1 Job curses the day and services of his birth. 13 The ease of death. 20 He complaints of life, because of his anguish.
Job 3:1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
The word translated “cursed” is from qalal, a common term for cursing, and not barak as in chs. 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 (see on ch. 1:5). The passing weeks had apparently reduced Job from an attitude of calm resignation to one of deep despair. Compare Jeremiah’s cursing of the day of his birth in similar language (Jer. 20:14–18).
Job 3:2 He said . ‘anah, generally translated “to answer.”
Here it means “to respond to an occasion,” “to speak in view of circumstances” (see Deut. 26:5; Isa. 14:10; Zech. 3:4). This verse ends the prose introduction to the book of Job. Chapter 3:3–26 presents the first poem. It is divided into the three stanzas, vs. 3–10; 11–19; and 20–26.
In the first stanza Job curses the day of his birth and the night of his conception. In the second he expresses the wish that he had died before birth. The third stanza asks the question, Why does God compel men to live when they would rather die?
His execrations are solemn, deep, and sublime. These poetic statements do not lend themselves to minute technical analysis. Job is not presenting logic. Rather, he is pouring out the impassioned feelings of a suffering soul.
Cursed the day of his birth. A poetic way of saying, “I wish I had never been born.” “Day” is here personified.
The night. “Night” is also personified. A simpler rendering would be “the night which said”.
Man child. Heb. geber, “a man,” emphasized as being strong, distinguished from women and children. It is not the ordinary word to designate the male sex, which would be zakar. Geber is here poetically employed. As the announcement of the conception is made by the personified “night,” so the individual who was conceived is considered, not in the ordinary sense of a child, but as the man Job eventually was to become.
The LXX makes the night that of Job’s birth rather than that of his conception. The reason is presumably to avoid the difficulty of announcing the sex of the child on the night of conception. However, by poetic fancy such knowledge is here ascribed to the night.
Job 3:4 That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.
That day. Verses 4 and 5 curse the day of birth, vs. 6–10 the night of conception. Darkness. The most dramatic curse that could be pronounced upon a day, because darkness is the opposite of day.
God is the One who gives to the day its light. He is now called upon to pass it by.
Light shine. Emphasis is achieved by the reiteration.
Job 3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
The shadow of death. Heb. ṣalmaweth. Some scholars change the vowel pointings to read ṣalmuth, and translate it “deep darkness”. Ṣalmuth is regarded as the strongest word in the Hebrew language expressing the idea of darkness (see Job 10:21, 22; 12:22; 16:16; 24:17; 34:22; Isa. 9:2; Jer. 2:6; Amos 5:8).
Other scholars see insufficient reason for departing from the traditional vowel pointings, which are supported by the LXX, and retain the translation “shadow of death.”
Stain. From the Heb. ga’al, “to redeem,” “to act as kinsman.” Here probably in the sense of “to claim.” The word also has the meaning, “to pollute.” Both meanings give sense to the passage, but the former gives the more vivid imagery.
The night, as next of kin to the day, would immediately upon the arrival of day claim it for itself. For a discussion of the meaning of ga’al in this sense see on Ruth 2:20.
Cloud. Let clouds, condensed, compacted, heaped together, settle down upon it. This is another way of expressing the idea of darkness that the poet is endeavoring to stress. Blackness of the day. Probably a reference to eclipses, tornadoes, or sandstorms such as would darken a day.
Job 3:6 That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.
That night. The night of Job’s conception (v. 3). Darkness. Heb. ’ophel, sometimes used to express the darkness of the underworld (see ch. 10:22).
Be included. Literally, “rejoice.” The translation “be joined” requires a change of vowels in the Hebrew verb. Such a change is supported by Symmachus’ version of the LXX. However, the literal rendering is perfectly intelligible, and there seems to be insufficient reason to depart from it.
Let it not be included. Job would banish from the records the night of his conception.
Job 3:7 May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.
Let that night be as destitute of good as a bare rock is of verdure.
Job 3:8 May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
This is a very puzzling text. Many commentators believe that Job was invoking the aid of sorcerers, “cursers of the day,” individuals who claimed to be able to bring curses on specific days. If this interpretation is correct, it does not follow that Job believed in such sorcerers. He merely recognized their existence, and in the language of poetry, he wished that there might be heaped on the night of his conception not only real evils but those that were imaginary
Clarke sees in the “cursers of the day” those who detest the day—those who hate daylight, such as adulterers, murderers, thieves, and bandits, for whose practices the night is more fitting
Mourning. Literally, “leviathan.” The sentence should read, “who are ready to rouse up leviathan.” Those who apply the first line of the verse to the sorcerers see in the added line a further reference to the power of these sorcerers to rouse up leviathan. Ancient mythology had a great dragon who was the enemy of the sun and moon, and who was supposed to have power over eclipses. It seems unreasonable to believe that Job had any faith in such powers. If he is referring to mythology, he is doing so only to provide a vivid poetic figure.
