Job 3:11-22

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 3:11

Why died I not from the womb ?.... That is, as soon as he came out of it; or rather, as soon as he was in it, or from the time that he was in it; or however, while he was in it, that so he might not have come alive out of it; which sense seems best to agree both with what goes before and follows after; for since his conception in the womb was not hindered, he wishes he had died in it; and so some versions render it to this sense F14 מרחם εν κοιλια , Sept. "in vulva", V. L. "aut, in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:12

Why did the knees prevent me ?.... Not of the mother, as Jarchi, but of the midwife, who received him into her lap, and nourished and cherished him, washed him with water, salted, and swaddled him; or it may be of his father, with whom it was usual to take the child on his knees as soon as born, see Genesis 50:23 ; which custom obtained among the Greeks and Romans F15 Homer. Iliad. 9. Vid. Barthii Animadv. ad Claudian. in Nupt. Honor. ver. 341. ; hence the goddess Levana F16 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:13

For now should I have lain still, and been quiet ,.... Signifying, that if the above had been his case, if he had died as soon as born, or quickly after, then he would have been laid in the grave, where he would have lain as still as on a bed; for such is the grave to dead bodies as a bed is to those that lie down and sleep upon it; a place of ease and quiet, where there is freedom from all care and thought, from all trouble, anxiety, and distress; nay, more so than on a bed, where there is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:14

With the kings and counsellors of the earth ,.... From whom he might descend, he being a person of great distinction and figure; and so, had he died, he would have been buried in the sepulchres of his ancestors, and have lain in great pomp and state: or rather this he says, to observe that death spares none, that neither the power of kings, who have long hands, nor the wisdom of counsellors, who have long heads, can secure them from death; and that after death they are upon a level with... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:15

Or with princes that had gold ,.... A large abundance of it while they lived, but now, being dead, were no longer in the possession of it, but on a level with those that had none; nor could their gold, while they had it, preserve them from death, and now, being dead, it was no longer theirs, nor of any use unto them; these princes, by this description of them, seem to be such who had not the dominion over any particular place or country, but their riches lay in gold and silver, as follows: ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:16

Or as an hidden untimely birth ,.... Or "hid, as one born out of time", as Mr. Broughton reads it; the Septuagint use the same word as the apostle does, when he says the like of himself, 1 Corinthians 15:8 ; the word has the signification of "falling" F19 כגפל "sicut abortivus qui ex utero excidit, aut in terram cadit", Michaelis. , and designs an abortive, which is like to fruit that falls from the tree before it is ripe; and this may be said to be "hidden", either in the belly,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:17

There the wicked cease from troubling ,.... At death, and in the grave; such who have been like the troubled sea, that cannot rest, have always been either devising or doing mischief while living, in the grave can do neither; there is no work nor device there; such who are never easy, and cannot sleep unless they do mischief, when dead have no power to do any, and are quite still and inactive; such who have been troublers of good men, as profane persons by their ungodly lives, false... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:18

There the prisoners rest together ,.... "Are at ease", as Mr. Broughton renders the words; such who while they lived were in prison for debt, or were condemned to the galleys, to lead a miserable life; or such who suffered bonds and imprisonment for the sake of religion, at death their chains are knocked off, and they are as much at liberty, and enjoy as much ease, as the dead that never were prisoners; and not only rest together with those who were their fellow prisoners, but with those... read more

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