Commentary
Old Testament : Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
![](images/minus.gif)
Text -- Job 3:1-20 (NET)
![](images/arrow_open.gif)
Strongs On/Off
Context
II. Job’s Dialogue With His Friends
(3:1-27:33)
Job Wishes He Had Died at Birth
3:11 “Why did I not die at birth , and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb ?
3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them?
3:13 For now I would be lying down and would be quiet , I would be asleep and then at peace
3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate ,
3:15 or with princes who possessed gold , who filled their palaces with silver .
3:16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant , like infants who have never seen the light ?
3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil , and there the weary are at rest .
3:18 There the prisoners relax together ; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor .
3:19 Small and great are there , and the slave is free from his master .
Longing for Death
3:20 “Why does God give light to one who is in misery , and life to those whose soul is bitter ,
![](images/advanced.gif)
![](images/advanced.gif)
![](images/advanced.gif)
Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
![](images/arrow_open.gif)
Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Death |
Birthday |
Afflictions and Adversities |
Complaint |
Job |
Doubting |
Despondency |
Life |
Presumption |
Prayer |
Poetry |
Dead |
SHEOL |
LEVIATHAN |
DARK; DARKNESS |
REST |
God |
GHOST |
Sea Monster |
TWILIGHT |
more
![](images/cmt_minus_head.gif)
expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Job 3:1; Job 3:1; Job 3:1; Job 3:1; Job 3:2; Job 3:3; Job 3:3; Job 3:3; Job 3:3; Job 3:3; Job 3:4; Job 3:4; Job 3:4; Job 3:4; Job 3:5; Job 3:5; Job 3:5; Job 3:6; Job 3:6; Job 3:6; Job 3:7; Job 3:7; Job 3:7; Job 3:7; Job 3:8; Job 3:8; Job 3:8; Job 3:8; Job 3:8; Job 3:9; Job 3:9; Job 3:9; Job 3:9; Job 3:10; Job 3:10; Job 3:10; Job 3:10; Job 3:11; Job 3:11; Job 3:11; Job 3:11; Job 3:11; Job 3:12; Job 3:12; Job 3:12; Job 3:12; Job 3:12; Job 3:13; Job 3:13; Job 3:13; Job 3:13; Job 3:14; Job 3:15; Job 3:15; Job 3:16; Job 3:16; Job 3:16; Job 3:16; Job 3:16; Job 3:16; Job 3:17; Job 3:17; Job 3:17; Job 3:17; Job 3:17; Job 3:18; Job 3:18; Job 3:18; Job 3:18; Job 3:18; Job 3:19; Job 3:19; Job 3:19; Job 3:20; Job 3:20; Job 3:20; Job 3:20; Job 3:20; Job 3:20
NET Notes: Job 3:1 Heb “his day” (so KJV, ASV, NAB). The Syriac has “the day on which he was born.” The context makes it clear that Job meant the...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:2 The text has וַיַּעַן (vayya’an), literally, “and he answered.” The LXX simply has &...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:3 The announcement at birth is to the fact that a male was conceived. The same parallelism between “brought forth/born” and “conceived...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:4 The verb is the Hiphil of יָפַע (yafa’), which means here “cause to shine.” The subject is the term ...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:7 The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to enter”). The NIV translates interpretively “be heard in it....
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:8 Job employs here the mythological figure Leviathan, the monster of the deep or chaos. Job wishes that such a creation of chaos could be summoned by th...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:9 The expression is literally “the eyelids of the morning.” This means the very first rays of dawn (see also Job 41:18). There is some debat...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:10 The word עָמָל (’amal) means “work, heavy labor, agonizing labor, struggle” with the idea of fatigue a...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:11 The two halves of the verse use the prepositional phrases (“from the womb” and “from the belly I went out”) in the temporal se...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:12 Heb “that I might suckle.” The verb is the Qal imperfect of יָנַק (yanaq, “suckle”). Here the cl...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:14 The difficult term חֳרָבוֹת (khoravot) is translated “desolate [places]”. The LXX confused...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:15 Heb “filled their houses.” There is no reason here to take “houses” to mean tombs; the “houses” refer to the place...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:16 The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:17 The word יָגִיעַ (yagia’) means “exhausted, wearied”; it is clarified as a physical exhaus...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Job 3:19 The plural “masters” could be taken here as a plural of majesty rather than as referring to numerous masters.
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)