Job speaks of the utter misery of his life and longs for death.

Outline of Chapter 3:

Introduction

         vv.     1–2           Job Begins to Speak

         vv.     3–10         Job Despairs of the Day and Night in Which He was Born

         vv.    11–15         Jobs Asks Why Was He Even Born and Speaks to the Futility of Life

         vv.    16–19         Job Asks Why He was not Miscarried and Speaks of the Rest and Equality of Death

         vv.    20–26         Job Complains of his Suffering and Longs for Death

Addendum

Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines:

         Introduction         An Outline of the Discourses in Job

         Introduction         The Principals of Job 3

         Introduction         Job and His Three Associates (graphics)

         Introduction         The Prequel of Job 3

         Introduction         A Synopsis of Job 3

         Introduction         Clarke’s Outline of Job 3

         Introduction         Matthew Henry’s Outline of Job 3

         Introduction         Principles that Introduce us to Job 3–31

         v.       8              Translating Job 3:8

         v.       8              Commentators Explaining Leviathan

         v.       8              Leviathan in Old Testament Scriptures

         v.      10              Two Approaches to Job 3:10

         v.      11              Clarke’s 3 Deaths in Job

         v.      11              The Doctrine of Miscarriage in the Bible

         v.      12              When does life occur?

         v.      13              Kîy ʿattâh Translations

         v.      13              Barnes Sums Up Job’s Four Expressions of Happiness, Had He Died as an Infant

         v.      13              Death, as Understood by Job

         v.      16              Does Job 3:16 Prove Personhood for the Unborn?

         v.      16              The limits of Job 3:16

         v.      16              The Placement of Job 3:16

         v.      17              The Fallacy of Reincarnation

         v.      17              The Doctrine of Physical Death

         v.      19              The Pulpit Commentary on What Job Expects at Death

         v.      21              Why God Has Allowed Job to Continue Living

         v.      23              McEwan’s Doctrine of Suffering

         v.      26              Dunagan’s Final Remarks on Job’s Final Remarks

         Addendum          What We Learn from Job 3

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Job 3

——————————

An Introduction to Job 3

I ntroduction: With Job 3, we settle in for the long ride of theological discussions. Here is the point at which many people (including myself) have become confused. When is Job saying something that is accurate? When is he just expressing pity for himself? When do his friends speak accurately? And how did ancient men understand this all to mean?

There are a couple of misconceptions which need to be cleared up. We look at our spiritual advantages and nature as something which is progressive, and, in many ways, it is. You and I have the ability to understand far more than Moses understood; for more than David understood; and we can even reach the peak of theological understanding that Paul had.

But, how do we stand up against Adam? How about Seth? What about Enoch or Noah? Adam came from the hand of God, and, upon eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (or Right and Wrong), he had a near-perfect understanding of good and evil, right and wrong. He passed this information along to his son Seth (although it is unclear how much he passed along to Cain). However, Cain came up with a new idea, one that had never been done on earth before—a murder. Committing murder never occurred to Adam, so how does Adam teach about that?

So, as man progressed, and as sins of various kinds became more widespread, so did an understanding of right and wrong as well. Men of that era had a much greater cerebral development, so their brains held more information, including complex concepts of right and wrong, good and evil.

Therefore, most people understood the issues that are discussed in Job. We have, for most of the book, four men discussing what they know based upon some very unusual circumstances—Job’s life has been destroyed, and without any apparent reason (something that Job’s friends could not accept).

So, Job will complain greatly in this chapter; but it will become clear that his friends, all of this time, are looking him over, thinking about his life, and figuring, “No way does God strike down a righteous man like this. Job must have done something wrong.” And generally speaking, they would be right. But what they leave out is the key to this book, which is the Angelic Conflict. Without Job 1–2, this book makes no sense. However, for Job’s friends (and for Job in most of this book) there is no Job 1–2. The events of those chapters do not enter into their brains. Therefore, all that they knew about life and God tells them that Job not only did something wrong, but that he did something that was very wrong.

As I have said before, I believe that Job was an early primer; and early reader, if you will, although it was not in written form. Children memorized it as a part of their education; and this was the perfect book. It begins with a lot of repetition; a limited vocabulary; a poetic structure; so that children could learn it and repeat it. Then the parents could discuss the theological aspects of this book with their children.

I always thought that a television show which would have great success would be one which features the faiths of the people on the show. Seventh Heaven was one of those shows, and, although there were limited theological discussions and the theology was somewhat liberal, there was a strong dosage of divine establishment viewpoint included in this show. I think that it ran for 9 or 10 seasons; so there was a desire by many to watch it.

I think a similar show, with several families of several different faiths, who are thrown together in various ways (as neighbors, as people who socialize together, as people who work together), who sometimes end up talking about religion and their faith and even politics now and again—I believe that this would be a great hit, if it is well-written. These are things that people think about. Even those who are settled in their faith sometimes give thought to other ideas and other approaches; and who doesn’t like to argue? I think that much of America would love a show where there are no car crashes, no gun fights, and no aliens or vampires—just real people who think like real people and discuss issues like real people.

In many ways, that is what we have here in the book of Job. Here are 4 intelligent and successful businessmen (we are assuming that his friends are successful businessmen); and Job’s life has taken this great turn for the worse; and now they are going to discuss this. This is something which really did take place; and since it all happened a little before television, and even before books, it was presented in the medium of the mind. It was something that many families memorized and discussed; and perhaps it helped many people to hone their skills when it comes to understanding right and wrong.

Job 3 begins with Job cursing the day of his birth. Although Job certainly does not express a wish to be dead nor does he request his friends to kill him, he does give voice to the frustration of being alive and having sucha miserable life. Although Zodhiates speaks of the internal conflict that Job was having—had he committed a sin so vile as to require this kind of discipline or was God just unjust?—this conflict is actually not mentioned in this chapter. Job speaks of his intense pain and suffering, asking more general questions, such as why did I not just die at birth? He is completely unaware of what had occurred in heaven, as were his friends. The idea that Job was being tested for approval does not cross any of their minds throughout the entirety of the book of Job.

McGee: The book of Job presents the problem. It states the stripping of a man’s soul. It does not give the solution, although answers are suggested in this book. You must go to the New Testament for the real answer. It is sort of like the algebra book I had at school. The problems were in the front and the answers were in the back of the book. The Bible is like that. You get the problem here, but you must turn over to the New Testament to get the answer.

This chapter contains Job’s complaint. At the end of seven days, when he saw no prospect of relief from his sufferings, and when his friends did not utter one word of condolence, he unburdens his heart in the language of bitter lamentation and despair.

One of the issues which has been in the back of my mind is how much of this is truth? That is, we are assured by the inerrancy of Scripture that Job is a real person under real suffering and that this is what Job actually said. However, how much of his speech is accurate? Barnes points out that there is undoubtedly, much in this complaint that is irreverent, impatient, and improper. One of the reasons that I rarely quote from the book of Job is that it is too easy to take a passage out of context, when just the opposite of what the passage says is often what is true. Our rule of thumb, which is not going to always been helpful, is that all of what God says is accurate and true; much of what Job says will be accurate and true; and some of what Job’s friends say will be accurate and true.

We also need, at this juncture, an outline to guide us through the following speeches. We have three rounds of speeches by Job and his friends. Each friend will speak and Job will give his answer and this will occur three times.

Chapter Outline

Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

Here are two ancient works of art which go with this chapter of Job.
Job and His Three Associates (graphics)
Repin’s Job and his Friends	Fouquet’s Job and his False Comforters
Ilya Repin (1844 - 1930) Job and his Friends (oil on canvas - 1869)	Jean Fouquet (ca. 1420 - 1477/81) Job and his False Comforters (illumination - 1452-60)
From http://www.artbible.info/art/large/136.html accessed June 16, 2013.	From http://www.artbible.info/art/large/729.html accessed June 16, 2013.

Job speaks, after a week of silence. His reversal of fortune is so dramatic that he cannot even utter a word when his 3 associates comes to him. Now, remember that Job has not sinned with his mouth, although it is certainly possible that he has some mental attitude sins. This is unclear in Job 2; but there certainly seems to be a great deal of self-pity in Job 3. I do not say that casually, as I cannot imagine the amount of pain and suffering that Job is subjected to. I am not saying that he is justified in this; but I am certainly not saying that dealing with what he is dealing with is beyond imaginable.

What will ensue will be a discussion of suffering, God’s righteousness, God’s plan and purpose, and how men of Job’s era understood these things to interrelate. It ought to be no secret that all of these men will assume that Job has done something to warrant all that has come upon him. Since we have been allowed to look behind the curtain, we know that this is not the case.

This will be a little tricky, because Job himself admits to saying some things which were wrong (Job 42:3–6).

