Job
Summary
Job Chapter 3 marks the beginning of Job's long and agonising lament. After seven days of silence, Job finally speaks, cursing the day of his birth and wishing he had never been conceived. He longs for the peaceful rest of the grave, where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. This chapter express the deep emotional and spiritual darkness into which Job has fallen, as he questions 왜 life is given to those who suffer and why God has "hedged in" the way of a man in misery. It sets the stage for the intense debate that follows with his friends.
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
He said:
"May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, 'A boy is conceived!'"
"That day, may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it."
"May utter darkness and the shadow of death claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm its light."
"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."
"May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it."
"May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan."
"May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,"
"for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes."
"Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?"
"Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?"
"For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest"
"with kings and counsellors of the earth, who built for themselves places now in ruins,"
"with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver."
"Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?"
"There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest."
"The captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave-driver’s shout."
"The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master."
"Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,"
"to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,"
"who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?"
"Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?"
"For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water."
"What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me."
"I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil."