Job 3:2-12

2 Job said,
3 "Scratch out the day I was born and the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived!'
4 "That day-- let it be pitch-black. Let God above not [even] care about it. Let no light shine on it.
5 Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own. Let a dark cloud hang over it. Let the gloom terrify it.
6 "That night-- let the blackness take it away. Let it not be included in the days of the year or be numbered among the months.
7 Let that night be empty. Let no joyful singing be heard in it.
8 Let those who curse the day (those who know how to wake up Leviathan ) curse that night.
9 Let its stars turn dark before dawn. Let it hope for light and receive none. Let it not see the first light of dawn
10 because it did not shut the doors of the womb [from which I came] or hide my eyes from trouble.
11 "Why didn't I die as soon as I was born and breathe my last breath when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did knees welcome me? Why did breasts let me nurse?

Job 3:2-12 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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