Job Laments His Birth

Job 3

1 After this Job h opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said:

3 i "Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
'A man is conceived.'
 4 Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
 5 Let gloom and j deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
 6 That night - let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
 7 Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
 8 Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up k Leviathan.
 9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see l the eyelids of the morning,
 10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11 "Why m did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
 12 Why did n the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
 13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
 14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who o rebuilt ruins for themselves,
 15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
 16 Or why was I not as a hidden p stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
 17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at q rest.
 18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of r the taskmaster.
 19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.

20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to s the bitter in soul,
 21 who t long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for u hidden treasures,
 22 who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
 23 Why is light given to a man whose v way is hidden,
whom God has w hedged in?
 24 For my sighing comes x instead of 1 my bread,
and my y groanings are poured out like water.
 25 z For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes."

  1. Cross References
    Job 33:2
    Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.
    Psalms 78:2
    I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old.
  2. Cross References
    Job 10:18 - 19
    Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
    Jeremiah 20:14 - 18
    Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!
  3. Cross References
    Job 10:21 - 22
    Before I go - and I shall not return - to the l...
    Job 12:22
    He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and bring...
    Job 24:17
    For deep darkness is morning to all of them; fo...
    Job 28:3
    Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to...
    Job 34:22
    There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildo...
    Job 38:17
    Have the gates of death been revealed to you, o...
    Psalms 23:4
    Even though I walk through the valley of the sh...
    Isaiah 9:2
    The people who walked in darkness have seen a g...
    Matthew 4:16
    The people dwelling in darkness have seen a gre...
  4. Cross References
    Job 41:1
    Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?
  5. Cross References
    Job 41:18
    His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
  6. Cross References
    Job 10:18 - 19
    Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
  7. Cross References
    Genesis 30:3
    Then she said, "Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.
    Genesis 50:23
    And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own.
    Isaiah 66:12
    For thus says the Lord : "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:12
    And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
  9. Cross References
    Psalms 58:8
    Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
    Ecclesiastes 6:3
    If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
    1 Corinthians 15:8
    Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
  10. Cross References
    Job 17:16
    Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?
  11. Cross References
    Exodus 3:7
    Then the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.
  12. Cross References
    Proverbs 31:6
    Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress.
  13. Cross References
    Revelation 9:6
    And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
  14. Cross References
    Proverbs 2:4
    If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures.
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 40:27
    Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
  16. Cross References
    Job 1:10
    Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
    Job 19:8
    He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 42:3
    My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?
    Psalms 80:5
    You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.
    Psalms 102:9
    For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink.
  18. Cross References
    Psalms 22:1
    My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
    Psalms 38:8
    I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
  19. Cross References
    Proverbs 10:24
    What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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