Job Curses the Day of His Birth
Study note
After seven days of silence, Job finally speaks. He does not curse God, but he curses the day he was born. Using powerful poetic language, he wishes that the day of his birth could be erased from the calendar. He wants it to be swallowed up in darkness. This is the language of a man in the deepest pain imaginable, not sinful rebellion but raw, honest grief.
1 After sitting in silence all that time, Job finally spoke up and cursed the day he was born. After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 This is what Job said: And Job spake, and said,
3 'I wish the day I was born could be erased completely. I wish the night that announced, "A baby boy has been made," would vanish forever.' Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4 'I want that day to become total darkness. I want God up in heaven to forget it ever existed. May no ray of light ever fall on it.' Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5 'Let the deepest darkness swallow that day whole. Let a heavy cloud hang over it, and let everything that makes a day dark and scary cover it completely.' 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, may darkness snatch it away. May it never show up on any calendar or be counted in any month.' 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 'Let that night be completely silent and empty. May no one ever celebrate anything during it.' Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8 'Let people who know how to curse special days speak against it. Let those who can stir up great sorrow aim their words at that day.' Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9 'Let the stars that should shine that morning stay dark. Let it wait for daylight that never shows up. May it never see the first glow of sunrise.' 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 'I curse that day because it did not keep me from being born. It did not stop me from ever having to face all this sadness.' Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Why Did I Not Die at Birth?
Study note
Job asks why he did not die the moment he was born. He says that if he had died as a baby, he would now be at rest, lying peacefully alongside kings and rulers who are also dead. In death, he says, prisoners are no longer mistreated, the tired find rest, and there is no more difference between the powerful and the powerless. Job sees death as a place of peace compared to his present agony.
11 'Why did I not die the moment I was born? Why did I not stop breathing as soon as I came into the world?' Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 'Why was there a lap to hold me? Why was there anyone to feed me and keep me alive?' Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 'If I had died then, I would be lying peacefully right now. I would be sleeping, finally getting some rest,' For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14 'alongside kings and leaders who built grand things for themselves that are now nothing but ruins,' With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
15 'or beside rulers who owned piles of gold and whose houses overflowed with silver.' Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16 'Or why was I not like a baby that is born without life, a little one who never opened its eyes to the light?' Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17 'In death, even evil people stop making trouble. And the ones who are worn out and exhausted finally get to rest.' There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18 'Even prisoners are at peace there. They never again hear anyone ordering them around.' There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 'Everyone ends up in the same place -- both the important and the unimportant. The slave is finally free from the person who owned them.' The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Why Is Life Given to the Suffering?
Study note
Job asks a universal question: why does God give life to people who are only going to suffer? He describes himself as someone who groans constantly, whose worst fears have come true. He had no peace, no rest, no quiet -- and then trouble came. These closing words set the stage for the long debates that follow.
20 'Why does God let people who are in misery keep living? Why does he give life to those whose hearts are full of bitterness and pain?' Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 'These are people who long for death, but it never comes. They search for it harder than someone digging for buried treasure.' Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 'They would be thrilled if they could reach the grave.' Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 'Why give life to someone who cannot see a way forward, someone God has boxed in from every direction?' Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24 'I groan before I can even take a bite of food. My cries flow out of me like a rushing stream.' For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 'The very thing I was most afraid of has happened to me. The nightmare I dreaded has come true.' For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 'There is no peace for me. There is no calm. There is no rest. All that comes is more trouble.' I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.