Job 3:7-17

7 make it a barren, joyless night.

8 Tell the sorcerers to curse that day, those who know how to control Leviathan.

9 Keep the morning star from shining; give that night no hope of dawn.

10 Curse that night for letting me be born, for exposing me to trouble and grief.

11 I wish I had died in my mother's womb or died the moment I was born.

12 Why did my mother hold me on her knees? Why did she feed me at her breast?

13 If I had died then, I would be at rest now,

14 sleeping like the kings and rulers who rebuilt ancient palaces.

15 Then I would be sleeping like princes who filled their houses with gold and silver,

16 or sleeping like a stillborn child.

17 In the grave wicked people stop their evil, and tired workers find rest at last.

Job 3:7-17 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. leviathan: [Some take this to be the crocodile, others a legendary monster. Magicians were thought to be able to make him cause eclipses of the sun.]