Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
- BSB If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.
- NKJV May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it.
- NASB “May that day be darkness; May God above not care for it, Nor light shine on it.
- NLT Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it.
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 calls for the day of his birth to be swallowed in darkness, unsought by God. He wishes it blotted from creation.
Overview
Echoing creation language in reverse, Job asks that God not seek out that day and that no light shine on it. Where God said "Let there be light," Job cries "Let that day be darkness," voicing a wish to undo his own beginning. The poetry conveys overwhelming grief while still, paradoxically, addressing the God who governs day and night.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Matt 27:45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
- Exod 10:22–23And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
- Deut 11:12A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
- Joel 2:2A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
- Acts 27:20And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
- Rev 16:10And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
- Amos 5:18Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:4 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.