Job chapter 3
After suffering in silence for a week, Job finally speaks. He laments the day he was born. His sentiments are very similar to those of the prophet Jeremiah.
NOTE: this chapter is very much like Jeremiah 20:14-18
JOB LAMENTS BEING BORN
VERSE 1. After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
cursed the day of his birth. Job did not curse God.
Jeremiah 20:14. Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
This reminds us of the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The lead character is George Bailey. He gave up his personal dreams, in order to help others in his community.
But George Bailey tries to commit suicide. His guardian angel Clarence appears.
Clarence shows how George has touched the lives of many other people, and how how different life would be for his wife Mary and his community of Bedford Falls if he had not been born.
VERSE 2. Job answered:
VERSE 3. “Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
perish. The Hebrew word is yovad. It means “to destroy.”
Jeremiah 20:15. Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.
VERSE 4. Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
VERSE 5. Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.
VERSE 6. As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.
VERSE 7. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
VERSE 8. Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
ready to rouse up leviathan. Leviathan is a sea monster in the Bible. It is large. It breathes fire and sparks. It is a created being. We see it as exemplifying the Power of God. Read more »
VERSE 9. Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
VERSE 10. because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
VERSE 11. “Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
give up the spirit when my mother bore me. That is, “an untimely birth.”
1 Corinthians 15:8. and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
VERSE 12. Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
VERSE 13. For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
VERSE 14. with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
VERSE 15. or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
VERSE 16. or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
VERSE 17. There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
VERSE 18. There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
VERSE 19. The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
VERSE 20. “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
VERSE 21. Who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
VERSE 22. who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
VERSE 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
VERSE 24. For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
VERSE 25. For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.
the thing which I fear comes on me. There is a law of “sowing and reaping” throughout the Bible. How shall we reconcile it with grace and mercy? Here are the verses we’ve found »
Some people say that we draw into our lives whatever our mind dwells upon.
If we dwell fearful things, then those fearful things will come into our lives
If on the other hand, we dwell on good and beautiful things instead, good and beautiful things will come into our lives:
Galatians 6:7. Finally, my brothers, as I bring this letter to a close, let me say one more thing. Fix your thoughts on what is good and true and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for, and be glad about it. (The Living Bible)
That which I am afraid of comes to me. The NAB translation says this:
What I fear overtakes me.
If you run away from what frightens you, it will catch up with you.
VERSE 26. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes.”
JOB
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, Job’s Dark Night
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.