Job

Chapter 3

Job Laments His Birth

After the long silence, Job finally speaks, and what comes out is not accusation against God but a curse on the day he was born. He wishes that day had been blotted from creation, longs for the stillness of death, and asks why life is given to one whose path has collapsed into dread.

This chapter opens the book's great dialogue by giving suffering its first full human voice. After the silent endurance of chapters 1 and 2, Job's lament makes clear that integrity does not cancel anguish and that reverence can still speak from the depths.

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Job 3

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vv. 1-26

Job Laments His Birth

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A¹fter this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²And this is what he said: ³“May the day of my birth perish, ⁴If only that day had turned to darkness! ⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, ⁶If only darkness had taken that night away! ⁷Behold, may that night be barren; ⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day — ⁹May its morning stars grow dark; ¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of the womb

¹¹Why did I not perish at birth; ¹²Why were there knees to receive me, ¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; ¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, ¹⁵or with princes who had gold, ¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, ¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging, ¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease; ¹⁹Both small and great are there,

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, ²¹who long for death that does not come, ²²who rejoice and greatly exult ²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, ²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, ²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, ²⁶I am not at ease or quiet;

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01vv. 1-26Job Laments His BirthJob breaks his silence by turning not against God directly but against the fact of his own birth. His words move from wishing the day and night of his beginning undone, to longing for the rest of death, and finally to asking why life remains for one whose fear has now become his condition.