Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
- BSB Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.
- NKJV Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it!
- NASB “Behold, may that night be barren; May no joyful shout enter it.
- NLT Let that night be childless. Let it have no joy.
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 longs for the night of his birth to be barren and joyless. He wishes it had produced no glad cry.
Overview
Job desires that the night yield no conception and no shout of joy, the opposite of the rejoicing that normally greets a birth. The imagery turns the celebration of life into emptiness. It captures how suffering can drain all gladness, even from one's own beginning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Isa 13:20–22It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
- Isa 24:8The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
- Jer 7:34Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
- Rev 18:22–23And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
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 3:7 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.