Job 3

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¹At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. ✦ ²He said: ✦ ³“Let the day of my birth be erased, and the night I was conceived. ✦ ⁴Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it. ✦ ⁵Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it. ✦ ⁶Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months. ⁷Let that night be childless. Let it have no joy. ✦ ⁸Let those who are experts at cursing— whose cursing could rouse Leviathan— curse that day. ✦ ⁹Let its morning stars remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light. ✦ ¹⁰Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb, for letting me be born to see all this trouble. ✦ ¹¹“Why wasn’t I born dead? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? ✦ ¹²Why was I laid on my mother’s lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? ✦ ¹³Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace. I would be asleep and at rest. ✦ ¹⁴I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers, whose great buildings now lie in ruins. ✦ ¹⁵I would rest with princes, rich in gold, whose palaces were filled with silver. ✦ ¹⁶Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light? ✦ ¹⁷For in death the wicked cause no trouble, and the weary are at rest. ✦ ¹⁸Even captives are at ease in death, with no guards to curse them. ✦ ¹⁹Rich and poor are both there, and the slave is free from his master. ✦ ²⁰“Oh, why give light to those in misery, and life to those who are bitter? ✦ ²¹They long for death, and it won’t come. They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure. ✦ ²²They’re filled with joy when they finally die, and rejoice when they find the grave. ²³Why is life given to those with no future, those God has surrounded with difficulties? ✦ ²⁴I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. ✦ ²⁵What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. ✦ ²⁶I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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.

Where this chapter connects

Job 10 ·6 Ps 49 ·5 Job 7 ·5 Job 41 ·4 Job 19 ·4 Job 30 ·4 Jer 20 ·4 Job 1 ·3

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 3YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 3David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 3Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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