Job's Lament: Cursing the Day of His Birth
Job 3:1-26
Job.3.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אחרי: PREP
- כן: ADV
- פתח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- פיהו: NOUN,m,sg,pr3ms
- ויקלל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- יומו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+prs3ms
Parallels
- Job 2:9 (structural): Immediate narrative parallel within Job: Job’s wife urges him to “curse God and die,” preparing the theme of cursing and complaint that Job himself voices in ch. 3.
- Jeremiah 20:14 (verbal): Jeremiah’s anguished cry “Cursed be the day I was born” echoes Job’s opening curse of his day—both are explicit denunciations of one’s birth/day as expressions of extreme despair.
- Romans 9:3 (verbal): Paul’s hyperbolic wish to be “accursed” offers a New Testament verbal parallel to the language of cursing oneself or one’s lot in expressions of intense grief or identification with others’ suffering.
- Psalm 88:3-5 (thematic): A psalm of deep lament and near-hopelessness; thematically akin to Job’s lament in ch. 3 in its darkness, focus on suffering, and desire for relief (even death).
Alternative generated candidates
- After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
- After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
Job.3.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 6:1 (verbal): Same speaker-introduction formula — 'ויאמר איוב' — beginning Job's next speech in the dialogic cycles.
- Job 10:1 (verbal): Another occurrence of 'ויאמר איוב' introducing a sustained lament/answer by Job, paralleling the speech-opening function.
- Job 29:1 (verbal): Uses the same introductory formula to mark the start of a major monologue by Job (his reminiscence of past prosperity).
- Genesis 4:9 (structural): Example of the common biblical speech-introduction device 'וַיֹּאמֶר' ('and he said'), showing the same narrative mechanism used to introduce spoken material.
- 1 Samuel 3:10 (structural): Uses 'וַיֹּאמֶר' to introduce divine speech to Samuel; parallels Job 3:2 in employing the standard formula to signal a forthcoming utterance.
Alternative generated candidates
- And Job answered and said:
- And Job answered and said:
Job.3.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יאבד: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אולד: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- והלילה: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,def
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הרה: ADJ,f,sg
- גבר: NOUN,m,sg,prop
Parallels
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (verbal): Jeremiah explicitly curses the day of his birth—'Cursed be the day I was born'—using language that closely parallels Job's wish that the day of his birth perish.
- Job 3:11 (structural): Same speech-cycle: Job asks 'Why did I not die at birth?' immediately following the opening curse on his birth-day, continuing the same lament.
- Job 10:18 (thematic): Job later pleads 'Why did You bring me out from the womb?' expressing the same desire that he had not been born.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 (thematic): Qoheleth declares the dead are better than the living and questions the value of being born—an existential parallel to cursing one's birth-day.
- Psalm 88:3-6 (thematic): A psalm of extreme despair where the speaker describes life as trouble and longs for death, thematically echoing Job's wish that his birth-day vanish.
Alternative generated candidates
- Let that day perish— the day on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.'
- Perish the day on which I was born, and the night that said, “A man is conceived.”
Job.3.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- היום: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ההוא: DEM,ms,sg
- יהי: VERB,qal,juss,3,m,sg
- חשך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- ידרשהו: VERB,qal,impf/juss,3,m,sg
- אלוה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ממעל: ADV
- ואל: CONJ+PREP
- תופע: VERB,qal,impf/juss,3,f,sg
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- נהרה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 3:8 (verbal): Immediate parallel within Job 3: both curse the day—'Let that day be darkness' echoes the chapter's opening call to curse the day of my birth.
- Job 3:20–22 (thematic): Continues the lament about light and life: questions why light is given to those in misery, paralleling the wish that light not shine on the cursed day.
- Psalm 88:14 (thematic): Expresses the same motif of divine hiddenness—'Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face?'—resonating with the desire that God not regard the day.
- Amos 5:18–20 (thematic): Speaks of a hoped-for 'day' becoming darkness rather than light (the Day of the LORD being darkness), thematically parallel to wishing a particular day to be dark and unregarded by God.
Alternative generated candidates
- Let that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, nor let light shine upon it.
- Let that day be darkness; let God above not seek it, nor let light shine upon it.
