Job 3:9-19

9 May its morning stars grow dark. May it wait for daylight but have none; may it not see the breaking[a] of dawn.
10 For that night did not shut the doors of my [mother's] womb, and hide sorrow from my eyes.
11 Why was I not stillborn; [why] didn't I die as I came from the womb?[b]
12 Why did the knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?[c]
13 For then I would have laid down in peace; I would be asleep.[d] Then I would be at rest[e]
14 with the kings and counselors of the earth, who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,[f]
15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.[g]
16 Or [why] was I not hidden like a miscarried child,[h] like infants who never see daylight?
17 There the wicked cease to make trouble, and there the weary find rest.
18 The captives are completely at ease;[i] they do not hear the voice of [their] oppressor.[j]
19 Both the small and the great are there, and the slave is set free from his master.[k]

Job 3:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 3

In this chapter we have an account of Job's cursing the day of his birth, and the night of his conception; Job 3:1-3; first the day, to which he wishes the most extreme darkness, Job 3:4,5; then the night, to which he wishes the same and that it might be destitute of all joy, and be cursed by others as well as by himself, Job 3:6-9; The reasons follow, because it did not prevent his coming into the world, and because he died not on it, Job 3:10-12; which would, as he judged, have been an happiness to him; and this he illustrates by the still and quiet state of the dead, the company they are with, and their freedom from all trouble, oppression, and bondage, Job 3:13-19; but however, since it was otherwise with him, he desires his life might not be prolonged, and expostulates about the continuance of it, Job 3:20-23; and this by reason of his present troubles, which were many and great, and came upon him as he feared they would, and which had made him uneasy in his prosperity, Job 3:24-26.

Footnotes 11

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