Job 3:1-26

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 3:1-10

Long was Job's heart hot within him; and, while he was musing, the fire burned, and the more for being stifled and suppressed. At length he spoke with his tongue, but not such a good word as David spoke after a long pause: Lord, make me to know my end, Ps. 39:3, 4. Seven days the prophet Ezekiel sat down astonished with the captives, and then (probably on the sabbath day) the word of the Lord came to him, Ezek. 3:15, 16. So long Job and his friends sat thinking, but said nothing; they were... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 3:11-19

Job, perhaps reflecting upon himself for his folly in wishing he had never been born, follows it, and thinks to mend it, with another, little better, that he had died as soon as he was born, which he enlarges upon in these verses. When our Saviour would set forth a very calamitous state of things he seems to allow such a saying as this, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps which never gave suck (Luke 23:29); but blessing the barren womb is one thing and cursing... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 3:20-26

Job, finding it to no purpose to wish either that he had not been born or had died as soon as he was born, here complains that his life was now continued and not cut off. When men are set on quarrelling there is no end of it; the corrupt heart will carry on the humour. Having cursed the day of his birth, here he courts the day of his death. The beginning of this strife and impatience is as the letting forth of water. I. He thinks it hard, in general, that miserable lives should be prolonged... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:1

After this opened Job his mouth ,.... order to speak, and began to speak of his troubles and afflictions, and the sense he had of them; for though, this phrase may sometimes signify to speak aloud, clearly and distinctly, and with great freedom and boldness, yet here it seems to design no more than beginning to speak, or breaking silence after it had been long kept: be spake after his first trial and blessed the name of the Lord, and upon his second, and reproved his wife for her foolish... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:2

And Job spake, and said. Or "answered and said" F20 ויען "et respondit", Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt, Schultens, Michaelis. , though not a word was spoken to him by his friends; he answered to his own calamity, and to their silence, as Schmidt observes; and this word is sometimes used when nothing goes before, to which the answer is, as many Jewish writers observe, as in Exodus 32:27 ; Jarchi interprets it, "he cried", and so some others F21 "Clamavitquo", Mercerus; "nam... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:3

Let the day perish wherein I was born ,.... Here begins Job's form of cursing his day, and which explains what is meant by it; and it may be understood either of the identical day of his birth, and then the sense is, that he wished that had never been, or, in other words, that he had never been born; and though these were impossible, and Job knew it, and therefore such wishes may seem to be in vain, yet Job had a design herein, which was to show the greatness of his afflictions, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:4

Let that day be darkness ,.... Not only dark, but darkness itself, extremely dark; and which is to be understood not figuratively of the darkness of affliction and calamity; this Job would not wish for, either for himself, who had enough of that, or for others; but literally of gross natural darkness, that was horrible and dreadful, as some F24 חשך "horrens", Caligo, Schultens. render it: this was the reverse of what God said at the creation, "let there be light", Genesis 1:3 , and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:5

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it ,.... Let there be such darkness on it as on persons when dying, or in the state of the dead; hence the sorest afflictions, and the state of man in unregeneracy, are compared unto it, Psalm 23:4 ; let there be nothing but foul weather, dirt, and darkness in it, which may make it very uncomfortable and undesirable; some render the word, "let darkness and the shadow of death redeem it" F26 יגאלהו "vindicassent", Junius & Tremellius;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:6

As for that night ,.... The night of conception; Job imprecated evils on the day he was born, now on the night he was conceived in, the returns of it: let darkness seize upon it ; let it not only he deprived of the light of the moon and stars, but let an horrible darkness seize upon it, that it may be an uncommon and a terrible one: let it not be joined unto the days of the year ; the solar year, and make one of them; or, "let it not be one among them" F3 אל יחד "non sit... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:7

Lo, let that night be solitary ,.... Let there be no company for journeys, or doing any business; no meetings of friends, neighbours, or relations on it, for refreshment, pleasure, and recreation, after the business of the day is over, as is frequently done; let there be no associations of this kind, or any other: in the night it was usual to have feasts on various accounts, and especially on account of marriage; but now let there be none, let there be as profound a silence as if all... read more

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