‘I should have been as though I had not been, Brought from womb to tomb.’
Parallel translations
- WEB I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
- KJV I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
- BSB If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
- NKJV I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
- NLT It would be as though I had never existed, going directly from the womb to the grave.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job wishes he had been carried straight from the womb to the grave, as though he had never lived. It expresses his longing to escape his suffering through nonexistence.
Overview
Job repeats his wish to have died at birth, untouched by the agony he now endures. This is the language of overwhelming grief, not a settled theology of life's worthlessness. The honest depth of Job's lament reminds us that faith can hold even the darkest cries up to God, who alone gives meaning to our days (Psalm 39:4-7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Ps 58:8Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 10:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.