Job 3:2-12

2 saying,

3 Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a man-child!

4 Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it.

5 But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it;

6 let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months.

7 But let that night be pain, and let not mirth come upon it, nor joy.

8 But let him that curses that day curse it, he that is ready to attack the great whale.

9 Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain , and not come into light; and let it not see the morning star arise:

10 because it shut not up the gates of my mother's womb, for it would have removed sorrow from my eyes.

11 For why died I not in the belly? and did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately?

12 and why did the knees support me? and why did I suck the breasts?

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.