Job 3:20-23 KJV,ASV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:20

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery? - The word “light” here is used undoubtedly to denote “life.” This verse commences a new part of Job’s complaint. It is that God keeps people alive who would prefer to die; that he furnishes them with the means of sustaining existence, and actually preserves them, when they would consider it an inestimable blessing to expire. Schultens remarks, on this part of the chapter, that the tone of Job’s complaint is considerably modified. He has given... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:21

Which long for death - Whose pain and anguish are so great that they would regard it as a privilege to die. Much as people dread death, and much as they have occasion to dread what is beyond, yet there is no doubt that this often occurs. Pain becomes so intense, and suffering is so protracted, that they would regard it as a privilege to be permitted to die. Yet that sorrow “must” be intense which prompts to this wish, and usually must be long continued. In ordinary cases such is the love of... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:22

Which rejoice exceedingly - Hebrew “Who rejoice upon joy or exultation” (אל־גיל 'el-gı̂yl), that is, with exceedingly great joy.When they can find the grave - What an expression! How strikingly does it express the intense desire to die, and the depth of a man’s sorrow, when it becomes a matter of exultation for him to be permitted to lie down in the corruption and decay of the tomb! A somewhat similiar sentiment occurs in Euripides, as quoted by Cicero, Tusc. Quaest. Lib. 1, cap. 48:Nam nos... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:23

Why is light given “to a man uhose way is hid?” That is, who does not know what way to take, and who sees no escape from the misery that surrounds him.Whom God hath hedged in - See Notes, Job 1:10. The meaning here is, that God had surrounded him as with a high wall or hedge, so that he could not move freely. Job asks with impatience, why light, that is, life, should be given to such a man? Why should he not be permitted to die? This closes the complaint of Job, and the remaining verses of the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:20

Job 3:20. Wherefore is light given למה יתן , lama jitten; why doth he give, or hath he given, light, namely, the light of life, to him that is in misery, whose life is a scene of sorrow and distress, loaded and pressed with numberless calamities? and life unto the bitter in soul Unto those whose life itself is very bitter and burdensome, whose souls are full of heaviness, being overpowered with the weight of affliction? Why doth he obtrude his favours upon those that abhor them? read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:21

Job 3:21. Who long for death With eagerness and impatience, as the Hebrew means. Who calls aloud for death, as Heath translates it. Qui ægre expectant, inhiant morti, who anxiously long and gasp for death; but it cometh not They long and gasp in vain. And dig for it more than for hid treasures Whose thoughts and wishes are so intent on their dissolution, that they expect it with as much earnestness as miners look for their golden treasures, who, being indefatigable in their pursuit,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:22

Job 3:22. Which rejoice exceedingly, when they can find the grave To be thus impatient of life, for the sake of the trouble we meet with, is not only unnatural in itself, but ungrateful to the Giver of life, and shows a sinful indulgence of our own passion. Let it be our great and constant care to get ready for another world: and then let us leave it to God to order the circumstances of our removal thither. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:23

Job 3:23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? Hid from him; who knows not his way, that is, which way to turn himself, what course to take to obtain comfort in his miseries, or to get out of them. And whom God hath hedged in Whom God hath put, as it were, in a prison, so that he can see no way or possibility of escape; but all refuge fails him. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Job 3:1-26

3:1-14:22 FIRST ROUND OF ARGUMENTJob’s bitterness (3:1-26)The long silence breaks when Job curses the day of his birth. He wishes he had never been born (3:1-7). He would like sorcerers also to curse that dark day. If they have power over the mythical sea monster Leviathan, they should have power to declare the day of his birth a day of darkness and sorrow, a day on which no person should have been born (8-10). If he had to be born, he wishes he had been stillborn. Then he would have gone... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Job 3:20

Wherefore . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6 . soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13 . read more

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:20

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:21

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:22

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 3:23

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:20

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:21

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:22

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 3:23

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Job 3:1-26

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Job 3:20

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