Job 3

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Job 3

1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

2 And Job spake, and said,

3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

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

5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;

15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 2

<html>Job’s Address Now Job raised his voice Heb. ויען, he cried out, for every expression of עניה in the Torah is only an expression of raising the voice, and the “father” of them all is (Deut. 27:14): “The Levites shall raise their voices (וענו) etc. with a loud voice.”</html>

Verse 3

<html>in which I was to be born This is a future expression, that he was saying, “Would that the day in which I was destined to be born be lost, and then I would not have been born.” and the night That too should have been lost. when one said that the reporter, upon whom it was incumbent [to report] would say. “A man has impregnated.” That my father impregnated my mother. Concerning a female, it is customary to say הרתה, she conceived, and concerning a male, it is customary to say, הורה, he impregnated the female. and the night when one said This is one of the places where Scripture abbreviates its words because it is unnecessary to explain who [the subject] is, and the expression means, “the sayer said.” [Similar to this is (Amos. 6:12), “Will horses run on the rock, or will one plow with cattle?” He should have said, “Will a man plow with cattle?”] However, our Sages said, “The angel appointed over conception is named Laylah.”</html>

Verse 4

<html>May that day be dark constantly; every year, when that day arrives. let God not seek it from above for good. and let no light shine upon it Heb. נהרה,light, like צהר, which is translated נהור.</html>

Verse 5

<html>defile it Heb. יגאלהו, like (Malachi 1:7), “defiled (מגאל) bread”; “How have we defiled You (גאלנוך)?” an expression of contamination. the shadow of death Heb. צלמות, the shadow of death, darkness that never lights up.like demons of the day Heb. כמרירי, demons who rule at noon, like (Deut. 32: 34), “Ketev Meriri,” who rules at noon; as it is stated (Ps. 91:6): “from Ketev, who rules at noontime.”</html>

Verse 6

<html>it shall not rejoice among the days Heb. אל יחד, it shall not rejoice, as in (Exod. 18:9), “And Jethro rejoiced (וַיִחַד).” (Another explanation is: It shall not join. This does not appear in certain editions.)</html>

Verse 7

<html>lonely Alone and lacking any man or creature.</html>

Verse 8

<html>curse it Heb. יקבהו, curse it, as in (Num. 22:17), “curse (קבה) for me.” those who curse the day Those who curse their days, since they intend to pronounce a curse because of their anguish. those destined to be childless in their union Heb. ערר לויתן, to be childless (ערירים) in their union; to join their mate in the union of man and wife, without children. And I saw in the Jerusalem Talmud (Moed Katan 1:5) that עֹרֵר means, to lament their mate when he dies, as in (Moed Katan 1:6): A person may not inspire lamentations (יערער) for his dead relative.</html>

Verse 9

<html>its evening Heb. נשפו, the darkness of its night. the rays of Heb. עפעפי, rays of, like (Jer. 9:17), “and our eyelids (or pupils) (ועפעפינו) gush water.”</html>

Verse 10

<html>For He did not shut He Who was able to shut. This too is one of the verses that resemble “the night when one said” (verse 2). the doors of my womb from which I emerged, for had He done so, He would have hidden trouble from my eyes.</html>

Verse 11

<html>Why did I not die from the womb? why was I not ready to die immediately upon my emergence from the womb? He speaks in the future tense, as though he were standing now on the day of his emergence from the womb and saying, “Why will I not die now, and why did I not… emerge from the belly and perish?” Why was my death not imminent?</html>

Verse 12

<html>Why did knees receive me Why did the knees of my mother receive me before my death? that I should suck [Why] was it decreed upon me to suck them? As he is speaking on the day of his birth, he mentions those subsequent events in the future tense.</html>

Verse 13

<html>I would be lying Heb. ושכבתי, I would be lying in the grave.</html>

Verse 14

<html>who build ruins for themselves It is customary for those who seek fame to rebuild ruined cities as a memorial for themselves, as in (Isa. 58: 12), “And those coming from you shall be called the repairer of the breaches.” That is to say, with princes and famous people. Or, would that I was unknown, and I would be like a stillborn. What Scripture states: I was not like a hidden stillborn, is because it continues with the language with which it started to speak, viz. in the interrogative, and it refers to “Why did knees receive me…or why was I not like a hidden stillborn child?”</html>

Verse 16

<html>like infants Heb. כעוללים, infants. He calls them עוללים because they are all play and dirt, like (below 16:15), “And I sullied (ועללתי) with dust,” and like (Jud. 19:25), “and abused (ויתעללו) her the entire night.”</html>

Verse 17

<html>cease from anger They restrain their anger, with which they were accustomed and wont to cause anger in the earth. and there…rest Heb. ינוחו, and there rested. Something that occurs regularly is written in the future tense.</html>

Verse 19

<html>Small and great are there There it is obvious who is esteemed and who is humble, and since that greatness is perpetual greatness, and that humility is perpetual humility…</html>

Verse 20

<html>Why does He give (the giver, i.e., the Holy One, blessed be He.) the toiler light He who grew up with toil and trouble—why did He give him perpetual light and not slay him at birth?</html>

Verse 21

<html>Who await death to those of bitter spirit, who long for and desire death and complain, saying, “it is not here.” and they spy after it Heb. ויתפרהו, and they spy after it. more than after hidden treasures More than people spy after hidden treasures.</html>

Verse 22

<html>Those who are happy over joyous occurrences and rejoice if they find a grave. over joyous occurrences Because of the joy and the happiness of finding a grave.</html>

Verse 23

<html>for a man whose way is hidden All the good deeds that he performed were hidden from the Great Recompenser, and He did not look at them. and God hedged him in He made a wall in front of him to shut him up in a prison, as in (Hos. 2:8) “Behold I will close off your way.”</html>

Verse 24

<html>comes Heb. תבא, lit. shall come. pour An expression of (Exod. 9:33) “pour (נתך) to the ground.” They run and descend like water. The word ויתכו may also be interpreted as an expression denoting abundance.</html>

Verse 25

<html>the thing I feared All my life, I stood in fear of this, as I said (1:5): “Now it would come about, when the cycle of the feasting would days be over, etc.” What I dreaded—Behold!</html>

Verse 26

<html>I was not at ease from this worry, and behold, trouble has come.</html>

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Table of Contents

Job 3

Job 3

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 13

Verse 14

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 19

Verse 20

Verse 21

Verse 22

Verse 23

Verse 24

Verse 25

Verse 26