Job.3.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יגאלהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- חשך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- וצלמות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- תשכן: VERB,qal,imprf,3,f,sg
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- עננה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יבעתהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כמרירי: PREP+ADJ,m,pl,abs
- יום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 10:21-22 (verbal): Job speaks of going to the land of darkness and deep shadow where light is as darkness—directly echoes the motif of darkness, shadow of death, and absence of light from 3:5.
- Psalm 88:6-7 (thematic): The psalmist describes being laid in the depths and enveloped by darkness and gloom; parallels the image of cloud, darkness, and oppressive shadow covering a day or life.
- Lamentations 3:6 (thematic): The speaker laments dwelling in darkness like the dead and having light withdrawn, echoing the petition that the day be covered in darkness and terror.
- Amos 5:18 (thematic): Condemns those who desire the 'day of the LORD' because for them it will be darkness and not light—uses darkness as judgmentous reversal of hoped-for light, similar to Job’s wish that day be darkened.
- Isaiah 8:22 (thematic): Foretells people looking to the earth and seeing only distress, darkness and fearful gloom—resonates with the theme of pervasive gloom and the absence of light present in Job 3:5.
Alternative generated candidates
- May darkness seize it, and the deep cover it; let a cloud dwell upon it, and let the blackness of that day terrify it.
- Let darkness and deep shadow claim it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let what terrifies the day terrify it.
Job.3.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הלילה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ההוא: DEM,ms,sg
- יקחהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg+PRON,3,m,sg
- אפל: ADV
- אל: NEG
- יחד: ADV
- בימי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,cons
- שנה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- במספר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ירחים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אל: NEG
- יבא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 3:3-10 (structural): Immediate context: the whole curse on the day/night of Job's birth (wishes the day/night to perish, be dark, unrecorded—an extended formulation of 3:6).
- Job 10:18-19 (thematic): Job again laments his birth and wishes he had not been born or brought out of the womb—same theme of cursing one's birth and existence.
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (thematic): Jeremiah curses the day of his birth ('Cursed be the day I was born'), a closely parallel motif of wishing one's natal day/night erased or accursed.
- Exodus 32:32-33 (verbal): Moses pleads about being blotted out of God's book; parallels Job's wish that the night not be counted among the days/months—both use imagery of removal from a register/calendar of life.
- Psalm 69:28 (verbal): Prayer that enemies be 'blotted out of the book of life' echoes the idea of eradication from the roll of the living or from the count of days, resonating with Job's desire that the night not 'come into the number' of months/years.
Alternative generated candidates
- Let that night be barren; let it not be counted among the days of the year, let it not enter the number of months.
- Let that night have no joy; let it not be counted among the days of the year, nor come into the number of the months.
Job.3.7 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הנה: PART
- הלילה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ההוא: DEM,ms,sg
- יהי: VERB,qal,juss,3,m,sg
- גלמוד: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אל: NEG
- תבא: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- רננה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 3:3 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same speech: both verses curse the birth day/night, forming a linked unit that wishes the night to be void of joy.
- Job 3:8 (verbal): Repeats the curse-formula of Job 3 — calling for those who would curse the day/night to do so — reinforcing the theme of wishing the night desolate and joyless.
- Amos 5:18-20 (thematic): Warnings about the ‘day of the LORD’ turning into darkness rather than light; echoes the desire for darkness/solitude and the absence of rejoicing associated with a cursed night.
- Psalm 102:7 (thematic): Image of nocturnal loneliness — 'I lie awake... like a lonely sparrow on the housetop' — parallels Job’s petition that the night be solitary and without gladness.
- Lamentations 3:2-3 (thematic): Depicts being led into darkness and deep distress; thematically parallels Job’s wish that night be solitary and deprived of joy as an expression of desolation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, let that night be solitary; may no glad cry come to it.
- Be desolate that night—let no glad cry come to it.
Job.3.8 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יקבהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- אררי: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- העתידים: ADJ,m,pl,def
- ערר: VERB,piel,inf,NA,NA,NA
- לויתן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Jeremiah 20:14 (thematic): Both express the wish to curse or renounce the day of one's birth—Job 3:8's 'curse the day' motif parallels Jeremiah's explicit 'Cursed be the day I was born.'
