May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
- KJV Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
- NKJV May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
- NASB “May those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to disturb Leviathan.
- NLT Let those who are experts at cursing— whose cursing could rouse Leviathan— curse that day.
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 invokes those skilled in cursing days and rousing Leviathan. He summons every power to undo his birthday.
Overview
Job calls on professional cursers and the mythic chaos-monster Leviathan to blot out his day, using the poetic imagery of his culture for ultimate undoing. He is not endorsing pagan belief but heaping up forceful language for his anguish. Later God will show Job that He alone rules even Leviathan, putting such powers in their place.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Job 41:1“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
- Job 41:10No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
- 2 Chr 35:25Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the choirs of men and women sing laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
- Jer 9:17–18This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
- Job 41:25When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
- Mark 5:38When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.
- Matt 11:17‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
- Amos 5:16Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.
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 3:8 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.