THE BOOK OF
JOB

Job 3

1Job curseth the day of his birth, 11and wisheth he had never been roused out of the quiet sleep of the grave: 20he complaineth of life because of his anguish.


1AFTER this opened Job his mouth, and curseda1his day.

a Jer. 15:10; 20:14.

1 Namely, the day of his birth; expressed fully in Gen. 40:20 as one’s birthday.

2And Job 2spake, and said,

2 That is, he took up the word, or, began to speak. See Judges 18 on verse 14; 1 Kings 13 on verse 6.

3Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child 3conceived.

3 That is, born; as the Hebrew word is taken 1 Chron. 4:17. The time of conception cannot be known precisely, much less what offspring is conceived, whether a son or a daughter. Others translate and read it thus: When God said, or commanded, that a male should be conceived, or was conceived.

4Let that day 4be darkness; let 5not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

4 That is, be darkened, that the light of the sun is not shining upon him, or, be taken away out of the nature of things.

5 Or, seek him not, take no care for him, namely, to grant the light to him as on other days, or to let him co-exist with other things; which sense both the previous and followings words of this verse do imply. Compare the manner of speaking with Deut. 11:12, and see thereupon the annotation.

5Let darkness and 6the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the 7blackness of the day terrify it.

6 Understand a very thick and almost palpable darkness, which by its horror might be able to fright men even to death. Also Job 16:16; Psalm 23:4; 44:19.

7 Or, the burning heats of the day. Understand the thick and dark mists, which, being drawn up out of the earth and waters by the heat of the sun, rise up into the air; whereby the day grows misty, and the light of it obscured and darkened; which exposition is confirmed by that which goes before in this verse. Others: Let them frighten him, like unto the bitter, or bitterness of the day; that is, that the darkness and shadow of death may make this day as terrible, as men, who are in extremities and agonies, do bitterly fright and terrify others, by their shrieks and yelling; or, understand the plagues themselves, which make the day bitter unto men.

6As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it 8not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the 9months.

8 Other, let it not rejoice among, etc.

9 Hebr. moons. For, among these nations, the months were counted by the course of the moon. He wishes that such a night had never been, or might never return again, but be blotted or razed out of the registry of the nights.

7Lo, let that night be 10solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

10 That no persons meet together in it to be merry.

8Let them curse it that 11curse the day, who are ready to raise up their 12mourning.

11 That is, those, being overcome with the greatness of the evil they suffer, do curse the day on which that evil befell them; or, on that day itself, or the day of their birth; or who made it their trade, that they permitted themselves to be used to stir up mourning.

12 The word in the original seems to come from the Syrian language, levijah, signifying, sorrow, mourning, heaviness. To raise mourning is to renew the same by all manner of lamentation, bemoaning, crying, howling. Others retain here the word leviathan, understanding thereby that sea monster, whereof Job 41:1; 41:10, and by those that are ready to rouse him, or stir him up, the storm winds, which trouble the sea. Some render it, their society.

9Let the stars 13of the twilight thereof be dark; 14let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see 15the dawning of the day:

13 That is, of the twilight in the evening, in which the night has yet some glimmering or brightness that one may be able to discern something at some distance, especially by the light of some of the great stars, which Job here wishes to be obscured. See the Hebrew word 2 Kings 7 on verse 5. Some do understand it of the glimmering in the morning, or the dawning, daybreak.

14 Namely, this night. Other, one waited.

15 Hebr. aph-aph, that is, eyelid. Thus the sunbeams are called, which in the morning spread forth and open themselves before the sun rises; even as the eyelids do open before the eye sees. Compare Job 41 on verse 18.

10Because 16it shut not up the doors of my mother’s 17womb, nor 18hid sorrow from mine eyes.

16 Namely, that night.

17 Some understand this of his mother’s womb, as Job 1:21, where the word mother’s is expressed in the text, as likewise Job 31:18. In some other places it is not expressed, as Job 10:19; likewise Psalm 58:3; 71:6; Isa. 48:8; Jer. 1:5. Some understand by the doors of the womb the lips, by comparing Job 32:18, 19, 20; as if he said: That I was not stifled. Others understand the navel, whereby the child draws its nourishment in the mother’s womb.

18 That is, taken away. Compare this manner of speaking with the one which is in Job 33:17.

11Whyb19died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

b Job 10:18.

