Job 3:11

11 "Why didn't I die when I was born? Why didn't I die as I came out of my mother's body?

Job 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 3:11

Why died I not from the womb?
&c.] That is, as soon as he came out of it; or rather, as soon as he was in it, or from the time that he was in it; or however, while he was in it, that so he might not have come alive out of it; which sense seems best to agree both with what goes before and follows after; for since his conception in the womb was not hindered, he wishes he had died in it; and so some versions render it to this sense F14:

[why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
since he died not in the womb, which was desirable to him, he wishes that the moment he came out of it he had expired, and is displeased because it was not so, see ( Jeremiah 20:17 ) ( Hosea 9:11 ) ; thus what is the special favour of Providence, to be taken out of the womb alive, and preserved, he wishes not to have enjoyed, see ( Psalms 22:9 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F14 (Mxrm) (en koilia) , Sept. "in vulva", V. L. "aut, in utero", Beza, Mercerus, Cocceius, Junius, Michaelis; so R. Abraham Peritzol, and Simeon Bar Tzemach.

Job 3:11 In-Context

9 May its morning stars become dark. May it lose all hope of ever seeing daylight. May it not see the first light of the morning sun.
10 It didn't keep my mother from letting me be born. It didn't keep my eyes from seeing trouble.
11 "Why didn't I die when I was born? Why didn't I die as I came out of my mother's body?
12 Why was I placed on her knees? Why did her breasts give me milk?
13 If all of that hadn't happened, I would be lying down in peace. I'd be asleep and at rest in the grave.
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