- Job 41 (verbal): Extended treatment of Leviathan within the same book; Job 3:8's invocation of Leviathan echoes the detailed description and imagery found in Job 41.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Isaiah depicts God punishing Leviathan, the fleeing serpent—an echo of the mythic sea-monster motif invoked in Job 3:8.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Psalm recounts God breaking the heads of Leviathan and subduing the sea—parallels Job's reference to Leviathan as a hostile, mythic force.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a notable creature of the sea; resonates with Job 3:8's use of Leviathan imagery to evoke cosmic chaos and dread.
Alternative generated candidates
- Let those who curse days curse it— those who are skilled to rouse Leviathan.
- May those who curse days curse it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
Job.3.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יחשכו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- כוכבי: NOUN,m,pl,const
- נשפו: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יקו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לאור: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- ואל: CONJ+PREP
- יראה: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- בעפעפי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,const
- שחר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 3:4–6 (structural): Immediate context within Job’s curse: the same speech curses the day of birth and asks that darkness and the shadow of death claim it—closely parallels the plea that the morning’s light not appear.
- Isaiah 13:10 (verbal): Proclaims that ‘the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light,’ echoing Job’s imagery of stars/dawn failing to shed light.
- Amos 8:9 (thematic): God’s judgment brings cosmic darkening—‘I will make the sun go down at noon…’—paralleling Job’s wish that light and morning fail for the cursed day.
- Joel 2:31 (thematic): Prophetic imagery of cosmic signs—‘the sun shall be turned to darkness’—resonates with Job’s motif of a day without dawn or morning light.
Alternative generated candidates
- Let the stars of its morning be dark; let it expect light and find none, nor let the rays of dawn shine upon it.
- May the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light and there be none, nor see the eyelids of the morning.
Job.3.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- סגר: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- דלתי: NOUN,f,sg,poss1s
- בטני: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,poss1s
- ויסתר: VERB,hitp,impf,3,m,sg
- עמל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מעיני: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs+PRON,1,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 139:13-16 (verbal): Both passages use womb-formation imagery and divine knowledge of the unborn — Psalm speaks of being woven/formed in the womb and God’s eyes seeing the unformed substance, echoing Job’s focus on birth and what is hidden or revealed to the eyes.
- Job 3:11-13 (structural): Immediate continuation of Job’s lament — these verses develop the same wish that he had not been born and rhetorically ask why he did not die before seeing light, directly connected to 3:10’s birth/womb motif.
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (thematic): Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and expresses a desire not to have been born, paralleling Job’s lament over birth and existence and the wish that his birth had been prevented.
- Isaiah 49:1 (allusion): Isaiah frames the prophet’s vocation as a call 'from the womb,' contrasting Job’s lament about birth by depicting divine purpose tied to the womb; both passages center on the significance of birth as theological reality.
- Galatians 1:15 (allusion): Paul’s statement that God 'separated me from my mother’s womb' echoes the biblical motif of the womb as locus of divine purpose or fate, offering a New Testament counterpoint to Job’s reflection on birth and destiny.
Alternative generated candidates
- For it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
- For it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
Job.3.11 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- למה: ADV
- לא: PART_NEG
- מרחם: VERB,piel,ptc,3,m,sg
- אמות: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- מבטן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יצאתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ואגוע: CONJ+VERB,qal,imperf,1,c,sg
Parallels
- Job 10:18-19 (verbal): Job repeats the same wish—asking why God brought him from the womb and expressing that it would have been better to have died before seeing light (close verbal and thematic echo).
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (verbal): Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and asks why he came forth from the womb, lamenting the misery of life—a prophetic parallel to the motif of wishing one had never been born.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 (thematic): The Preacher reflects that the dead are better off than the living and that those who have not been born are happier—a philosophical parallel expressing preference for nonexistence over painful life.
- Psalm 139:13-16 (allusion): Though not a lament, this passage’s focus on being formed and known in the womb provides a theological counterpoint and literary parallel to Job’s reference to birth and the womb.
Alternative generated candidates
- Why did I not perish at birth— die as I came from the womb?
- Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
Job.3.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- מדוע: ADV
- קדמוני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- ברכים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ומה: CONJ+PRON,int
- שדים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- כי: CONJ
- אינק: VERB,qal,imprf,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 22:9-10 (thematic): Speaks of God’s care 'from my mother's womb' and the poet’s origin in infancy—parallels Job’s reflection on being born and nourished, contrasting dependence in infancy with his current suffering.
- Psalm 71:6 (thematic): Affirms reliance on God 'from my mother's womb' and being sustained from birth; thematically parallels Job’s focus on the condition and care of infancy (knees/breasts) as he questions his birth.
- Isaiah 49:15 (verbal): Uses explicit nursing imagery ('nursing mother') to speak of memory and care; connects with Job’s reference to breasts and the intimate, bodily care associated with infancy.
- Ezekiel 16:4-5 (allusion): Describes an abandoned newborn who is then found, washed, and cared for—a narrative of being established and sustained in infancy that echoes Job’s lament over his own birth and early support.
Alternative generated candidates
- Why did knees greet me and why the breasts that I should be nursed?
- Why were knees given me, and breasts—so that I should suck?
Job.3.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- עתה: ADV
- שכבתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- ואשקוט: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- ישנתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- אז: ADV
- ינוח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 4:8 (verbal): Both verses use the same imagery and verb sequence—'lie down' and 'sleep'—to express a desire for peaceful rest, trusting in rest as deliverance from distress.
- Psalm 3:5 (verbal): Uses the same pair of verbs ('I lay down and slept') to portray sleep as repose provided amid peril, paralleling Job's wish to lie down and be at rest.
- Psalm 127:2 (thematic): Speaks of sleep as a gift and sign of God's care ('he gives his beloved sleep'), thematically related to Job's longing for restful cessation of trouble.
- Job 14:13 (allusion): In Job's later speech he prays to be hidden in Sheol to await renewal—an explicit extension of the present verse's wish to lie down, sleep, and find rest (here, rest in death).
- Isaiah 38:10-11 (thematic): Hezekiah recounts his thought that he would 'go to the gates of Sheol' and rest; thematically parallels Job's desire for sleep/death as relief from suffering.
Alternative generated candidates
- For then I would have lain down and been still; I would have slept— then I would have been at rest.
- For now I would lie down and be quiet; I would sleep—then I would be at rest,
Job.3.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- עם: PREP
- מלכים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ויעצי: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,cstr
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- הבנים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- חרבות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- למו: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 82:6-7 (thematic): God’s judgment on the mighty: rulers (‘gods’/princes) are nonetheless mortal and ‘shall die like men,’ echoing the theme of kings brought low.
- Psalm 146:3-4 (thematic): A warning not to trust princes because their life and plans are transient—parallels the futility of earthly kings and counselors who end in ruin.
- Ezekiel 28:2,17 (allusion): Oracles against the proud prince of Tyre who is brought down because of pride—resonates with the theme of rulers who make desolate places for themselves and suffer downfall.
- Psalm 49:12-15 (thematic): Reflection on the fate of the honored and wealthy who perish like beasts and whose wealth cannot save them—parallels the collapse of kings and their counsels.
Alternative generated candidates
- With kings and the counselors of the earth— men whose houses have become desolate;
- with kings and rulers of the earth, who rebuild ruins for themselves,
Job.3.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- או: CONJ
- עם: PREP
- שרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- זהב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- להם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- הממלאים: VERB,piel,ptc,0,m,pl,def
- בתיהם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- כסף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Amos 6:4-6 (thematic): Condemns the complacent rich who lounge in luxury and feast while ignoring injustice — thematically parallels criticism of those who fill their houses with silver and gold.
- Ezekiel 7:19 (verbal): Uses similar imagery of silver and gold as possessions that will be discarded or rendered worthless at judgment, contrasting hoarded wealth with coming ruin.
- Ecclesiastes 5:10; 5:13-15 (thematic): Reflects the futility of loving and hoarding wealth — riches cannot ultimately satisfy or secure a man's fate, echoing the poignancy of houses filled with silver/gold.
- Psalm 49:6-9 (thematic): Speaks against trusting in wealth and boasted riches, noting that wealth cannot redeem in death — thematically related to the image of households filled with silver and gold.
