Job 3:1-10

Job responds differently

1 Afterward, Job spoke up and cursed the day he was born.
2 Job said:
3 Perish the day I was born, the night someone said, "A boy has been conceived."
4 That day—let it be darkness; may God above ignore it, and light not shine on it.
5 May deepest darkness claim it and a cloud linger over it; may all that darkens the day terrify it.
6 May gloom seize that night; may it not be counted in the days of a year; may it not appear in the months.
7 May that night be childless; may no happy singing come in it.
8 May those who curse the day curse it, those with enough skill to awaken Leviathan.
9 May its evening stars stay dark; may it wait in vain for light; may it not see dawn's gleam,
10 because it didn't close the doors of my mother's womb, didn't hide trouble from my eyes.

Job 3:1-10 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 1

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