19 He wishes one of two things, namely, either he had died before birth or had proved a miscarriage, verse 10, and so never come alive into this world; or else that he had died immediately after his birth, verse 11.

12Why did the 20knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should 21suck?

20 Namely, of the midwife, who receives the new-born infant. He continues in the relation of the second wish, which he had propounded in the previous verse.

21 Namely, to be nursed and sustained in this miserable life.

13For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

1422With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

22 He would say: If he had died in his birth, then his condition would have been one and the same now with the high-ranking men of the earth, who died long before his time, and had sought, while they lived, to get themselves a name by great and mighty works, such as the cultivation of waste places and the construction of vast cities in them, Gen. 10:10, 11; 11:3; Job 15:28; Isa. 23:13.

15Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

1623Or as an 24hidden untimely birth 25I had not been; as 26infants which never saw light.

23 He comes here to his first wish, where he wished that he might have died as a miscarried fruit in his mother’s womb, verse 10. Other, Or why have I not been as a hidden untimely birth?

24 Namely, in his mother’s womb, where it dies and is therefore called hidden, because it does not come forth alive into the light.

25 That is, I should not have lived upon the earth among men. Not to be is oftentimes as much as not to live. See Gen. 42:13; Job 7:8; Psalm 39:13; Jer. 31:15; Mat. 2:18. The meaning is: If he had been a miscarriage, he would never have been among men, or ever have seen the light, no more than the fruit of the womb which comes dead into the world.

26 The Hebrew word does properly indeed signify such little ones, as being born, begin already to act something, Psalm 8:2, but here it is likewise used for the fruit which dies in the mother’s womb, as we also do call them little children.

1727There the wicked cease from 28troubling; and there the 29weary be at rest.

27 Namely, in the grave or in death.

28 That is, to be troubled, vexed, and disturbed by men.

29 That is, who are made weary in their strength by the violence of those who troubled and oppressed them.

18There the 30prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the 31oppressor.

30 That is, the slaves, who, whilst they were alive, were held to their work by force of bonds and stripes. Compare Judges 16:21.

31 Or, demander, that is, of the overseer or taskmaster, who sets and drives the slaves on to work, and requires an account of their performance. Compare Exod. 5 on verse 6.

1932The small and great are there; and the servant is free from 33his master.

32 That is, the poor and the rich, the noble and the ignoble.

33 Hebr. his masters, as elsewhere.

20Wherefore 34is 35light given to him that is in misery, and life unto 36the bitter in soul;

34 Or, Wherefore doth he, namely, God, give the light. Although Job reasons here against the Lord, yet he spares His Name, showing thereby that the power of regeneration restrained him yet. Thus must the sense of the Holy Scripture be sometimes completed with the word God. See Num. 23:20; Job 16:7; 20:23; Hab. 2:1; 1 Cor. 1:8; Heb. 3:16, etc.

35 Namely, of the day, or of the sun; or, the light, that is, life, as the following words declare. Compare Psalm 56:13.

36 Hebr. to the bitter of soul, that is, to them who are very inwardly and sensibly grieved. Compare 2 Kings 4:27, and see thereupon the annotation. He understands such as are to be subject to a great deal of misery and vexation in this life.

21Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

2337Why is light given to a man whose way is 38hid, andc39whom God hath hedged in?

37 This is here inserted from verse 20.

38 That is, occupied with all manner of evil, that he cannot see any relief how to struggle out of it.

c Job 19:8.

39 God is said to hedge in our way, when He does not discover any means unto us to escape the misfortune. Compare Job 19:8; Lam. 3:7, 9. Other, whom God hath fenced about, namely, with miseries.

24For my sighing cometh 40before I eat, and my roarings 41are poured out like the waters.

40 That is, before I eat, I am overcome with sighing, so that I have no time free from sorrow.

41 Or, flow out. Understand the crying and weeping, which such afflicted and distressed people are apt to cast out.

25For the 42thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

42 That is, a fearful matter.

26I was not 43in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

43 Namely, in my mind; being careful always to please God and very fearful to offend Him. So that I have been endeavoring still to my outmost to keep both me and mine steadfast in the fear of the Lord. See Job 1:1, 5, 8; 2:3, 10. Others render this by way of interrogation, thus: Was I not in peace? Had I not stillness?, etc., yet now is the trouble come.