Alternative generated candidates
- or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
- or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.
Job.3.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- או: CONJ
- כנפל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- טמון: VERB,pual,ptc,_,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- אהיה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- כעללים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- ראו: VERB,qal,impv,2,pl
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 3:11-12 (verbal): Immediate context: Job expressly wishes he had died at birth or as a stillborn; repeats the same idea and similar wording about not coming into the light.
- Job 10:18-19 (verbal): Later in Job's speeches he again laments being brought from the womb, wishing for hidden death—same motif of preferring not to have been born.
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (thematic): Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and wishes he had not been born to suffer—parallel lamentation and desire never to have seen the light.
- Psalm 139:15-16 (thematic): Uses womb imagery and ‘hidden’ formation before the eyes saw light; provides a thematic counterpoint to Job’s wish never to have been born.
Alternative generated candidates
- Or like a hidden stillborn— I would not be, like infants who never saw light.
- Or like stillborn, never appearing—like infants who never saw light.
Job.3.17 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- שם: ADV
- רשעים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- חדלו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- רגז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ושם: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ינוחו: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,pl
- יגיעי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- כח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 14:12 (structural): Within Job: death pictured as sleep and final rest—‘man lieth down, and riseth not’ echoes cessation and repose in the grave.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 (thematic): Death as the end of toil and awareness—‘the dead know not any thing,’ paralleling the idea that the weary are at rest and troubles cease.
- Isaiah 57:1-2 (thematic): Death described as entering peace and rest (‘he shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds’), resonating with death as relief for the burdened.
- Psalm 73:17-19 (thematic): Asaph’s insight into the fate of the wicked—their end and downfall—parallels the assertion that the wicked cease troubling and reach an end in death.
Alternative generated candidates
- There the wicked cease from their restless strife; there the weary are at rest.
- There the wicked cease from strife, and there the weary are at rest.
Job.3.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יחד: ADV
- אסירים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שאננו: CONJ+PRON,1,pl
- לא: PART_NEG
- שמעו: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,pl
- קול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נגש: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 (thematic): Both passages reflect on the oppressed finding rest in death and being free from the voice or domination of their oppressor — the idea that the dead/captives no longer hear the taskmaster's voice.
- Psalm 146:7 (thematic): Shares the motif of the captive being set free by God; Job's image of captives at ease parallels the psalm's emphasis on divine liberation of prisoners.
- Psalm 107:10-16 (thematic): Describes those sitting in darkness and in chains who cry to the LORD and are brought out of their bonds — thematically akin to Job's depiction of captives no longer hearing the oppressor.
- Isaiah 61:1 (thematic): Proclaims liberty to the captives (a prophetic motif of release and relief), paralleling Job's portrayal of captives who are no longer subject to the taskmaster's voice.
- Luke 4:18 (quotation): Jesus' quotation of Isaiah 61 (ʻto proclaim liberty to the captivesʼ) provides a New Testament echo of the same liberative theme found in Job 3:18 — freedom from the oppressor's voice.
Alternative generated candidates
- Together the prisoners lie down— they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
- Prisoners together are at ease; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
Job.3.19 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- קטן: ADJ,m,sg
- וגדול: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- ועבד: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חפשי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מאדניו: PREP,NOUN,m,pl,abs+3ms
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 3:19 (thematic): Both texts assert that death (or Sheol) levels distinctions between humans and animals and undermines social/status differences—mortality makes small and great alike.
- Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 (thematic): Affirms that the same fate befalls righteous and wicked, rich and poor—death equalizes social and moral categories, echoing ‘servant free from his master.’
- Psalm 49:20 (verbal): Declares that a man in his pride is like the beasts that perish; parallels the idea that status and pomp are nullified by death, similar to servants and masters being equal in Sheol.
- Job 10:21-22 (structural): Uses Sheol imagery (darkness, shadow of death) to depict a realm where earthly conditions and relationships no longer obtain, connecting to 3:19’s claim that servitude and rank end with death.
Alternative generated candidates
- Small and great are there; the slave is free from his master.
- Small and great are there; slave and free alike are there.
