1 After H310 this opened H6605 Job H347 his mouth, H6310 and cursed H7043 his day. H3117
2 And Job H347 spake, H6030 and said, H559
3 Let the day H3117 perish H6 wherein I was born, H3205 and the night H3915 in which it was said, H559 There is a man child H1397 conceived. H2029
4 Let that day H3117 be darkness; H2822 let not God H433 regard H1875 it from above, H4605 neither let the light H5105 shine H3313 upon it.
5 Let darkness H2822 and the shadow of death H6757 stain H1350 it; let a cloud H6053 dwell H7931 upon it; let the blackness H3650 of the day H3117 terrify H1204 it.
6 As for that night, H3915 let darkness H652 seize H3947 upon it; let it not be joined H2302 unto the days H3117 of the year, H8141 let it not come H935 into the number H4557 of the months. H3391
7 Lo, let that night H3915 be solitary, H1565 let no joyful voice H7445 come H935 therein.
8 Let them curse H5344 it that curse H779 the day, H3117 who are ready H6264 to raise up H5782 their mourning. H3882
9 Let the stars H3556 of the twilight H5399 thereof be dark; H2821 let it look H6960 for light, H216 but have none; neither let it see H7200 the dawning H6079 of the day: H7837
10 Because it shut not up H5462 the doors H1817 of my mother's womb, H990 nor hid H5641 sorrow H5999 from mine eyes. H5869
11 Why died H4191 I not from the womb? H7358 why did I not give up the ghost H1478 when I came out H3318 of the belly? H990
12 Why did the knees H1290 prevent H6923 me? or why the breasts H7699 that I should suck? H3243
13 For now should I have lain still H7901 and been quiet, H8252 I should have slept: H3462 then had I been at rest, H5117
14 With kings H4428 and counsellors H3289 of the earth, H776 which built H1129 desolate places H2723 for themselves;
15 Or with princes H8269 that had gold, H2091 who filled H4390 their houses H1004 with silver: H3701
16 Or as an hidden H2934 untimely birth H5309 I had not been; as infants H5768 which never saw H7200 light. H216
17 There the wicked H7563 cease H2308 from troubling; H7267 and there the weary H3019 H3581 be at rest. H5117
18 There the prisoners H615 rest H7599 together; H3162 they hear H8085 not the voice H6963 of the oppressor. H5065
19 The small H6996 and great H1419 are there; and the servant H5650 is free H2670 from his master. H113
20 Wherefore is light H216 given H5414 to him that is in misery, H6001 and life H2416 unto the bitter H4751 in soul; H5315
21 Which long H2442 for death, H4194 but it cometh not; and dig H2658 for it more than for hid treasures; H4301
22 Which rejoice H8056 exceedingly, H1524 and are glad, H7797 when they can find H4672 the grave? H6913
23 Why is light given to a man H1397 whose way H1870 is hid, H5641 and whom God H433 hath hedged in? H5526
24 For my sighing H585 cometh H935 before H6440 I eat, H3899 and my roarings H7581 are poured out H5413 like the waters. H4325
25 For the thing which I greatly H6343 feared H6342 is come H857 upon me, and that which I was afraid H3025 of is come H935 unto me.
26 I was not in safety, H7951 neither had I rest, H8252 neither was I quiet; H5117 yet trouble H7267 came. H935
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 3
Commentary on Job 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
"You have heard of the patience of Job,' says the apostle, Jam. 5:11. So we have, and of his impatience too. We wondered that a man should be so patient as he was (ch. 1 and 2), but we wonder also that a good man should be so impatient as he is in this chapter, where we find him cursing his day, and, in passion,
In this it must be owned that Job sinned with his lips, and it is written, not for our imitation, but our admonition, that he who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall.
Job 3:1-10
Long was Job's heart hot within him; and, while he was musing, the fire burned, and the more for being stifled and suppressed. At length he spoke with his tongue, but not such a good word as David spoke after a long pause: Lord, make me to know my end, Ps. 39:3, 4. Seven days the prophet Ezekiel sat down astonished with the captives, and then (probably on the sabbath day) the word of the Lord came to him, Eze. 3:15, 16. So long Job and his friends sat thinking, but said nothing; they were afraid of speaking what they thought, lest they should grieve him, and he durst not give vent to his thoughts, lest he should offend them. They came to comfort him, but, finding his afflictions very extraordinary, they began to think comfort did not belong to him, suspecting him to be a hypocrite, and therefore they said nothing. But losers think they may have leave to speak, and therefore Job first gives vent to his thoughts. Unless they had been better, it would however have been well if he had kept them to himself. In short, he cursed his day, the day of his birth, wished he had never been born, could not think or speak of his own birth without regret and vexation. Whereas men usually observe the annual return of their birth-day with rejoicing, he looked upon it as the unhappiest day of the year, because the unhappiest of his life, being the inlet into all his woe. Now,
Job 3:11-19
Job, perhaps reflecting upon himself for his folly in wishing he had never been born, follows it, and thinks to mend it, with another, little better, that he had died as soon as he was born, which he enlarges upon in these verses. When our Saviour would set forth a very calamitous state of things he seems to allow such a saying as this, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps which never gave suck (Lu. 23:29); but blessing the barren womb is one thing and cursing the fruitful womb is another! It is good to make the best of afflictions, but it is not good to make the worst of mercies. Our rule is, Bless, and curse not. Life is often put for all good, and death for all evil; yet Job here very absurdly complains of life and its supports as a curse and plague to him, and covets death and the grave as the greatest and most desirable bliss. Surely Satan was deceived in Job when he applied that maxim to him, All that a man hath will he give for his life; for never any man valued life at a lower rate than he did.
Job 3:20-26
Job, finding it to no purpose to wish either that he had not been born or had died as soon as he was born, here complains that his life was now continued and not cut off. When men are set on quarrelling there is no end of it; the corrupt heart will carry on the humour. Having cursed the day of his birth, here he courts the day of his death. The beginning of this strife and impatience is as the letting forth of water.