Interestingly enough, Job only speaks the name of God (an unusual name for God) twice; and several more times by using 3^rd person masculine singular verbs.

As an aside, when I first read through a chapter of the Word of God before I am about the exegete it, very rarely do I have much of an idea where it will lead, and what questions will be asked and answered. This is actually one of the very fascinating aspects of the Word of God. Once you begin digging into this or that chapter, there is no telling what you might unearth, and how fascinating the topics are which the chapter itself suggests. There is the previously mentioned problem of this chapter—at what point is Job expressing divine viewpoint and when is he just declaring his own personal misery? This chapter is an excellent of example of this. Job complains of his suffering by essentially wishing that he had died in utero or shortly after birth. And yet, even with this—even with text where it is very difficult to isolate from it what is truth and what is sadness caused by pain—there is still a great deal of gold to be mined here.

——————————

Job Begins to Speak

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          After this, Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day, And he said:...

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        After so opened Job his mouth and so he curses his day. And so answers Job and so he says,...

Peshitta (Syriac)                    AFTER this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day wherein he was born. Then Job spoke and said,...

Charles Thomson (Greek)     After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day, saying,...

Septuagint (Greek)                After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth, saying,...

Significant differences:           In the Hebrew, Job curses his day; in the Syriac, he curses the day of his birth. In the second sentence, there appears to be some reiteration in the Hebrew; and the Greek and Latin appear to only use one verb, where the Hebrew used two.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Job responds differently

Afterward, Job spoke up and cursed the day he was born.

Job said:...

Contemporary English V.       Finally, Job cursed the day of his birth by saying to God:...

Easy English                          Job's first speech

Job regrets his own birth

Afterwards, Job spoke. He regretted his own birth. He said:...

Good News Bible (TEV)         Finally Job broke the silence and cursed the day on which he had been born.

The Message                         Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:...

New Century Version             Job Curses His Birth

After seven days Job cried out and cursed the day he had been born, saying:...

The Voice                               After all of this, Job opened his mouth and broke the silence. He spoke a curse, not upon God but upon his day of birth.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Well, after this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day, saying:...

Beck’s American Translation Job: “Perish the Day I Was Born”

Finally Job spoke and cursed the day of his birth. Job said:...

Christian Community Bible     May that day perish when I was born

At length it was Job who spoke, cursing the day of his birth. This is what he said:...

God’s Word™                         After all this, Job finally opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. Job said,...

New Advent (Knox) Bible       At last, Job himself broke into utterance, and fell to cursing the day on which he was born. And this was his plaint:...

New American Bible (R.E.)    Job's Complaint.

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day [His day: that is, the day of his birth.]. Job spoke out and said:.

NIRV                                      Job Wishes He Had Never Been Born

After a while, Job opened his mouth to speak. He called down a curse on the day he had been born. He said,...

New Jerusalem Bible             In the end it was Job who broke the silence and cursed the day of his birth. This is what he said:...

Revised English Bible            After this Job broke his silence and cursed the day of his birth:...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      So afterward Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. Job answered, and said...

Bible in Basic English             Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth, Job made answer and said,...

The Expanded Bible              Job Curses His Birth

·After seven days [^LAfterward] Job ·cried out [^Lopened his mouth] and cursed ·the day he had been born [^Lhis day; Jer. 20:14-18], saying:...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 At length Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day; and Job exclaimed and said:...

NET Bible®                             II. Job's Dialogue With His Friends

(3:1-27:33) [The previous chapters (chapters 1-2) were prose narrative, this chapter, however, commences the poetic section of the book (chapters 3-41) containing the cycles of speeches.]

Job Regrets His Birth

After this Job opened his mouth [The detailed introduction to the speech with "he opened his mouth" draws the readers attention to what was going to be said. As the introduction to the poetic speech that follows (Job. 3:3–26), Job. 3:1–2 continue the prose style of chapters 1–2. Each of the subsequent speeches is introduced by such a prose heading.] and cursed [The verb "cursed" is the Piel preterite from the verb קָלַל (qalal); this means "to be light" in the Qal stem, but here "to treat lightly, with contempt, curse." See in general H. C. Brichto, The Problem of "Curse" in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS); and A. C. Thiselton, "The Supposed Power of Words in the Biblical Writings," JTS 25 (1974): 283–99.] the day he was born [Heb "his day" (so KJV, ASV, NAB). The Syriac has "the day on which he was born." The context makes it clear that Job meant the day of his birth. But some have tried to offer a different interpretation, such as his destiny or his predicament. For this reason the Syriac clarified the meaning for their readers in much the same way as the present translation does by rendering "his day" as "the day he was born." On the Syriac translation of the book of Job, see Heidi M. Szpek, Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Job (SBLDS).]. Job spoke up [The text has וַיַּעַן (vayya'an), literally, "and he answered." The Septuagint (LXX) simply has "saying" for the entire verse. The Syriac, Targum, and Greek A have what the Masoretic Text (MT) has. "[Someone] answered and said" is phraseology characteristic of all the speeches in Job beginning with Satan in Job. 1:9. Only in Job. 40:1 is it employed when God is speaking. No other portion of the OT employs this phraseology as often or as consistently.] and said:... When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

NIV – UK                                Job speaks

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He said:...

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth]. Iyov said,...

exeGeses companion Bible   IYOB SPEAKS

After this Iyob opens his mouth

and abases his day;...

Judaica Press Complete T.    Afterwards, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Now Job raised his voice and said,...

Orthodox Jewish Bible           After this opened Iyov his mouth, and cursed his yom. And Iyov spoke, and said,...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day (birthday). And Job said,...

Concordant Literal Version    Afterward Job opened his mouth, and he maledicted his day. Thus Job asserted and said:...

NASB                                     Job's Lament

Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth [Lit his day]. 2 And Job said [Lit answered and said],...

New King James Version       Job Deplores His Birth

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said:...

New RSV                               After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. Job said:.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Chapter 3: Job Cracks Up Completely}

{Job's Arrogant Self-pity}

After this {7 days and 7 nights of silence} Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. {Note: Job's friends were judging him in their thoughts - arrogant self-righteousness (this will be brought out soon). Job must have noticed their gradual change of attitude toward him. He must have added this to all of his other losses and finally cracked up - he failed as all of us do from time to time.} {Perfect Hebrew Poetry -

Job's Subtle Form of Arrogant Self-Pity - the 'Birth Curse' Syndrome}

And Job spoke, and said,...

Webster’s Bible Translation  After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spoke, and said...

Young’s Updated LT             After this has Job opened his mouth, and he reviles his day. And Job answers and says: --...

The gist of this verse:          After sitting in silence for 7 days, Job finally opens up his mouth and begins to lament his life.

Translation: After this, Job opened his mouth... After this refers back to the end of Job 2, where 3 friends or business associates of Job have joined him in his grief and have sat with him in silence for 7 days and nights.

Whatever disease that Job was stuck with, it did not harm his ability to think or to speak. This would have been Satan’s intention. He said that Job would curse God; so Job has to have the wherewithal to curse God.

As was discussed previously, it is likely that these men had light meals and that thanks to God was given for the food. That is nowhere stated, but likely the case. However, nothing in addition was added to this.

But now, Job opens his mouth to speak.

The verbiage, Job opening his mouth, is indicative of the fact that Job will begin a long dissertation or that he is speaking after a long period of silence (recall the verbiage found in Matt. 5:2 of our Lord’s sermon on the mount). We find a very similar phrasing in Homer.

Translation: ...and cursed his day. This time, we have the actual word for curse, and a word which could have been used earlier in the book of Job, but was not (the full discussion of this can be found in both Job 1 and 2). This verb is the Piel imperfect of qâlal (קָלַל) [pronounced kaw-LAL] and it means, in the Niphal, to treat something lightly, in a trifling manner (1Sam. 18:22 Isa. 49:6); to curse, to despise in the Piel (Lev. 20:9 Deut. 23:4), and to be accursed in the Pual (Job 24:18 Isa. 65:20). The connection is simple; you may treat something as unimportant; and when that is intensified, you curse it. However, in the Qal stem, swift, moving quickly, moving aside seem to be the meaning (Gen. 8:8 II Sam. 1:23 Job 7:6). The Hiphil is a mixture of these meanings (Ex. 18:22 Isa. 23:9 Jonah 1:5). Strong's #7043 BDB #886. Jeremiah himself said, “Cursed be the day when I was born; let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!” (Jer. 20:14).

Job does not curse God, but he does curse his day. If Job were 15 and speaking as a young man today, he would have said, “My life sucks” or “My life totally sucks.” Whereas teens all over America are saying this (or words to this effect), Job’s life has become something to despair about, and finally he expresses it.

