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Commentary on Job 3 verses 1–10
Long was Job's heart hot within him; and, while he was musing, the fire burned, and the more for being stifled and suppressed. At length he spoke with his tongue, but not such a good word as David spoke after a long pause: Lord, make me to know my end, Psa 39:3, Psa 39:4. Seven days the prophet Ezekiel sat down astonished with the captives, and then (probably on the sabbath day) the word of the Lord came to him, Eze 3:15, Eze 3:16. So long Job and his friends sat thinking, but said nothing; they were afraid of speaking what they thought, lest they should grieve him, and he durst not give vent to his thoughts, lest he should offend them. They came to comfort him, but, finding his afflictions very extraordinary, they began to think comfort did not belong to him, suspecting him to be a hypocrite, and therefore they said nothing. But losers think they may have leave to speak, and therefore Job first gives vent to his thoughts. Unless they had been better, it would however have been well if he had kept them to himself. In short, he cursed his day, the day of his birth, wished he had never been born, could not think or speak of his own birth without regret and vexation. Whereas men usually observe the annual return of their birthday with rejoicing, he looked upon it as the unhappiest day of the year, because the unhappiest of his life, being the inlet into all his woe. Now,
I. This was bad enough. The extremity of his trouble and the discomposure of his spirits may excuse it in part, but he can by no means be justified in it. Now he has forgotten the good he was born to, the lean kine have eaten up the fat ones, and he is filled with thoughts of the evil only, and wishes he had never been born. The prophet Jeremiah himself expressed his painful sense of his calamities in language not much unlike this: Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me! Jer 15:10. Cursed be the day wherein I was born, Jer 20:14, etc. We may suppose that Job in his prosperity had many a time blessed God for the day of his birth, and reckoned it a happy day; yet now he brands it with all possible marks of infamy. When we consider the iniquity in which we were conceived and born we have reason enough to reflect with sorrow and shame upon the day of our birth, and to say that the day of our death, by which we are freed from sin (Rom 6:7), is far better. Ecc 7:1. But to curse the day of our birth because then we entered upon the calamitous scene of life is to quarrel with the God of nature, to despise the dignity of our being, and to indulge a passion which our own calm and sober thoughts will make us ashamed of. Certainly there is no condition of life a man can be in in this world but he may in it (if it be not his own fault) so honour God, and work out his own salvation, and make sure a happiness for himself in a better world, that he will have no reason at all to wish he had never been born, but a great deal of reason to say that he had his being to good purpose. Yet it must be owned, if there were not another life after this, and divine consolations to support us in the prospect of it, so many are the sorrows and troubles of this that we might sometimes be tempted to say that we were made in vain (Psa 89:47), and to wish we had never been. There are those in hell who with good reason wish they had never been born, as Judas, Mat 26:24. But, on this side hell, there can be no reason for so vain and ungrateful a wish. It was Job's folly and weakness to curse his day. We must say of it, This was his infirmity; but good men have sometimes failed in the exercise of those graces which they have been most eminent for, that we may understand that when they are said to be perfect it is meant that they were upright, not that they were sinless. Lastly, Let us observe it, to the honour of the spiritual life above the natural, that though many have cursed the day of their first birth, never any cursed the day of their new-birth, nor wished they never had had grace, and the Spirit of grace, given them. Those are the most excellent gifts, above life and being itself, and which will never be a burden.
II. Yet it was not so bad as Satan promised himself. Job cursed his day, but he did not curse his God - was weary of his life, and would gladly have parted with that, but not weary of his religion; he resolutely cleaves to that, and will never let it go. The dispute between God and Satan concerning Job was not whether Job had his infirmities, and whether he was subject to like passions as we are (that was granted), but whether he was a hypocrite, who secretly hated God, and if he were provoked, would show his hatred; and, upon trial, it proved that he was no such man. Nay, all this may consist with his being a pattern of patience; for, though he did thus speak unadvisedly with his lips, yet both before and after he expressed great submission and resignation to the holy will of God and repented of his impatience; he condemned himself for it, and therefore God did not condemn him, nor must we, but watch the more carefully over ourselves, lest we sin after the similitude of this transgression.