Stars of the twilight. The word “twilight” may refer either to evening or to morning twilight; here, to the latter. Dawning of the day. Literally, “eyelids of the dawn.”
Job 3:8 May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
Job 3:9 May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
Job 3:10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my mother’s womb. Literally, “my womb,” that is, the womb that bare me. The night is here pictured as having the power to prevent conception.
Job 3:11 “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
A repeated question of Job as it is of all sufferers throughout the ages. But in this case, Job is not asking why he was caused to suffer; he asks, rather, why he did not die in infancy. He is not so much seeking an answer as he is expressing his deep despair. Give up the ghost. Literally, “die,” or “expire.” The expression “to give up the ghost” is an interpretative translation reflecting the theology of the translators regarding the nature of man. In most instances the expression translates a Hebrew or Greek word meaning simply “to expire” (see Gen. 25:8, 17; 49:33; Mark 15:37; Acts 5:5, 10).
On the other hand “to give up the ghost [spirit]” is a literal translation of the Greek in Matt. 27:50.
Job 3:12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
“Why did my mother take me onto her lap?”
Job 3:13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
Job pictures death as quiet, restful sleep (see Ps. 13:3; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:14). He is not in this present passage looking forward to the life following the resurrection. He is simply contrasting his present sufferings with the repose he might enjoy if he were dead.
Job 3:14 with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
Job contrasts his miserable condition with the dignity of death.
Brevity makes the discovery of the exact meaning of this expression difficult. Some see in the clause the idea of kings building monuments for themselves by rebuilding ruined splendid palaces which, notwithstanding their grandeur, must at last fall in 16.
ruins,
Job 3:15 with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
Job 3:16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
Hidden untimely birth. Previously Job had asked, “Why did I not die at birth?” (see on v. 11).
Job 3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.
The word describes the unrest, the agitation, the inward raging, that characterize the wicked. The word comes from a Hebrew root meaning “to be agitated,” “to quiver,” “to quake” (see Deut. 2:25; Prov. 29:9; Isa. 5:25).
Job 3:17–19 does not refer to the future life. It describes the oblivion of the grave. The agitation, the weariness, the galling servitude of life, are swallowed up in dreamless sleep. While this is a beautiful thought, the Christian must see beyond the grave to the resurrection and immortality. Job later expresses this greater hope (ch. 14:14, 15).
Here those who work at enforced labor and are constantly under the lash of the “oppressor” are indicated. The word translated “oppressor” is the one rendered “taskmaster” in Ex. 3:7; 5:6, 10, 13, 14.
Job 3:19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.
The equality of all ages in death is beautifully portrayed in Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”: “… As the long train Of ages glides away, the sons of men, The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, By those, who in their turn shall follow them.”
Job 3:20 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
This expression introduces the third stanza of Job’s lament. He has been meditating on the quiet serenity of death. Now his thoughts return to his own misery, and he repeats the age-old question, “Why?”
The stanza is the picture of a man earnestly longing for death but doomed to live on and on. The experience has its modern counterpart in the cancer sufferer who wastes away during long, agonizing, futile months before death ultimately provides release. Now, as then, the question is often asked, “Why?” Light. See v. 16.
Light seems to be used here as a figure of life.
Bitter of soul. Heb. mare nephesh. The combination of these Hebrew words is variously translated: “angry” (Judges 18:25), “in bitterness of soul” (1 Sam. 1:10), “discontented” (1 Sam. 22:2), “soul [was] grieved” (1 Sam. 30:6), “chafed in [their] minds” (2 Sam. 17:8). The expression here is plural. Job is thinking, not alone of himself, but of other sufferers as well.
Job 3:21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
Job 3:22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
Job 3:23 Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
Job feels thwarted. He knows not what way to turn.
Hedged in. Satan had claimed that God had built a hedge of protection around Job (ch. 1:10). Now Job claims that God has built a hedge of affliction about him.
Job 3:24 For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.
These expressions of Job’s grief are like a continuous stream of water.
Job 3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
It seems that Job is describing his experience after his troubles began. Each catastrophe increases his fear of further trouble; and in each case, so it appears, further trouble comes.
Job 3:26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
It must not be concluded that Job’s statements of ch. 3 represent a laudable reaction to calamity. This poem contains much of complaint and bitterness that, under the circumstances, may be forgiven but not approved.
The fact that Job did complain of his lot makes him seem closer to humanity than if he had been unperturbed by his misfortunes. Job was spiritually great, not because he was never discouraged, but because he eventually found his way out of discouragement.
If we wish to see a perfect example of fortitude under suffering, we must look at Jesus, not at Job. Job, in his suffering, cursed the day of his birth; Jesus said, “For this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27). In this world of sin perfection of character comes only through suffering (see on Heb. 2:10; 1 Peter 4:13).