Although this appears, in the English, as if this is in addition to what Job says in subsequent verses; it appears more likely that what follows in vv. 3–26 represents the content of Job’s cursing. What we will study is the content of Job’s cursing. The imperfect tense here allows for an extended period of time devoted to Job cursing his life.

Gill: what is meant by cursing...is, he wished either it had never been, or he had never been born; but since that was impossible, that it might be forgotten, and never observed or had in esteem, but be buried oblivion and obscurity, and be branded with a black mark, as an unhappy day, forever.

Keil and Delitzsch point out that it was unfortunate that Job was the first one to speak. That, after the seven days, each of the friends should have offered their sympathy verbally—that perhaps their relationship would not have turned so confrontational at the beginning.

Translation: And so Job speaks up... The word found here, ʿânâh (עָנָה) [pronounced ģaw-NAWH], can mean to answer, to respond; but it can also means to speak loudly, to speak up, to speak in a public forum. Strong's #6030 BDB #772. We can consider all of these meanings. Job is sitting silently with these men, but he knows how much he is suffering and he knows that, during these 7 days of silence, these men are thinking about him and wondering, “What the hell happened to Job?” So we can consider that Job is either providing the answer to this unspoken question, or that Job is speaking in an open forum, before these 3 men.

Translation: ...and he says,... Now Job is speaking (what he says begins in v. 3). Here we have 2 imperfect verbs held together by 2 wâw consecutives. Many times, this would indicate either successive or coterminous actions. Obviously, it is hard to separate these verbs into successive acts. We cannot translate this, Job answers and then Job says,... Therefore, let me offer a theory as to how we should understand this: Job first initiates or begins an extended action, and follows this through with speaking (I don’t think I expressed that very well). So, we may possibly translate this, Then Job began to speak, and he said,...

Verse 1 gives us the content of what Job said and in v. 2 we have the quotation marks, so to speak. The use of the word answered often begins a discourse when no particular question was asked (Deut. 26:5 27:14 Isa. 14:10 Zech. 3:4). Strong’s #6030 BDB #772. This word is also used when it would have been apropos to ask a question, but one was not actually asked. The NT equivalent word is used in much the same way (Matt. 17:4, 17 28:5 Mark 9:5 10:51).

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. And so Job speaks up and he says,... At the first Satanic attack, Job praised God. In the second, Job carefully reproved his wife; however, by the time his associates arrive, the pain has taken its toll on Job.

——————————

Job Despairs of the Day and Night in Which He was Born

It is interesting that Job has enjoyed probably 50–100 wonderful years of life. He is now suffering as he has never suffered before, and he will complain about his entire life, as if suffering is all he has had. This is something I must point out in evaluating this chapter; it is not from the standpoint that the average believer ought to have weighed the good and the bad out. This is actually quite sobering to realize that, if this is how Job reacts to such powerful suffering, how ought we to respond? It seems likely that, few, if any of us, have been touted by the God of the Universe as someone that Satan and all of angelic creation ought to pay attention to.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        “Perishes [or, Is wretched] the day I was born in it; and the night he said, ‘Was conceived a man-child.’

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, A male child is conceived.

Charles Thomson (Greek)     Perish the day in which I was born-and the night in which they said, It is a male!

Septuagint (Greek)                Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a male child!

Significant differences:           The Greek might be adding in the word behold.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Perish the day I was born,

the night someone said,

"A boy has been conceived.".

Contemporary English V.       Blot out the day of my birth and the night when my parents created a son.

Easy English                          I regret my own birth. I am sorry that I was ever born.

Good News Bible (TEV)         O God, put a curse on the day I was born; put a curse on the night when I was conceived!

The Message                         "Obliterate the day I was born. Blank out the night I was conceived!

New Century Version             "Let the day I was born be destroyed,

and the night it was said, `A boy is born!'

New Life Bible                        "Let the day be lost on which I was born, and the night which said, 'A boy is born.'

New Living Translation           "Let the day of my birth be erased,

and the night I was conceived.

The Voice                               Job: May the day die on which I was born,

along with the night that spoke the words, "a boy is conceived."

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          'May the day I was born be destroyed, along with the night when they said, Look! It's a boy!

God’s Word™                         "Scratch out the day I was born and the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived!'

New Advent (Knox) Bible       Blotted out for ever be the day of my birth; that night, too, which gave word that a human life had been conceived in the womb!

New American Bible (R.E.)    Perish the day on which I was born [Jer 20:14.],

the night when they said, "The child is a boy!"

NIRV                                      "May the day I was born be wiped out.

May the night be wiped away when people said, `A boy is born!'

New Jerusalem Bible             Perish the day on which I was born and the night that told of a boy conceived.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      "Vanish the day I was begotten. The night said, 'Conceive a fellow,...

Bible in Basic English             Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world.

The Expanded Bible              "Let the day I was born be destroyed,

and the night it was said, `A boy is ·born [^Lconceived]!'

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Perish the Day I was born,

When Night said, “A man is conceived!”

NET Bible®                             "Let the day on which [The relative clause is carried by the preposition with the resumptive pronoun: "the day [which] I was born in it" meaning "the day on which I was born" (see GKC 486-88 §155.f, i).] I was born [The verb is the Niphal imperfect. It may be interpreted in this dependent clause (1) as representing a future event from some point of time in the past — "the day on which I was born" or "would be born" (see GKC 316 §107.k). Or (2) it may simply serve as a preterite indicating action that is in the past.] perish,

and the night that said [The Masoretic Text (MT) simply has "and the night — it said...." By simple juxtaposition with the parallel construction ("on which I was born") the verb "it said" must be a relative clause explaining "the night." Rather than supply "in which" and make the verb passive (which is possible since no specific subject is provided, but leaves open the question of who said it), it is preferable to take the verse as a personification. First Job cursed the day; now he cursed the night that spoke about what it witnessed. See A. Ehrman, "A Note on the Verb 'amar," JQR 55 (1964/65): 166-67.],

`A man [The word is גֶּבֶר (gever, "a man"). The word usually distinguishes a man as strong, distinct from children and women. Translations which render this as "boy" (to remove the apparent contradiction of an adult being "conceived" in the womb) miss this point.] has been conceived [The announcement at birth is to the fact that a male was conceived. The same parallelism between "brought forth/born" and "conceived" may be found in Psalm 51:7 HT (Job. 51:5 ET). The motifs of the night of conception and the day of birth will be developed by Job. For the entire verse, which is more a wish or malediction than a curse, see S. H. Blank, " 'Perish the Day!' A Misdirected Curse (Job. 3:3)," Prophetic Thought, 61–63.]!'

NIV, ©2011                             "May the day of my birth perish,

and the night that said, `A boy is conceived!'

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           "Perish the day I was born and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.'

exeGeses companion Bible   Destroy the day I was birthed;

and the night that says,

A mighty child is conceived;...

Judaica Press Complete T.    "Would the day in which I was to be born be lost, and the night when one said, 'A man has impregnated.'

Orthodox Jewish Bible           Let the yom perish wherein I was born, and halailah in which it was said, There is a gever born.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which announced, There is a man-child conceived.

Concordant Literal Version    May the day perish in which I was born, And the night that said, Behold, a master!"

English Standard Version      "Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.'

The Geneva Bible                  Let the day perish [Men should not be weary of their life and curse it, because of the infinities that it is subject to, but because they are given to sin and rebellion against God. ] wherein I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Green’s Literal Translation    Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night which said, A man-child has been conceived.

New King James Version       "May the day perish on which I was born,

And the night in which it was said,

`A male child is conceived.'

Syndein/Thieme                     "May the day of my birth perish. And the night it was said, "A boy/man-child is born,...

Updated Bible Version 2.11   Let the day perish in which I was born, And the night which said, A [noble] man was conceived.

Webster’s Bible Translation  Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a mail child conceived.

Young’s Updated LT             Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that has said: “A man-child has been conceived.”

The gist of this verse:          Job calls for the day of his birth to disappear from history, along with the night when he was born.

Translation: “The day in which [lit., in it] I was born is wretched;... Job speaks of the day of his birth as being wretched or miserable.

The first verb is the 3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect of ʾâbad (אָבַד) [pronounced aw^b-VAHD] is fairly consistently rendered in the Qal stem as perish (Lev. 26:38 Esther 4:16 Joel 1:11). Strong's #6 BDB #1.

The verb here is not in a stem or in a tense which requires us to render this as an imperative. This is why I have rendered this as a matter-of-fact as opposed to a request.

Keil and Delitzsch: Job wishes his birth-day may...[be] swallowed up by darkness as into nothing.

We are dealing in poetry now, and sometimes the rules are different. There are times when I do not know the rules. Many follow the KJV, which is a very respectable version, and have “Let the day that I was born perish” (or words to that effect). In Hebrew prose, there is a way to express the word let; which we do not find here. However, since Job probably did not speak Hebrew and given that this book may have been originally written in another language, it would be difficult to say whether Job’s voice or the other language (or the fact that we are in poetry) allows for let.