1.The particular expressions which Job used in cursing his day are full of poetical fancy, flame, and rapture, and create as much difficulty to the critics as the thing itself does to the divines: we need not be particular in our observations upon them. When he would express his passionate wish that he had never been, he falls foul upon the day, and wishes,
(1.)That earth might forget it: Let it perish (Job 3:3); let it not be joined to the days of the year, Job 3:6. "Let it be not only not inserted in the calendar in red letters, as the day of the king's nativity useth to be" (and Job was a king, Job 29:25), "but let it be erased and blotted out, and buried in oblivion. Let not the world know that ever such a man as I was born into it, and lived in it, who am made such a spectacle of misery."
(2.)That Heaven might frown upon it: Let not God regard it from above, Job 3:4. "Every thing is indeed as it is with God; that day is honourable on which he puts honour, and which he distinguishes and crowns with his favour and blessing, as he did the seventh day of the week; but let my birthday never be so honoured; let it be nigro carbone notandus - marked as with a black coal for an evil day by him that determines the times before appointed. The father and fountain of light appointed the greater light to rule the day and the less lights to rule the night; but let that want the benefit of both." [1.] Let that day be darkness (Job 3:4); and, if the light of the day be darkness, how great is that darkness! how terrible! because then we look for light. Let the gloominess of the day represent Job's condition, whose sun went down at noon. [2.] As for that night too, let it want the benefit of moon and stars, and let darkness seize upon it, thick darkness, darkness that may be felt, which will not befriend the repose of the night by its silence, but rather disturb it with its terrors.
(3.)That all joy might forsake it: "Let it be a melancholy night, solitary, and not a merry night of music and dancing. Let no joyful voice come therein (Job 3:7); let it be a long night, and not see the eye-lids of the morning (Job 3:9), which bring joy with them."
(4.)That all curses might follow it (Job 3:8): "Let none ever desire to see it, or bid it welcome when it comes, but, on the contrary, let those curse it that curse the day. Whatever day any are tempted to curse, let them at the same time bestow one curse upon my birthday, particularly those that make it their trade to raise up mourning at funerals with their ditties of lamentation. Let those that curse the day of the death of others in the same breath curse the day of my birth." Or those who are so fierce and daring as to be ready to raise up the Leviathan (for that is the word here), who, being about to strike the whale or crocodile, curse it with the bitterest curse they can invent, hoping by their incantations to weaken it, and so to make themselves master of it. Probably some such custom might there be used, to which our divine poet alludes. "Let it be as odious as the day wherein men bewail the greatest misfortune, or the time wherein they see the most dreadful apparition;" so bishop Patrick, I suppose taking the Leviathan here to signify the devil, as others do, who understand it of the curses used by conjurors and magicians in raising the devil, or when they have raised a devil that they cannot lay.
2.But what is the ground of Job's quarrel with the day and night of his birth? It is because it shut not up the doors of his mother's womb, Job 3:10. See the folly and madness of a passionate discontent, and how absurdly and extravagantly it talks when the reins are laid on the neck of it. Is this Job, who was so much admired for his wisdom that unto him men gave ear, and kept silence at his counsel, and after his words they spoke not again? Job 29:21, Job 29:11. Surely his wisdom failed him, (1.) When he took so much pains to express his desire that he had never been born, which, at the best was a vain wish, for it is impossible to make that which has been not to have been. (2.) When he was so liberal of his curses upon a day and a night that could not be hurt, or made any the worse for his curses. (3.) When he wished a thing so very barbarous to his own mother as that she had not brought him forth when her full time had come, which must inevitably have been her death, and a miserable death. (4.) When he despised the goodness of God to him in giving him a being (such a being, so noble and excellent a life, such a life, so far above that of any other creature in this lower world), and undervalued the gift, as not worth the acceptance, only because transit cum onere - it was clogged with a proviso of trouble, which now at length came upon him, after many years' enjoyment of its pleasures. What a foolish thing it was to wish that his eyes had never seen the light, that so they might not have seen sorrow, which yet he might hope to see through, and beyond which he might see joy! Did Job believe and hope that he should in his flesh see God at the latter day (Job 19:26), and yet would he wish he had never had a being capable of such a bliss, only because, for the present, he had sorrow in the flesh? God by his grace arm us against this foolish and hurtful lust of impatience.