Job.3.20 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- למה: ADV
- יתן: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,sg
- לעמל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וחיים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- למרי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נפש: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 7:1-6 (structural): A direct continuation of Job’s complaint about life as drudgery and misery—both passages question the value of life under relentless suffering (same thematic lament within the book).
- Psalm 13:1-2 (thematic): A personal lament that asks 'How long…?' and questions God’s apparent absence; both passages voice the anguished question why life is given when one is afflicted.
- Psalm 88:3-5 (verbal): Speaks of a soul full of troubles, being counted with those who go down to the pit and dwelling in darkness—closely parallel imagery of misery, darkness, and the precariousness of life.
- Lamentations 3:17-20 (thematic): Expresses the feeling that life has lost its value and remembers sustained suffering; like Job 3:20 it grapples with the dissonance of continued life amid bitter anguish.
Alternative generated candidates
- Why is light given to a man in sorrow, and life to the bitter of soul,
- Why is light given to a man in toil, and life to the bitter in soul,
Job.3.21 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- המחכים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- למות: VERB,qal,inf
- ואיננו: VERB,qal,pres,3,m,sg
- ויחפרהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ממטמונים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Job 3:11-12 (structural): Immediate context: the same speech expresses longing for death and the frustration that it does not come—develops the same idea as v.21.
- Job 7:15 (verbal): Job again wishes for death and rest (’I would lay down and be quiet, I would sleep and then be at rest’), echoing the desire for death in 3:21.
- Job 14:13 (verbal): Job pleads to be hidden in the grave until God’s wrath passes—another explicit wish to be taken by death, paralleling the search for death in 3:21.
- Psalm 88:3-6 (thematic): A lament that dwells on proximity to death and being counted among the dead—thematically similar sorrow and longing for relief through death.
- Jeremiah 20:14-18 (thematic): Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and expresses a desire that he had died at birth—parallels the intense wish for death and escape found in Job 3:21.
Alternative generated candidates
- who long for death and it does not come, who dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
- who wait for death, and it does not come; who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
Job.3.22 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- השמחים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- אלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- גיל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישישו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- כי: CONJ
- ימצאו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- קבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 35:26 (verbal): Direct verbal/thematic parallel—plea against those who rejoice at the speaker’s calamity; both depict others exulting over the sufferer’s misfortune.
- Obadiah 12 (thematic): Condemns gloating over a brother’s day of calamity—theme of hostile rejoicing at another’s downfall echoes Job’s complaint.
- Proverbs 24:17 (thematic): Admonition not to rejoice when an enemy falls; provides an ethical counterpoint to the behavior Job describes (people rejoicing at his ruin).
- Lamentations 1:15 (thematic): Bystanders clap, hiss, and gloat over Jerusalem’s destruction—similar communal rejoicing at someone’s ruin, paralleling the social reaction in Job.
Alternative generated candidates
- who are merry and rejoice when they find the grave,
- who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?
Job.3.23 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לגבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- דרכו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- נסתרה: VERB,niphal,perf,3,f,sg
- ויסך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אלוה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בעדו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 1:10 (verbal): Satan’s accusation that God has ‘hedged about’ Job uses the same imagery of God protecting or enclosing a person (hedge/fence), paralleling the ‘God has hedged in’ idea in 3:23.
- Job 23:8-9 (verbal): Job elsewhere laments that he cannot find God—‘he hideth himself’—echoing the theme of a way or presence that is hidden from the sufferer.
- Isaiah 45:15 (verbal): ‘Truly you are a God who hides himself’ (or ‘a God who conceals himself’) parallels the motif of divine hiddenness that leaves a person’s way obscure.
- Psalm 119:105 (thematic): ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ provides a contrasting motif—where God’s word illuminates a man’s way, Job 3:23 emphasizes a way that is hidden from light.
- Proverbs 4:18-19 (thematic): The contrast between the righteous’ path as ‘like the light’ and the wicked’s way as ‘darkness’ links to Job’s image of a man whose way is hidden/obscure.
Alternative generated candidates
- to the man whose way is hidden, whom God has fenced in?
- Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
Job.3.24 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- לפני: PREP
- לחמי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1s
- אנחתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- תבא: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- ויתכו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- כמים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שאגתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 42:3 (thematic): Tears or sorrow take the place of food: 'My tears have been my food day and night' parallels Job’s image of sighing/groaning replacing bread as the speaker’s sustenance.