Or, we can simply use the Hebrew which is right in front of us and Job is saying, “The day of my birth is miserable;” or “My birthday is a wretched day.” In essence, Job is in so much physical pain, he is saying, in so many words, “I wish that I had never been born.” Or, even more severe, “I wish that I were dead.”

This is one of the odd things that pain and misery can do to a person. A person may have a relatively good life (Job had a great life); but at this point is his life, he is so miserable that he wishes he were dead. This is a man who still has 140 years of a happy life in front of him. But he hates this one rough patch so much, that he calls the day of his birth wretched and miserable. This is a very odd aspect of life: a man can have a life that is 99% great (which is at least the impression that is given of Job’s life), but the 1% can be so miserable as to blot everything else out.

Translation: ...and the night [which] said, ‘A male was conceived’ [is wretched as well]. Job called the day in which he was born miserable. We may similarly apply that to this night as well.

Keil and Delitzsch: Transl. the night which said, not: “in which they said;” the night alone was witness of this beginning of the development of a man-child, and made report of it to the High One, to whom it is subordinate. Keil and Delitzsch confirm that the [personified] night is speaking.

The night that Job was conceived looks back upon the day that he was conceived, and says, “A male-child has been conceived.” We carry over the description wretched, miserable to apply to this night as well. We might even consider this night to be the night Job was conceived.

Therefore, the use of day refers to that 24-hour period of time during which Job was born; and is perpetuated as a birthday after that.

The night part of this is trickier. Was Job born at night and the night said, “This is a male-child conceived 9 months ago;” or does the night of his conception proclaim, “A male child was conceived this night.” In either case, the accurate implication is, at conception, Job is a male.

However, that is not the point of what Job is saying. He is saying either (1) that night when his gender was announced—that was a wretched, miserable night in the history of man; or, (2) the night of his conception proclaimed him a male.

The order of the Hebrew is Perishing the day I was born in it and the night said, ‘Conceived a man-child.’ “ I am even re-thinking my less than literal translation, as Job may be making a statement here as opposed to making a request. The way this is translated obviously changes its meaning. He is not looking toward heaven and asking God to remove his day of birth—he may instead simply making a statement of fact that the day of his birth will perish. In a majority of the English versions, we have inserted throughout this chapter the word let. This is apropos when the verb is a jussive or is in the imperative mood; however, most of these verbs are simple Qal imperfects and Qal perfects. Therefore, in both the literal and less-than-literal translation, I will not use a let unless one can be justified linguistically.

The word night carries with it through poetic parallelism—therefore, the verb and the preposition of the word day can be rightly translated along with it. This could also be rendered: ...and the night in which he said,... However, I don’t feel that we need to look for another subject of the verbs perish or said when day and night easily fit the bill. The verbs are both in the 3^rd person, masculine singular and the nouns are both in the 3^rd person, masculine singular. Barnes concurs with this personification of day and night , as does Keil and Delitzsch. When all four of us agree, that’s a fact, Jack.

The Septuagint, which Rotherham goes with at this point, reads: “Behold—a man-child!”

Job later says: “Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb.” (Job 3:18–19). Now, we will get into the abortion issue soon enough in this chapter, as some go to the book of Job for their ammunition. However, keep in mind that Job is not a medical doctor and Scriptural inspiration insures us that these are his words, not that these words represent divine viewpoint. Furthermore, when a meteorologist or an astronomer speaks of the setting and the rising of the sun, they fully realize that is scientifically incorrect, but it is the viewpoint that we are familiar with. That is, the setting and rising of the sun is strictly a man-centered observation which is acceptable both as common verbiage among scientists and even in the Bible. Therefore, we cannot look too closely at what Job says in order to justify or to condemn abortion.

An interesting observation: Job is hovering around a hundred years old ; he has had ten children, they are grown; and he has spent hours upon hours of enjoyment with his family, and he has been prospered beyond any other man. However, what has come upon him has been so horrendous that he would prefer to have never lived. Furthermore, Job is a person who is spiritually mature; we are not observing some unbelieving twit with no regard or interest in his relationship to God. We are comparing almost a lifetime of satisfaction to a month of calamity—in our lives, clearly the calamity outweighs the enjoyment of life that has gone on before.

This is not all completely self-centered here. His children are no longer alive; so he, in essence, did not produce anything—his line has ended, as far as he knows.

V. 3 reads: “The day in which [lit., in it] I was born is wretched; and the night [which] said, ‘A male was conceived’ [is wretched as well].

NIV Study Bible: Job’s very existence, which has been a joy to him because of God’s favor, is now his intolerable burden. He is as close as he will ever come to cursing God, but he does not do it.

Barnes writes: The sense of this expression in Job is plain. He wished there never had been such a day, and then he would not have been born. It is impossible to vindicate these expressions in Job and Jeremiah, unless it be on the supposition that it is highly worked poetic language, caused by sorrow so acute that it could not be expressed in prose.

Jeremiah, interestingly enough, has a similar passage in which he says much the same thing: “Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, ‘A son is born to you,’ making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?” (Jer. 20:14–18).

What also must be taken into consideration is that there is no indication that there was any Scripture to which a person could cling. At best, there were some portions of Genesis floating about; but Job had not a promise or a hope to which he could cling. We take for granted God’s Word, but within His Word are great promises and condolences designed for us to take a hold of and to embrace. We will, throughout the book of Job, learn what it was the Job knew and what he did have to cling to in the way of divine viewpoint; and we will see that God will shore up this lack at the end of this book.

I would think that the men of this day understood the laws of divine establishment; and they understood the character of God. They knew the difference between right and wrong. Based upon these things, Job was considered by God to be a great man, spiritually speaking.

Today, we understand promises from the Word of God; and often, we can assemble principles from Scripture, and fall back on these principles. Apparently, Job and his friends learned these principles from their parents and grandparents. What we will get from the book of Job is an idea of the understanding that these men had of life and their place on this earth, and their relationship to God.

I must quote from Barnes at this time, whose writing throughout his commentary is absolutely inspired: Before we blame [Job] too severely, we must place ourselves in imagination in his circumstances, and ask what our piety would have done under the trials which afflicted him. Yet with all allowances, it is not possible to vindicate this language; and while we cannot but admire its force and sublimity, and it unequaled power and boldness in expressing strong passion, we at the same time feel that there was a want of proper submission and patience.—It is the impassioned language of a man who felt that he could bear no more; and there can be no doubt that it gave to Satan the hope of his anticipated triumph.

Now, I hesitate to point out Job’s self-pity here because I would be screaming uncle at a tenth or less of what he endured. However, you will recall the last portion of Job 2:10 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. This is very specific and limited. Satan said Job would be cursing God, and Job 2:10 says that Job did not commit any verbal sins; but is Job feeling sorry for himself? Indeed he is. Hence, the very precise and specific words.

Application: We recently had such a precise response from President Obama at a recent news conference (I write this in 2013). Question: “Can you assure the American people that nobody in the White House knew about the [IRS] agency's actions before your Counsel's Office found out on April 22^nd? And when they did find out, do you think that you should have learned about it before you learned about it from news reports as you said last Friday?” The President answered, after dancing around the question a bit, “I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG [the Inspector General’s] report before the IG report had been leaked through the press.” You will note the precision of the answer. She did not ask about the IG report; but Obama specifically addressed the IG report, where the investigation into the IRS misdoing was referenced. At no time does Obama say, “I knew nothing about what was going on at the IRS until then; no one in my White House told me anything about what was going on at the IRS.” The latter answer is a broader answer, but it addresses the reporter’s specific question.

Zuck: If the day on which he was born had been wiped from the calendar, he could have avoided being born. Job then backed up to the moment at night when he was conceived. Apparently, he considered conception the beginning of his existence. The night was personified as knowing and announcing the sex of the child conceived. This is a good point, but I am not certain as to how far we can push it.

One thing which we could conclude is, Job rightly believes that his gender was determined at conception. The night does not say, “A male is born;” but “A male was conceived.”

Our verse again: “The day in which [lit., in it] I was born is wretched;

and the night said,

‘A male was conceived’ [is wretched as well].

There are several themes which are established here. First of all, almost every verse will be composed of 3 elements. Secondly, much of what follows is going to be all about the day Job was born and the night when his gender was proclaimed aloud—that this day and night are cursed.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        The day the this, let him be [deep] darkness;

let not seek him Elohah from above;

and let not shine over him light.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Charles Thomson (Greek)     Let that night be darkness: let not the Lord from above regard it, nor splendour come upon it: but let darkness.

Septuagint (Greek)                Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it.

