Job 10:18-19

An Appeal for Relief

10:18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?

I should have died ¹ 

and no eye would have seen me!

10:19 I should have been as though I had never existed; ² 

I should have been carried

right from the womb to the grave!

Genesis 20:18

20:18 For the Lord ³  had caused infertility to strike every woman ⁴  in the household of Abimelech because he took ⁵  Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Genesis 29:31

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ⁶  he enabled her to become pregnant ⁷  while Rachel remained childless.

Genesis 29:1

The Marriages of Jacob

29:1 So Jacob moved on ⁸  and came to the land of the eastern people. ⁹ 

Genesis 1:5

1:5 God called ¹⁰  the light “day” and the darkness ¹¹  “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. ¹² 

Ecclesiastes 6:3-5

6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –

even if he lives a long, long time, ¹³  but cannot enjoy his prosperity –

even if he were to live forever ¹⁴  –

I would say, “A stillborn child ¹⁵  is better off than he is!” ¹⁶ 

6:4 Though the stillborn child ¹⁷  came into the world ¹⁸  for no reason ¹⁹  and departed into darkness,

though its name is shrouded in darkness, ²⁰ 

6:5 though it never saw the light of day ²¹  nor knew anything, ²² 

yet it has more rest ²³  than that man –

Jeremiah 20:17

20:17 For he did not kill me before I came from the womb,

making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. ²⁴ 

[10:18]  ¹ tn The two imperfect verbs in this section are used to stress regrets for something which did not happen (see GKC 317 §107.n).

[10:19]  ² sn This means “If only I had never come into existence.”

[20:18]  ³ tn In the Hebrew text the clause begins with “because.”

[20:18]  ⁴ tn Heb had completely closed up every womb.” In the Hebrew text infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of.” The words “he took” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[29:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.

[29:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.

[29:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he called to,” meaning “he named.”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the darkness he called night.” The words “he called” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:5]  ¹² tn Another option is to translate, “Evening came, and then morning came.” This formula closes the six days of creation. It seems to follow the Jewish order of reckoning time: from evening to morning. Day one started with the dark, continued through the creation of light, and ended with nightfall. Another alternative would be to translate, “There was night and then there was day, one day.”

[6:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”

[6:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (vÿgam-qÿvurah lo’-haytah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.

[6:3]  ¹⁵ tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.

[6:3]  ¹⁶ sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (“the stillborn child”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:4]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “into the world” does not appear in Hebrew, but is added in the translation for clarity.

[6:4]  ¹⁹ sn The birth of the stillborn was in vain – it did it no good to be born.

[6:4]  ²⁰ sn The name of the stillborn is forgotten.

[6:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “it never saw the sun.”

[6:5]  ²² tn The word “anything” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:5]  ²³ sn The Hebrew term translated rest here refers to freedom from toil, anxiety, and misery – part of the miserable misfortune that the miserly man of wealth must endure.

[20:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “because he did not kill me from the womb so my mother might be to me for my grave and her womb eternally pregnant.” The sentence structure has been modified and the word “womb” moved from the last line to the next to the last line for English stylistic purposes and greater clarity.