Job 3:9-19

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.
14 I'd be with the earth's kings and advisers. They had built for themselves places that are now destroyed.
15 I'd be with rulers who used to have gold. They had filled their houses with silver.
16 Why wasn't I buried like a baby who was born dead? Why wasn't I buried like a child who never saw the light of day?
17 In the grave, sinful people don't cause trouble anymore. And there those who are tired find rest.
18 Prisoners also enjoy peace there. They don't hear a slave driver shouting at them anymore.
19 The least important and most important people are there. And there the slaves are set free from their owners.

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.

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