Significant differences:           The meaning of the second verb is suspect (all of the ancient translations appear to differ from the Hebrew). However, in checking the Greek, the verb used also means to seek out, to search through. Strong’s #327. However, this is a rare usage of the Hebrew word to mean to regard, to be concerned with; which will be explored in the Hebrew exegesis.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           That day-let it be darkness;

may God above ignore it,

and light not shine on it.

Contemporary English V.       Forget about that day, cover it with darkness,...

Easy English                          I would prefer if that day never existed. I would prefer if the sun never appeared on that day. I wish that God did not count that day.

Easy-to-Read Version            I wish that day had stayed dark.

I wish God would forget that day.

I wish light had not shined on that day.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Turn that day into darkness, God. Never again remember that day; never again let light shine on it.

The Message                         Let it be a black hole in space. May God above forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books!

New Life Bible                        Let that day turn to darkness.

Don't let God care about it.

Don't let light shine on it.

New Living Translation           Let that day be turned to darkness.

Let it be lost even to God on high,

and let no light shine on it.

The Voice                               May that day of birth become darkness, and when it has disappeared,

may God above neither seek it out nor light find a way to shine on it.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          May that night become very dark; may the Lord up above not seek it; may it not see the coming of dawn.

Christian Community Bible     May that day be dark,

may God on high ignore it.

May no light shine upon it.

God’s Word™                         "That day- let it be pitch-black. Let God above not even care about it. Let no light shine on it.

New Advent (Knox) Bible       Plunged be that day in darkness; may God on high forget it, and grant it never shine of sun;...

New American Bible              May that day be darkness: let not God above call for it, nor light shine upon it!

New American Bible (R.E.)    May that day be darkness:

may God [God: in Heb. 'Eloah, another name for the divinity, used frequently in Job.] above not care for it,

may light not shine upon it!.

New Jerusalem Bible             May that day be darkness, may God on high have no thought for it, may no light shine on it.

Revised English Bible            May that day turn to darkness,

may God above not look for it;

nor light of dawn shine on it.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      ...for his day will be darkness. God will request nothing from above and will never shine insight over him.'

Bible in Basic English             That day--let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it;...

The Expanded Bible              Let that day turn to darkness [^Ccontrast Gen. 1:3].

Don't let God ·care about [^Lseek] it.

Don't let light shine on it.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Let that day be darkness itself,

Let God not look down from above

Nor shine upon it with His light!

HCSB                                     If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.

NET Bible®                             That day [The first two words should be treated as a casus pendens (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 69), referred to as an extraposition in recent grammarians.] - let it be darkness [This expression by Job is the negation of the divine decree at creation - "Let there be light," and that was the first day. Job wishes that his first day be darkness: "As for that day, let there be darkness." Since only God has this prerogative, Job adds the wish that God on high would not regard that day.];

let not God on high regard [The verb דָּרַש (darash) means “to seek, inquire,” and “to address someone, be concerned about something” (cf. Deut 11:12; Jer 30:14,17). Job wants the day to perish from the mind of God.] it,

nor let light shine [The verb is the Hiphil of יָפַע (yafa’), which means here “cause to shine.” The subject is the term נְהָרָה (nÿharah,“light”), a hapax legomenon which is from the verb נָהַר (nahar, “to gleam” [see Isa 60:5]).] on it!

NIV – UK                                That day - may it turn to darkness;

may God above not care about it;

may no light shine on it.

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           May that day be darkness, may God on high not seek it, may no light shine on it,...

exeGeses companion Bible   O that that day be darkness:

that Elohah neither require it from above,

nor the light shine on it;...

Orthodox Jewish Bible           Let that yom be choshech; let not Elohim regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    That day! may it be darkness; Let not Eloah from above inquire of it, And let not a light beam shine on it.

Context Group Version          Let that day be darkness; Don't let God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine on it.

Darby Translation                  That day -- let it be darkness, let not God care for it from above, neither let light shine upon it.

Emphasized Bible                  That day, be it darkness,—Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:...

The Geneva Bible                  Let that day be darkness; let not God regard [Let it be put out of the number of days, and let it not have the sight of the sun to separate it from the night.] it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Green’s Literal Translation    Let that day be darkness! Let not God look on it from above, nor let the light shine on it.

Modern KJV                           Let that day be darkness. Let not God look upon it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Syndein/Thieme                     May that day, it turn to darkness.

May 'Elohiym/Godhead above not care about it.

May not light shine upon it.

Webster’s Bible Translation  Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

World English Bible                Let that day be darkness; Don't let God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine on it.

Young's Literal Translation     That day--let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it.

The gist of this verse:          Job asks for the day of his birth to remain enshrouded in darkness.

Translation: Let this day [of my birth] be [in deep] darkness [or, misery];... Job is totally miserable, and it is hard to blame him for that. His life has been destroyed and he is covered with painful sores. He asks for this day to be in deep darkness. This day would refer back to the day of his birth, spoken of in the previous verse.

In this verse we have the 3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect, apocopated jussive of the verb to be. This is a request from Job and here we may rightly insert the word let and this is exactly the same form of the verb that we find in Gen. 1:3a, where it reads: Then God said, “Let it become light.”

Darkness here is the word chôshek^e (חֹשֶ) [pronounced KHOH-shek^e], and, although it means extreme darkness; it can be used metaphorically to mean misery, adversity, and sadness. Strong’s #2822 BDB #365. So Job says that the day of his birth should remain enshrouded in darkness, because of the great misery associated with it. He is so sorrowful at this moment and in such pain, that there is nothing in his life which stands out as meaningful. It is all darkness and misery.

Job does more than just say, “Let the day of my birth become enshrouded in darkness.” He says, “Let the day of my birth be darkness.” His day will become completely and totally identified with darkness and misery and sorrow. Taking the New Testament vocabulary, Job might be saying, “Let the day of my birth be baptized into darkness.”

In this, Job does not curse God, but he is cursing the day of his birth.

The game afoot in the background is to bring Job to curse God. Job does not curse God, but curses his circumstances. Job calls for a curse on the day of his birth.

Matthew Henry brilliantly states: Yet it was not so bad as Satan promised. Job cursed his day, but he did not curse his God; Job was weary of his life, and would gladly have parted with that, but not weary of his religion; he resolutely cleaves to that, and will never let it go. The dispute between God and Satan concerning Job was not whether Job had his infirmities, and whether he was subject to like passions as we are (that was granted), but whether he was a hypocrite, who secretly hated God, and if he were provoked, would show his hatred; and, upon trial, it proved that he was no such man.

Again, I want to remind you how people learned Bible doctrine at that time. There was no Bible; there was no Mosaic Law. But God’s Law is quite specific; the concept of right and wrong is very clear. For us, this is hard to grasp, because we now live in a time of great relativism, where this person’s thoughts and that person’s thoughts are equal. Unless they are a Christ, and then, of course, they are seen as terribly bigoted. This is not true of the time of Job, when people, not many generations from Noah, have had solid values taught to them by their parents, grandparents and great grandparents. This is how Job knew what was right and wrong; this is how Abraham knew what was right and wrong.

However, at this point, Job is so beaten down by his life and physical illness that he is only able to focus upon those things as being definitive in his life.

Translation: ...and let not Elohah from above regard [or, seek after] it;... There is a different name for God found in this verse than we find elsewhere. ʾĚlôhah (אֱלֹהַה) [pronounced el-OH-hah] is a word for God or deity found primarily in Job (e.g., Job 3:4, 23 4:9, 17 5:17 6:4, 8, 9) and found scattered throughout the Bible in approximately a dozen other places. This name for God occurs 41 times in the book of Job. This suggests to me that Job spoke a different language, and that this word was taken into the Hebrew as a transliteration.

The second verb is the Qal imperfect jussive of dârash (דָּרַש) [pronounced daw-RASH], which means to seek, to make inquiries concerning, to consult, to investigate, to study, to follow, to inquire. This word is used often for man seeking or making inquiry of God (Gen. 25:22 2Kings 8:8 Psalm 105:4). It is used less often when God is the subject (Gen. 9:5 Deut. 18:19 Job 3:4 10:6 39:8). The difference between the two uses of this verb is a difference in the intelligence of the subject. Man is limited in his cognizance, so this verb is used to me seek, inquire to fill in some of the gaps of his intelligence. However, since God is omniscient, He does not need to seek after knowledge. Here, God has carefully examined the land. God looking into things is an anthropopathism. He knows this in His omniscience already. Furthermore, one would seek out a place (or a person) because he has an interest in that place (or person); or a high regard for that place or person. I realize that it's a long way to Tipperary, but sometimes we have to do that in order to ascertain the meaning of the words used. Strong’s #1875 BDB #205. Again, because this is in the jussive, it is correct to insert the word let.

Job asks that God not investigate the day of Job’s birth; that God forget that it ever happened. God need not concern himself with Job’s life, appears to be the point that Job is making.

