Job 3:1-19

Job Speaks

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

2 He said:

3 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’

4 That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.

5 May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.

6 That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

7 May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.

8 May those who curse days^[a] curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

9 May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,

10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?

12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?

13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

14 with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

15 with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.

18 Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.

Job 3:1-19 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.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 20:14
• 2. ver 11,16; Job 10:18-19; Ecclesiastes 4:2; Ecclesiastes 6:3; Jeremiah 20:14-18; Matthew 26:24
• 3. Job 10:21,22; Job 34:22; Job 38:17; Psalms 23:4; Psalms 44:19; Psalms 88:12; Jeremiah 2:6; Jeremiah 13:16
• 4. Job 23:17; Job 30:26
• 5. Psalms 20:5; Psalms 33:3; Psalms 65:13; Isaiah 26:19; Jeremiah 51:48
• 6. Job 10:18; Jeremiah 20:14
• 7. S Genesis 1:21; Job 41:1,8,10,25; Psalms 74:14; Psalms 104:26
• 8. Job 41:18; Habakkuk 3:4
• 9. S ver 3; Job 10:18
• 10. S Genesis 48:12; Genesis 30:3; Isaiah 66:12
• 11. Job 17:13; Job 30:23
• 12. ver 17; Job 7:8-10,21; Job 10:22; Job 13:19; Job 14:10-12; Job 19:27; Job 21:13,23; Job 27:19; Psalms 139:11; Isaiah 8:22
• 13. Job 9:24; Job 12:17; Isaiah 14:9; Ezekiel 32:28-32
• 14. Job 15:28; Jeremiah 51:37; Nahum 3:7
• 15. Job 12:21; Isaiah 45:1
• 16. Job 15:29; Job 20:10; Job 27:17; Psalms 49:16-17; Proverbs 13:22; Proverbs 28:8; Ecclesiastes 2:26; Isaiah 2:7; Zephaniah 1:11
• 17. Psalms 58:8; Ecclesiastes 4:3; Ecclesiastes 6:3
• 18. S ver 3; Psalms 71:6
• 19. ver 26; Job 30:26; Ecclesiastes 4:2; Isaiah 14:3
• 20. S ver 13; Job 17:16
• 21. Isaiah 51:14
• 22. S Genesis 15:13
• 23. Job 39:7
• 24. Job 9:22; Job 17:16; Job 21:33; Job 24:24; Job 30:23; Ecclesiastes 12:5

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "curse the sea"