more dreadful than the sharpest outward afflictions, while he is favoured with a sweet sense of the love and presence of God, will not be surprised to find that Job proved a man of like passions with others; but will rejoice that Satan was disappointed, and could not prove him a hypocrite; for though he cursed the day of his birth, he did not curse his God. Job doubtless was afterwards ashamed of these wishes, and we may suppose what must be his judgment of them now he is in everlasting happiness.
vv11-19
Job complained of those present at his birth, for their tender attention to him. No creature comes into the world so helpless as man. God's power and providence upheld our frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. Natural affection is put into parents' hearts by God. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die, only that we may be delivered from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption. It is our wisdom and duty to make the best of that which is, be it living or dying; and so to live to the Lord, and die to the Lord, as in both to be his, Ro 14:8. Observe how Job describes the repose of the grave; There the wicked cease from troubling. When persecutors die, they can no longer persecute. There the weary are at rest: in the grave they rest from all their labours. And a rest from sin, temptation, conflict, sorrows, and labours, remains in the presence and enjoyment of God. There believers rest in Jesus, nay, as far as we trust in the Lord Jesus and obey him, we here find rest to our souls, though in the world we have tribulation.
vv20-26
Job was like a man who had lost his way, and had no prospect of escape, or hope of better times. But surely he was in an ill frame for death when so unwilling to live. Let it be our constant care to get ready for another world, and then leave it to God to order our removal thither as he thinks fit. Grace teaches us in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live. Job's way was hid; he knew not wherefore God contended with him. The afflicted and tempted Christian knows something of this heaviness; when he has been looking too much at the things that are seen, some chastisement of his heavenly Father will give him a taste of this disgust of life, and a glance at these dark regions of despair. Nor is there any help until God shall restore to him the joys of his salvation. Blessed be God, the earth is full of his goodness, though full of man's wickedness. This life may be made tolerable if we attend to our duty. We look for eternal mercy, if willing to receive Christ as our Saviour.
Key Words
אַחַר: properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses)
אִיּוֹב: Ijob, the patriarch famous for his patience
פָּתַח: to open wide (literally or figuratively); specifically, to loosen, begin, plough, carve
פֶּה: the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech); specifically edge, portion or side; adverbially (with preposition) according to
קָלַל: to be (causatively, make) light, literally (swift, small, sharp, etc.) or figuratively (easy, trifling, vile, etc.)
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
אָבַד: properly, to wander away, i.e. lose oneself; by implication to perish (causative, destroy)
יָלַד: to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage
לַיִל: properly, a twist (away of the light), i.e. night; figuratively, adversity
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
Cross References
Job 3Jeremiah curses his birth-day in language directly mirroring Job's passionate outburst here.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallels the specific mention of the report that a man-child was born.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Job repeats this exact complaint that God has hedged in his way so he cannot pass.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Job uses the same vivid phrase 'shadow of death' to describe the land of darkness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illuminates 'leviathan' as the monstrous creature that skilled sorcerers claim to rouse or curse.
Supported by JFB
Refers to the ancient custom of placing a newborn child upon the knees for recognition.
Supported by JFB
An example of children being brought up or recognized upon a father's knees.
Supported by JFB
Refers to the custom of employing professional, skilled mourners to lament.
Supported by JFB
Uses the identical poetic Hebrew idiom 'eyelashes of the morning' for the dawning light.
Supported by JFB
Jeremiah similarly laments that he was not slain in the womb to prevent seeing sorrow.
Supported by Matthew Poole
An untimely birth is described as better off than one who lives in prolonged sorrow.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Mentions children being borne upon the sides and dandled upon the knees.
Supported by JFB
Describes the extreme misery of those who seek death but cannot find it.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Lamentations echoes the metaphor of being hedged about so that one cannot get out.
Supported by Matthew Henry