Clarke writes: “Let that day be blotted out of the calendar.” However distinguished it may have been, as the birthday of a man once celebrated for his possessions, liberality, and piety, let his day no longer be thus noted; as he who was thus celebrated is now the sport of adversity, the most impoverished, most afflicted, and most wretched of human beings.

Gill: [The sense of this statement is], let the day of Job’s birth be so expunged from the days of the year, the when it is sought for, and if even it should be by God himself, let it not be found. As if that day were simply removed from history.

Again, Job is wrong to be making these statements; they are statements made from a place of severe pain.

What Job appears to do is to turn this birthday into a metonym for himself. He keeps referring back to this 3^rd person masculine singular suffix, which logically goes back to the day of my birth; but with all of the darknesses of the different kinds which are spoken of here, it will become clear that Job is speaking of himself and his own life.

He is not all hopped up about his birthday being a dark day, although it may sound that way. He is overwhelmed and in great pain because so much darkness and misery have fallen upon him personally.

Translation: ...and let not light shine upon it. Job asks for no light to shine upon it; again, the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix refers back to the day of his birth. It is as if Job wants only to enter into darkness; to quietly end living; with no interest in his life in any way.

Now, since Job’s birthday is a metonym for Job himself, Job asks that no light be shown upon him. Job is not embarrassed for anything that he has done—we have already seen that his life has been exemplary—but he is so depressed about his present state of affairs. He does not anyone to look upon him. He does not want people to see what he looks like now.

You may know people who are like this—particularly people who are near death; and their bodies are ravaged with this or that disease—and they do not want to be surrounded by anyone—not family or friends. They just want to quietly expire.

Job asks that this day become completed enshrouded in darkness and asks that God not carefully examine that day—that God would not seek for this day enshrouded in darkness to bring it out of that darkness.

Barnes: What we value, we would wish God to remember and bless; what we dislike, we would wish him to forget. This seems to be the idea here. Job hated that day, and he wished all other beings to forget it. He wished it blotted out, so that even God would never inquire after it, but regard it as if it had never been.

Application: You may have noticed that older people, sometimes unprompted, will tell you about every operation that they have had recently; and/or about the medications which they are taking. Someone who has seemed quite interested in outside things suddenly is more concerned with what is happening in their day-to-day life—more specifically, in their life as it relates to their health. Our personal health is of the utmost importance to us; and sometimes, an older person who speaks like this is reaching out, either to connect, to indicate that they are worried, or even to indicate that they are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, such a person is being so struck by his own mortality that he is having a difficult time dealing with it, and they are processing it verbally with other people. They clearly understand that, coming to the end of their lives when their bodies are beginning to fall apart, is a more important topic than, say, what happened on this or that television show last night; or what this or that politician said or did.

This verse is translated:         Let this day [of my birth] be [in deep] darkness [or, misery];

and let not Elohah from above regard [or, seek after] it;

and let not light shine upon it.

Job asks for the day of his birth to be removed from history; as if it had never existed. He asks that the day of his birth will be enshrouded in darkness; disappearing into a pall of gloom.

Barnes: The sense may be, either that Job wished the day sunk beneath the horizon, or in the deep waters by which he conceived the land to be surrounded, and prays that God would not seek it and bring it from its dark abode; or he desired that God would never inquire after it, that it might pass from his remembrance and be forgotten. What we value, we would wish God to remember and bless; what we dislike, we would wish him to forget. This seems to be the idea here. Job hated that day, and he wished all other beings to forget it. He wished it blotted out, so that even God would never inquire after it, but regard it as if it had never been.

We will see this theme of darkness repeated many times in this chapter. Job explores not only a variety of words for darkness, but a variety of ways of associating the day of his birth with darkness.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Let darkness, and the shadow of death, cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        Acts as a kinsman darkness and a death-shadow;

pitches a tent over him a cloud [of darkness];

falls upon him suddenly blacknesses of day.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Let the darkness and the shadow of death cover it; let a cloud overshadow it; let those whose days are bitter be terrified by it.

Charles Thomson (Greek)     ...but let darkness and the shadow of death cover it: upon it let there come a thick darkness. May the day be execrated!

Septuagint (Greek)                But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it.

Significant differences:           The first Hebrew verb means to act as a redeemer; often shortened to, to redeem. The English verbs from the other ancient languages does not match the Hebrew verb. The second verb is close in the Syriac and Latin; but the English translation from the Greek seems off.

The final phrase seems to be left out of the Greek; and the verb in the Syriac at first seems questionable, but it is a derived meaning from the Hebrew.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           May deepest darkness claim it

and a cloud linger over it;

may all that darkens the day terrify it.

Contemporary English V.       ...and send thick, gloomy shadows to fill it with dread.

Easy English                          I would prefer if a dense cloud had covered the sun. I would prefer if the daylight was darkness.

Easy-to-Read Version            I wish that day had stayed dark—

as dark as death.

I wish clouds would hide that day.

I wish black clouds could

scare away the light

from the day I was born.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Make it a day of gloom and thick darkness; cover it with clouds, and blot out the sun.

The Message                         May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night.

New Life Bible                        Let darkness and a heavy shadow take it for their own. Let a cloud come upon it. Let the darkness of the day bring fear upon it.

New Living Translation           Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own.

Let a black cloud overshadow it,

and let the darkness terrify it.

The Voice                               Rather, let darkness and the shadow of death claim the day and its life-giving light.

Let storm clouds roll over it and threatening blackness terrorize it.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Rather, may it be taken by darkness, and by the shadow of death. May that day become dimmed. may that day now be cursed,...

Christian Community Bible     May the shadow of death claim it as its own.

May a cloud settle over it;

may blackness obstruct its light.

God’s Word™                         Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own. Let a dark cloud hang over it. Let the gloom terrify it.

New Advent (Knox) Bible       ...shades, like the shades of death, claim it for their own; deep gloom lie heavy on it, and wrap it all in desolation.

New American Bible (R.E.)    May darkness and gloom claim it,

clouds settle upon it,

blackness of day [Blackness of day: that is, an eclipse.] affright it!

NIRV                                      May darkness and deep shadow take it back.

May a cloud settle over it.

May blackness cover up its light.

New Jerusalem Bible             May murk and shadow dark as death claim it for their own, clouds hang over it, eclipse swoop down on it.

New Simplified Bible               »Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it once more. May a cloud settle over it and may blackness overwhelm its light.

Revised English Bible            May gloom and deep darkness claim it again;

may cloud smother that day, blackness eclipse the sun.

Today’s NIV                          May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      The death-shadow polluted the darkness and frightend the day by a spell. A cloud resided over it, and...

Bible in Basic English             Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it.

The Expanded Bible              Let darkness and gloom ·have that day [^Lredeem it].

Let a cloud ·hide [^Lsettle over] it.

Let thick darkness ·cover its light [overwhelm the day].

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Let Death’s gloomy shadow avenge,

Black clouds makes their resting-place there;

And terrors in daytime affright.

HCSB                                     May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May an eclipse of the sun terrify it.

NET Bible®                             Let darkness and the deepest shadow [The translation of צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet, “shadow of death”) has been traditionally understood to indicate a dark, death shadow (supported in the LXX), but many scholars think it may not represent the best etymological analysis of the word. The word may be connected to an Arabic word which means “to be dark,” and an Akkadian word meaning “black.” It would then have to be repointed throughout its uses to צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) forming an abstract ending. It would then simply mean “darkness” rather than “shadow of death.” Or the word can be understood as an idiomatic expression meaning “gloom” that is deeper than חֹשֶךְ (khoshekh; see HALOT 1029 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת). Since “darkness” has already been used in the line, the two together could possibly form a nominal hendiadys: “Let the deepest darkness….” There is a significant amount of literature on this; one may begin with W. L. Michel, “SLMWT, ‘Deep Darkness’ or ‘Shadow of Death’?” BR 29 (1984): 5-20.] claim it [The verb is גָּאַל (ga’al, “redeem, claim”). Some have suggested that the verb is actually the homonym “pollute.” This is the reading in the Targum, Syriac, Vulgate, and Rashi, who quotes from Mal 1:7,12. See A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of ga’al,” VTSup 1 (1953): 67-77.];

let a cloud settle on it;

let whatever blackens the day [The expression “the blackness of the day” (כִּמְרִירֵי יוֹם, kimrire yom) probably means everything that makes the day black, such as supernatural events like eclipses. Job wishes that all ominous darknesses would terrify that day. It comes from the word כָּמַר (kamar, “to be black”), related to Akkadian kamaru (“to overshadow, darken”). The versions seem to have ignored the first letter and connected the word to מָרַר (marar, “be bitter”).] terrify it!

New Heart English Bible        Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.

