FocusSuffering questioned and explained
Connection to the wholeJob's lament leads into the first cycle of speeches, in which the friends' explanations are challenged by Job's experience.
interpretation Job 3:1
KJVAfter this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Read it in context
Job Laments His Birth
Start reading at Job 3:1 (Job 3:1 to Job 3:26).
An editorial reading unit, not a claim that the surrounding context stops here. Book background below applies to the shared passage; individual verses may need more specific explanation.
Job's lament leads into the first cycle of speeches, in which the friends' explanations are challenged by Job's experience.
- 3:1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
- 3:2 And Job spake, and said,
- 3:3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
- 3:4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
- 3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
- 3:6 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.
- 3:7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
- 3:8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
- 3:9 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:
- 3:10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
- 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
- 3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
- 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
- 3:14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
- 3:15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
- 3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
- 3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
- 3:18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
- 3:19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
- 3:20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
- 3:21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
- 3:22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
- 3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
- 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
- 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
- 3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Who
- Who wrote the book? The author is unknown. Moses is one ancient traditional proposal, but neither that proposal nor another named author can be established with confidence. Historical source: Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a (record of Jewish attribution, not contemporary proof). book background
- Who was present or being addressed in this passage? In the surrounding chapter context (Job 3:1–3:26): Job speaks his lament in the presence of his three friends. stated in the text
- Who was the book written to? Readers within Israel's wisdom tradition, wrestling with innocent suffering, justice, and the limits of human judgment. No named individual or first community is identified. Biblical references: Job 28:28; Job 42:7. book background
What
- What is the topic of this reading unit? Job Laments His Birth. Read Job 3:1 through Job 3:26 as a connected unit. interpretation
- How does it contribute to the book? Job's lament leads into the first cycle of speeches, in which the friends' explanations are challenged by Job's experience. interpretation
When
- When are the events or message set? The book supplies no royal date or exact historical year for Job's experiences. Proposed patriarchal-era settings are historical inferences, not a date explicitly stated by the narrative. book background
Where
- What is the book’s geographic setting? Job is introduced as a man in the land of Uz. The poetic speeches range through imagined and remembered scenes that should not all be treated as the speakers' physical locations. book background
- Where does the context start? This passage sits in Job Laments His Birth (Job 3:1 to Job 3:26). Start reading at Job 3:1. An editorial reading unit, not a claim that the surrounding context stops here. Book background below applies to the shared passage; individual verses may need more specific explanation.
How
- How does this book connect with Jesus Christ? James refers to Job's endurance and the Lord's compassion. Connections between Job's suffering and Christ may be considered as comparisons; Job's speeches should not all be treated as direct predictions of Jesus. See Job 1:1, James 5:11, Hebrews 4:15. interpretation
- How should this book guide our response? Do not assume that a sufferer's losses prove a hidden sin. Listen carefully, distinguish the speakers, and read their claims alongside the LORD's concluding rebuke of the friends. interpretation
Cited: Job 3:1, Job 3:26, Job 1:1, James 5:11, Hebrews 4:15
Who wrote it, and how we know
Uncertain; among the oldest books of Scripture
Not known
What Scripture saysThe book does not name its author.
Early traditionJewish tradition (Baba Bathra 14b) suggested Moses, but ancient opinion varied widely.
What is debatedThe author is unknown and the date is uncertain. The setting appears patriarchal, but the book could have been written far later.
Related passages
- After Job 1:22 Job 2:10
- opened Job 35:16 Ps 39:2-3 Ps 106:33
- cursed Job 3:3 Job 1:11 Job 2:5,9 Jer 20:14-15
Cross references from CrossReferences-org (CC BY 4.0).
Macro-Structure
See how this passage fits the chapter and the book.
Macro-Structure of Job 3
Job contains narrative, lament, and extended disputation. The speakers must be identified before treating an assertion as the book's teaching: the LORD explicitly rebukes Job's friends near the end. Neither the author nor an exact historical date is stated. Local headings and stanza divisions are editorial reading aids adapted from public-domain BSB headings; verse boundaries and Scripture links use the KJV. Connections describe the surrounding book movement.
Suggested literary divisions. Headings summarize the passage; they are not part of the biblical text.
Macro-Structure of Job
Job contains narrative, lament, and extended disputation. The speakers must be identified before treating an assertion as the book's teaching: the LORD explicitly rebukes Job's friends near the end. Neither the author nor an exact historical date is stated.
Job's losses and the friends' arrival
Job 1:1–2:13FocusSuffering and the opening test
Connection to the wholeThe narrative establishes Job's losses and integrity before the speeches begin, giving readers information the disputing friends do not possess.
interpretation FocusSuffering questioned and explained
Connection to the wholeJob's lament leads into the first cycle of speeches, in which the friends' explanations are challenged by Job's experience.
interpretation The second exchange
Job 15:1–21:34FocusAccusation and protest intensify
Connection to the wholeThe argument sharpens as the friends connect suffering with wickedness and Job challenges their account of the wicked's fortunes.
interpretation The final exchange and Job's defense
Job 22:1–31:40FocusWisdom and the demand for an answer
Connection to the wholeThe later speeches, poem on wisdom, and Job's final defense bring the dispute to the point of his appeal for an answer.
interpretation Elihu speaks
Job 32:1–37:24FocusClaims about God's justice and instruction
Connection to the wholeA new speaker responds to Job and the friends before the LORD's speeches begin; his speech must be distinguished from the divine answer.
interpretation The LORD answers
Job 38:1–41:34FocusCreation and the limits of human knowledge
Connection to the wholeThe LORD questions Job concerning the created order, confronting the limits of his knowledge and his attempt to contend with God.
interpretation Job's response and the conclusion
Job 42:1–17FocusRepentance, rebuke, and restoration
Connection to the wholeJob responds, the friends are rebuked, and the narrative closes with intercession and restoration without turning every speech into endorsed doctrine.
interpretation Suggested literary divisions. Headings summarize the passage; they are not part of the biblical text.