- Psalm 6:6 (verbal): Intense weeping as a watery outpouring: 'I make my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears' echoes Job’s simile of groaning/pouring out like water.
- Jeremiah 9:1 (thematic): Desire for relief expressed as abundant tears: 'O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears' shares the motif of overflowing tears and lament as physical expression of suffering.
- Lamentations 3:48-49 (verbal): Eyes flowing 'with rivers of water'—the literal water imagery for weeping closely parallels Job’s phrase about groanings being poured out like water.
- Job 30:16 (verbal): Intra‑book verbal parallel: 'My soul is poured out within me' uses the same poured‑out imagery to describe inner anguish, directly resonant with Job 3:24’s poured‑out groaning.
Alternative generated candidates
- For my sighing comes instead of my bread; my groans are poured out like water.
- My sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groaning is poured out like water,
Job.3.25 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- פחד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- פחדתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ויאתיני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ואשר: CONJ+PRON,rel
- יגרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- יבא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
Parallels
- Proverbs 10:24 (verbal): Proverb states that what the wicked fears will come upon him—language closely parallels Job’s formula ‘the thing I feared has come upon me.’
- Proverbs 1:27 (thematic): Speaks of calamity and distress arriving like a storm when one ignores wisdom—thematically parallels the sudden arrival of the feared disaster in Job 3:25.
- Job 6:4 (thematic): Elsewhere in Job he describes God’s terrors and attacks surrounding him—an internal thematic parallel about feared suffering becoming reality.
- Psalm 55:5 (thematic): The psalmist laments that fear and trembling have come upon him; echoes the emotional state and sense that the anticipated dread has now arrived.
Alternative generated candidates
- For I am seized with fear, and it has come upon me; what I dread has befallen me.
- for the dread that I fear has come upon me, and what I dread has befallen me.
Job.3.26 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- שלותי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
- ולא: CONJ
- שקטתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- נחתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ויבא: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- רגז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 7:3-4 (structural): Within Job’s own speeches a similar sense of exhausted, restless life appears—days pass swiftly, man lies down without hope, expressing lack of repose and continuous anguish.
- Isaiah 57:20-21 (verbal): Speaks of the wicked as a 'troubled sea' that cannot rest and concludes 'There is no peace'—echoing Job’s language of no ease, no quiet and the coming agitation.
- Isaiah 48:22 (verbal): The short, striking declaration 'There is no peace, says the LORD, to the wicked' parallels Job’s lament about absence of peace/rest.
- Lamentations 3:17-18 (thematic): The prophet laments that his soul has no peace and he has forgotten happiness—a sustained sorrow and lack of rest comparable to Job’s complaint.
- Psalm 88:3-5 (thematic): A psalm of unrelieved distress—'my soul is full of trouble,' darkness and continual sorrow—resonates with Job’s experience of sleepless agitation and absence of rest.
Alternative generated candidates
- I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, yet turmoil comes.
- I have no peace, no quiet, no rest; trouble has come.
Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. And Job answered and said:
Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, "A man is conceived."
Let that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, and let no light shine upon it.
Let gloom and deep darkness claim it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of day terrify it.
Let that night be barren; let it not be joined to the days of the year; let it not come into the number of months.
Behold, let that night be solitary; let no joyful cry enter it.
Let those who curse days possess it—those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
Let the stars of its morning be dark; let it hope for light, and there be none; nor let it see the eyelids of dawn.
For it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not expire as I came from the womb?
Why did knees meet me, and why the breasts—that I should be nursed?
For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept, then I would have been at rest,
with kings and counselors of the earth—who build up ruins for themselves,
or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
Or as a stillborn hidden away—I would not be; like infants who never saw light.
There the wicked cease their tumult, and there the weary are at rest.
Together are prisoners who heard not the voice of the taskmaster.
Small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
Why is light given to one in toil, and life to the bitter of soul,
who long for death, and it does not come; who dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave,
to the man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
For my sighing comes before my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
For I am seized with dread and trembling; what I fear has come upon me.
I have no peace, no quiet; I have no rest, and turmoil has come.