NIV – UK                                May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more;

may a cloud settle over it;

may blackness overwhelm it.

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           ...may gloom dark as death defile it, may clouds settle on it, may it be terrified by its own blackness.

exeGeses companion Bible   ...that darkness and the shadow of death redeem it;

that a cloudiness tabernacle on it;

that the eclipses of the day frighten it;...

Hebrew Names Version         Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               May darkness and deep gloom reclaim it,

May a pall lie over it,

May what blackens [Meaning of Hebrew uncertain] the day terrify it.

Judaica Press Complete T.    May darkness and the shadow of death defile it; let pitch darkness dwell upon it; let them frighten it like demons of the day.

Orthodox Jewish Bible           Let choshech and the tzalmavet (shadow of death) claim it; let an anan dwell upon it; let the blackness of the yom terrify it.

The Scriptures 1998              Let darkness and the shadow of death buy it back, let a cloud dwell on it, let all that blackens the day frighten it.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

American KJV                        Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Concordant Literal Version    May darkness and the blackest shadow sully it; May a cloud tabernacle over it; May rolling fogs of the day frighten it.

Emphasized Bible                  Let darkness and death-shade buy it back, May there settle down upon it a cloud, Let a day’s dark eclipse cause it terror:...

English Standard Version      Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

The Geneva Bible                  Let darkness and the shadow [That is, most obscure darkness, which makes them afraid of death that they are in it.] of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Green’s Literal Translation    Let darkness and the shadow of death seize upon it. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that blackens the day terrify it.

New RSV                               Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.

Let clouds settle upon it;

let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Syndein/Thieme                     May darkness and 'deep shadow' claim it once more.

May a cloud settle over it.

May blackness overwhelm its light.

Webster’s Bible Translation  Let darkness and the shades of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

World English Bible                Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.

Young's Literal Translation     Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.

The gist of this verse:          Job asks for darkness to redeem the day of his birth, and for a dark cloud to rest upon it.

Translation: [Both] darkness and a death shadow have redeemed [possibly, stained, defiled] that day [lit., him];... The first verb is the 3^rd person masculine plural, 3^rd person masculine suffix, Qal imperfect of gâʾal (גָּאַל) [pronounced gaw-AHL], which means to purchase, to redeem, to claim. This verb has several implications—near relationship and payment. Strong's #1350 BDB #145.

I should take a little side trip here for anyone who can read a lexicon or concordance—this exact same word means to stain, to defile, to pollute. The way that came about is that a fallen man was redeemed by the sprinkling of blood upon the altar. The blood stained the altar; the blood became defiled or the altar became defiled; so this exact same verb was used later in Scripture (during the time of the prophets—and never in the Qal) to mean stain, defile. This is why you find the renderings stain and sully in the list of translations above. Strong’s #1351 BDB #146.

Barnes: If the word here means to “redeem,” the sense is, that Job wished darknessto resume its dominion over the day, and rcdeem it to itself, and thus wholly to exclude the light. If the word means to defile or pollute, the sense is, that he desired the death-shade to stain the day wholly black; to take out every ray of light, and to render it wholly obscure.

The suffix, it, of this verb, refers to the day of Job’s birth.

The subjects of this verb follow: the first word is chôshek^e (חֹשֶ) [pronounced KHOH-shek^e], which means darkness, obscurity, extraordinary darkness. The idea of extreme darkness can be found in is use in Ex. 10:21 14:20; it can refer to a secret place or a hiding place in Job 12:22 34:22 Psalm 39:11–12 Isa. 45:3; and it can refer to a place of distress (Job 15:22, 23, 30 Isa. 5:3 9:1 29:18); dread (Job 2:4 3:4 Amos 5:18, 20 Zeph. 1:15); mourning (Isa. 47:5), perplexity or confusion (Job 5:14 12:25 19:8 Psalm 35:6); ignorance (Job 37:19 Eccl. 2:14); evil or sin (Isa. 5:20 Prov. 2:13); and obscurity (Eccl. 6:4). These meanings and passages were taken directly out of BDB and I would take issue with some of them (I didn’t look them all up). In this passage, we would refer to a darkness of perplexity and distress. Strong’s #2822 BDB #365. At one time, the earth was enshrouded in such darkness. And the earth became a waste and barren; and [extraordinary] darkness was over the surface of the raging waters (Gen. 1:2a).

Tsal^emâveth (צַלְמָוֶת) [pronounced tzal-MAW-veth], which means deep darkness, death-shadow, deep shadow. The KJV consistently renders this shadow of death, as it is a compound word made up of shadow and death. It can characterize extreme danger (Psalm 23:4 44:20 Jer. 2:6), distress (Psalm 107:10, 14 Jer. 13:16) and could perhaps signify the world of the dead (Job 10:11). The Bible uses this work death shadow a great deal and it is often used to denote the world of departed spirits of fallen man and disobedient angels. Strong’s #6757 BDB #853. Job has asked for extraordinary darkness and for death-shadow to repurchase the day of his birth.

Barnes: The idea seems to have been, that “death” was a dark and gloomy object that obstructed all light, and threw a baleful shade afar, and that that melancholy shade was thrown afar over the regions of the dead. The sense here is, that Job wished the deepest conceivable darkness to rest upon it.

Again, that day is really a metonym for Job. We are redeemed by Jesus Christ. To Job, he knows that he is redeemed by Elohah, God. However, given his present state of affairs, he wants darkness to purchase him; he wants the death shadow that will stand over every man, to purchase him.

Before you were born, where were you? There was nothing; there was no existence. This is the blackness that Job is referring to. Job asks for that blackness, than nothingness to come and claim the day of his birth; to take him back to the state of never-having existed. Insofar as he was concerned, that is what had claim on his existence before he existed; so he calls for that blackness, that shadow, that non-existence as returning and taking that day out of history—reclaiming that day and returning him to a non-existent form.

Job uses similar imagery in Job 10:20–22, where he asks that God leave him alone. “Would He not let my few days alone? Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer. Before I go—and I will not return—to the land of extraordinary darkness and deep shadow; the land of darkness—even utter gloom; a death shadow without order and the land shines even as utter gloom.” (Job 10:20–22).

Barnes: The idea seems to have been, that death was a dark and gloomy object that obstructed all light, and threw a baleful shade afar, and that that melancholy shade was thrown afar over the regions of the dead. The sense here is, that Job wished the deepest conceivable darkness to rest upon it .

Elihu will recall Job’s wish for complete enshrouding of his day of birth by darkness and say, “For His [God’s] eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his steps. There is no utter darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” (Job 34:21–22). That is, he believes Job is calling for this utter darkness and deep shadow in order to hide his iniquity.

Translation: ...a [storm] cloud settles over it;... A storm cloud settles over, Job and obscures him. He is not the Job of 2 or 3 months ago, where he was young, strong and vigorous; now he is covered over by a storm cloud; now his visage has been obscured by great disease that has rotted his flesh.

The second verb is the 3^rd person feminine singular, Qal imperfect of shâkan (שָכַן) [pronounced shaw-KAHN] means to tabernacle also means to pitch a tent; and therefore it means to dwell, to reside, to live in, to domicile at. Strong’s #7931 BDB #1014. The preposition for upon follows, which has the masculine singular suffix, referring again back to the day of Job’s birth. The subject of this verb is the feminine singular of cloud, which, incidentally, is the only time that this form of the word cloud is found. The rest of the time it is in the masculine. Strong’s #6053 BDB #778 (feminine); Strong’s #6051 BDB #777 (masculine).

Barnes tells us that, The sense is, that Job wished clouds piled on clouds to settle down on the day permanently, to make that day their abode, and to involve it in deep and eternal night.

Job asks for this storm-cloud to hover over the day of his birth; to obscure the day of his birth; to remove this day from the history of mankind. Job’s pain is so great that he wants to be completely removed from life. He is not simply asking for death here; he is asking that he had never been born.

Translation: ...the [absolute] darkness of day suddenly falls upon it. The absolute evil darkness of the day; all of the miseries of life have come upon him. It was sudden. Now, properly, this refers back to Job’s day of birth; to as a metonym, this refers to Job himself.

The third verb is the 3^rd person masculine plural, 3^rd person masculine singular suffix, Piel imperfect of bâʿath (בָּעַת) [pronounced baw-ĢAHTH] and it means to fall upon, to fall upon suddenly and therefore to startle, to terrify due to the surprise. Strong’s #1204 BDB #129.

The subject of this verb is generally rendered darkness of day, an eclipse of the day. However, this word is found only in this passage and it is given the meaning darkness, gloominess by BDB, but it is derived from the verb to become warm, to grow hot. Therefore, I have rendered this the heat of day. I would possibly accept blackness as when something comes out of the oven from being in there too long, it tends to be black. Noun: Strong’s #3650 BDB #485.

For those who live in places where there are violent storms and tornadoes, there is nothing more eerie than the night-cast in the middle of a day that proceeds a great storm. I recall the first year that I lived in Texas, and kids were being hustled home early because of the impending storm. I was, at the time, quite unuse to the idea of it turning dark in the middle of the day. I asked one of the principals, “How serious is this, anyway?” He looked at me grimly and answered with a somber voice, “This is very serious.” After witnessing a few Texas storms firsthand, I began to take them seriously.

Since there is no past or present or future in these verbs, I have taken the liberty to translate them as past and present realities. I mention each and every verb and parse it simply to show you that there is no cohortative-jussive and no imperative found in this verse. Therefore, it is possible that Job is not asking for these things to happen; he may be saying that they have all occurred and their effects continue. Job is simply stating poetically the pain and discomfort and the sudden of same upon his life. He is not making a request for these things to occur. This is his life, living under a great storm-cloud. Now, even though all of these references go back to his day of birth; bear in mind that his day of birth is a metonym for his very existence. The two things go hand-in-hand: no day of birth, no existence.

Application: As of yet, it does not appear that Job is asking to die or asking for his friends to assist him in ending his life. I do not want to be flippant about the concept of assisted suicide, but God places us on this earth for a reason; and when that time is up, then He calls us home—not a moment before.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

The targum                            Let darkness seize upon that night; let it not be reckoned among the annual festivals; in the number of the months of the calendar let it not be computed.

Latin Vulgate                          Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        The night the this will take him darkness;

let him not be glad in days of a year;

in a number of months, he will not come.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    As for that night, let thick darkness cover it; let that day not be reckoned in the number of the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

Charles Thomson (Greek)     And as for that night, may a pitchy darkness sweep it away! May that never come into the days of the year; nor be numbered among the days of months.

Septuagint (Greek)                Let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months.

Significant differences:           One version from the Greek includes the day in the first phrase; the other does not (and the Hebrew lacks that addition).

The verb in the Hebrew in the second phrase seems odd; and it is in disagreement with the English translations from the other ancient tongues. This is a real problem which will be discussed in the Hebrew exegesis below.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Erase that night from the calendar and conceal it with darkness.

Easy English                          (And I regret the night when my life began.) I would prefer if darkness destroyed that night. I would prefer if that night was not in the calendar. I wish that such a night did not belong in any month.

Easy-to-Read Version            Let the darkness keep that night.

Leave that night off the calendar.

Don’t put that night in any of the months.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Blot that night out of the year, and never let it be counted again;...

The Message                         And the night of my conception--the devil take it! Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac.

New Berkeley Version           As for that night, let utter gloom seize it; let it no longer be among the days of the year; let is not be counted in the number of the month.

New Century Version             Let thick darkness capture that night.

Don't count it among the days of the year

or put it in any of the months.

New Life Bible                        As for that night, let darkness take hold of it. Let it not have joy among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of months.

New Living Translation           Let 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.

The Voice                               As to that night of my conception-

may it be snatched by the thick darkness of death's realm,

Never to be released again for any year or any month-

so my conception and life could never have happened.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          ...and its night carried away into darkness. May it not be a day of the year, nor may it be counted in one of the months.

Christian Community Bible     Let darkness swallow that night

let it not add to the rest of the year

let it not be included in the month.

God’s Word™                         "That night- let the blackness take it away. Let it not be included in the days of the year or be numbered among the months.

New Advent (Knox) Bible       Shrouded be that night in a black storm, let it not be reckoned among the days of the year, nor marked in the moon's calendar;...

New American Bible (R.E.)    May obscurity seize that night;

may it not be counted among the days of the year,

nor enter into the number of the months!.

NIRV                                      May deep darkness take over the night I was born.

May it not be included among the days of the year.

May it never appear in any of the months.

New Jerusalem Bible             See! Let obscurity seize on it, from the days of the year let it be excluded, into the reckoning of the months not find its way.

New Simplified Bible              »About that night, may thick darkness seize it. May it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

Revised English Bible            May blind darkness swallow up that night!

May it not be counted among the days of the year or reckoned in the cycle of the months.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      ⁵ The death-shadow polluted the darkness and frightend the day by a spell. A cloud resided over it, and ⁶ fog took his night. Never acclaim the day of the year, and never number the coming of the moon. V. 5 was included for context.

Bible in Basic English             That night--let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 And terrors in daytime affright.

Count it not in the course of the year,

Nor reckon along with the months...

HCSB                                     If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar....

NET Bible®                             That night - let darkness seize [The verb is simply לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”). Here it conveys a strong sense of seizing something and not letting it go.] it;

let it not be included [The pointing of the verb is meant to connect it with the root חָדָה (khadah, “rejoice”). But the letters in the text were correctly understood by the versions to be from יָחַד (yakhad, “to be combined, added”). See G. Rendsburg, “Double Polysemy in Genesis 49:6 and Job 3:6,” CBQ 44 (1982): 48-51.] among the days of the year;

let it not enter among the number of the months [The choice of this word for “moons,” יְרָחִים (yÿrakhim) instead of חֳדָשִים (khodashim) is due to the fact that “month” here is not a reference for which an exact calendar date is essential (in which case חֹדֶש [khodesh] would have been preferred). See J. Segal, “‘yrh’ in the Gezer ‘Calendar,’” JSS 7 (1962): 220, n. 4. Twelve times in the OT יֶרַח (yerakh) means “month” (Exod 2:2; Deut 21:13; 33:14; 1 Kgs 6:37, 38; 8:2; 2 Kgs 15:13; Zech 11:8; Job 3:6; 7:3; 29:2; 39:2).]!

NIV, ©2011                             That night-may thick darkness seize it;

may it not be included among the days of the year

nor be entered in any of the months.

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

exeGeses companion Bible   ...as for that night, O that darkness take it;

that it not rejoice to the days of the year;

that it not come into the number of the moons.

Judaica Press Complete T.    That night-may pitch darkness take it; it shall not rejoice among the days of the year; in the number of months it shall not come.

Orthodox Jewish Bible           As for that lailah, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the yamim of the shanah, let it not come into the number of the months.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

American KJV                        As for that night, let darkness seize on it; let it not be joined to the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

Concordant Literal Version    That night! may gloom take hold of it; May it not be one of the days of the year; In the numbering of the months, may it not enter.

Syndein/Thieme                      That night, may thick darkness seize it.

May it not be included among the days of the year.

May it not be entered into any of the months.

Updated Bible Version 2.11   As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it: Don't let it rejoice among the days of the year; Don't let it come into the number of the months.

A Voice in the Wilderness      As for that night, let darkness take it away; let it not rejoice among the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

World English Bible                As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.

Young's Literal Translation     That night--let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Into the number of months let it not come.

The gist of this verse:          Job asks for the night of his birth (or conception) to be removed and blotted out of the calendar.

Translation: [Regarding] this night, darkness will take it;... As before, Job will speak of the night that he was conceived (or, born). This is either the night when his gender was determined or the night that the midwife held him up and said, “It’s a boy.” But it is not really the night that we are talking about; the night is a metonym for Job and his miserable life.

This verse begins with the object of the verb, that night referring to the night when it was said, a boy has been conceived (Job 3:2). We have in this verse yet another word for darkness—this time darkness, gloom, the gloom of the underworld, the darkness of calamity. Strong’s #652 BDB #66. This is marvelous poetic imagery. Recall from v. 4 that Job asked for the day of his birth to become darkened. “That day—let it become darkened.” (Job 1:4). Here he asks that the darkness take away that night.

Wesley: [This refers to] Constant and extraordinary darkness, without the least glimmering of light from the moon or stars.

The verb is the 3^rd person masculine singular (referring to darkness), 3^rd person masculine singular suffix (referring back to that night), Qal imperfect of the verb lâqach (לָקַח) [pronounced law-KAHKH] means, among other things, to take, to take from, to take in marriage, to seize. Strong’s #3947 BDB #542.

The idea appears to be similar to what has gone before. The night [=’s Job’s life] is so terrible, that even the darkness will not take. It.

Barnes: Let deep and horrid darkness seize it as its own. Let no star arise upon it; let it be unbroken and uninterrupted gloom...[this is]...a darkness accompanied with clouds and with a tempest,...[a darkness which]...should seize upon that night and bear it away, so that it should not be joined to the months of the year...Job wished so deep darkness to possess it, that no star would rise upon it; no light whatever be seen.

Keil and Delitzsch: Darkness is so to seize it, and so completely swallow it up, that is shall not be possible for it to pass into the light of day. It is not to become a day, to be reckoned as belonging to the days of the year and rejoice in the light thereof.

Let that night be deprived of all light—take away even the stars and the moon—let complete and total darkness seize that night.