May this night or day of detestation become what the horrible and cruel dragon that is led from the sea to the earth deserves. Indeed the Hebrew and Syrian tradition interpret Leviathan to be the one about which David says, “There is that dragon that you have made to delude him.” Even though the dragon seems to represent, above all, a figure of spiritual iniquity, it nonetheless, after getting out and being cast onto earth, is said to possess the ability to cause many massacres of people and animals. Thus, with good reason, the curses of all must be gathered against it.
14. In the old translation it is not so written, but, Let him curse it that hath cursed the day, even him who shall take the great whale [so LXX]. By which words it is clearly shown, that the destruction of Antichrist, to be at the end of the world, is foreseen by the holy man. For the evil spirit, who by rights is night, at the end of the world passes himself for the day, in that he shows himself to men as God, while he takes to himself deceitfully the brightness of the Deity, and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. [2 Thess. 2, 4] The same therefore that curseth the day, curseth the night; in that He at this present time destroys his wickedness, Who will then by the light of His coming also extinguish the power of his strength. And hence it is well subjoined, Who will take the great whale. For the strength of this whale is taken as a prey in the water, in that the wiliness of our old enemy is overcome by the Sacrament of Baptism.
15. But that which in the Old Translation is spoken of the Author of all things, in this translation, which we get from the Hebrew and Arabian tongues, is related of His elect Angels. For it is of them that it is said, Let them curse it that curse the day. For that spirit in his pride desired to pass himself for day even with the Angelic Powers, at that time when as though in the power of the Deity he exalted himself above the rest, and drew after him such countless legions to destruction. But they, truly, who with humble spirits stood firm in the Author of their being, when they saw there was night in his perverse ways; trod under foot the day of his brightness by thinking humbly of themselves, who do now point out to us the darkness of his disguise, and show us how we should contemn his false glare. So let it be said of the night of darkness, which blinds the eyes of human frailty; Let them curse it that curse the day; i.e. ‘Let those elect Spirits by condemning denounce the darkness of his erring ways, who see the grandeur of his shining already from the first a deceit.’ And it is well added, Who are ready to rouse up [Vulg. thus] Leviathan. For ‘Leviathan’ is interpreted to be ‘their addition.’ Whose ‘addition,’ then, but the ‘addition’ of men? And it is properly styled ‘their addition;’ for since by his evil suggestion he brought into the world the first sin, he never ceases to add to it day by day by prompting to worse things.
Or indeed it is in reproach that he is called Leviathan, i.e. styled ‘the addition of men.’ For he found them immortal in Paradise, but by promising the Divine nature to immortal beings, he as it were pledged himself to add somewhat to them beyond what they were. But whilst with flattering lips he declared that he would give what they had not, he robbed them cunningly even of what they had. And hence the [al. The Lord by the P.] Prophet describes this same Leviathan in these words, Leviathan, the bar-serpent [Vulg. serpentem vectem]: even Leviathan that crooked serpent. For this Leviathan in the thing, which he engaged to add to man, crept nigh to him with tortuous windings; for while he falsely promised things impossible, he really stole away even those which were possible, But we must enquire why he that had spoken of ‘a serpent,’ subjoining in that very place the epithet ‘crooked,’ inserted the word ‘bar,’ except perhaps that in the flexibility of the serpent we have a yielding softness, and in ‘the bar,’ the hardness of an obstinate nature. In order then to mark him to be both hard and soft, he both calls him ‘a bar’ and ‘a serpent.’ For by his malicious nature he is hard, and by his flatteries he is soft; so he is called ‘a bar [E.V. Piercing],’ in that he strikes even to death; and ‘a serpent,’ in that he insinuates himself softly by deceitful acts.
16. Now this Leviathan at this present time elect Spirits of the Angelic host imprison close in the bottomless pit. Whence it is written, And I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years; [Rev. 20, 1-3] and cast him into the bottomless pit. Yet at the end of the world they call him back to more open conflicts, and let him loose against us in all his power. And hence it is written again in the same place; Till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed. For that apostate angel, whereas he was created so that he shone preeminent among all the other legions of the Angels, fell so low by setting himself up, that he is now prostrated beneath the rule of the orders of Angels that stand erect, whether that being put in chains by them, as they minister to our welfare, he should now lie buried from sight, or that they at that time setting him free for our probation, he should be let loose to put forth all his power against us. Therefore, because the proud apostate Spirit is restrained by those elect Spirits, who being humble would not follow him, and, they being the executioners, it is ordered, that he shall one day be recalled for the purpose of an open conflict, that he may be utterly destroyed, let it be well said, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan; but forasmuch as the artful adversary is not yet raised to wage open war, let him show how that night now by hidden influences overshadows the minds of some men.
41. As if he said in plain words; ‘Let them strike the darkness of this night by truly repenting, who henceforth despise and tread upon the light of worldly prosperity.’ For if we take ‘the day,’ for the gladness of delight, of this ‘night’ it is rightly said, Let them curse it that curse the day. In that, indeed, they do truly chastise the misdeeds committed with the visitations of penance, who are henceforth carried away by no sense of delight after deceitful goods. For of those whom other mischievous practices still delight, it is all false whereinsoever they are seen to bewail one set they have been guilty of. But if, as we have said above, we understand thereby the crafty suggestion of our old enemy, those are to be understood to curse the ‘night,’ that curse the ‘day,’ in that surely they all really punish their past sins, who in the mere flattering suggestion itself detect the snares of the malicious deceiver. But it is well added;
Who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
42. For all they that with the spirit tread under foot the things which are of the world, and with a perfect bent of the mind desire the things that belong to God, rouse up Leviathan against themselves, in that they inflame his malice, by the incitements of their life and conduct. For those that are subject to his will, are as it were held in possession by him with an undisturbed light, and their tyrannizing king, as it were, enjoys a kind of security, while he rules their hearts with a power unshaken, but when the spirit of each man is quickened again to the longing after his Creator; when he gives over the sloth of negligence, and kindles the frost of former insensibility with the fire of holy love; when he calls to mind his innate freedom, and blushes that his enemy should keep him as his slave; because that enemy marks that he is himself contemned, and sees that the ways of God are laid hold of, he is stung that his captive struggles against him, and is at once fired with jealousy, at once pressed to the conflict, at once raises himself to urge countless temptations against the soul that withstands him, and stimulates himself in all the arts of mangling, that launching the darts of temptation he may pierce the heart, which he has long held with an undisputed title. For he slept, as it were, whilst he reposed at rest in the corrupt heart. But he is ‘roused,’ in challenging the fight, when he loses the right of wicked dominion. Let those then curse this light, that are ready to rouse up Leviathan, i.e. ‘let all those gather themselves resolutely to encounter sin with the stroke of severe judgment, who are no wise afraid to rouse up Leviathan in his tempting of them.’ For so it is written, My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, stand in righteousness and in fear; and prepare thy soul for temptation. For whosoever hastes to gird himself in the service of God, what else does he than prepare against the encounter of the old adversary, that the same man set at liberty may take blows in the strife, who, when slaving in captivity under tyrannizing power, was left at rest? But in this very circumstance that the mind is braced to meet the enemy, that some vices it has under its feet, and is striving against others, it sometimes happens that somewhat of sin is permitted to remain, nevertheless not so as to do any great injury.
43. And often the mind, which overcomes many and forcible oppositions, is unable to master one within itself, and that perchance a very little one, though it be most earnestly on the watch against it. Which doubtless is the effect of God's dispensation, lest being resplendent with virtue on all points, it be lifted up in self-elation, that while it sees in itself some trifling thing to be blamed, and yet has no power to subdue the same, it may never attribute the victory to itself, but to the Creator only, whereinsoever it has power to subdue with resolution.
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SUMMARY
Job 3:8 is a profound cry of despair from Job, who, in his immense suffering, wishes for the day of his birth to be utterly obliterated. He invokes powerful, even mythical, entities associated with chaos and darkness to curse and consume that specific day, thereby expressing a desire for his very existence to be retroactively undone and swallowed by oblivion. This verse captures the raw, unfiltered agony of a man wrestling with inexplicable pain and loss, seeking an end to his suffering through non-existence.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 3:8 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey the depth of Job's anguish. Invocation is central, as Job calls upon external, powerful agents ("them that curse the day," "who are ready to raise up their mourning") to execute his wish. This elevates his personal lament to a cosmic scale. Hyperbole is evident in the extreme nature of his desire—not just death, but the complete erasure of his birth day, a wish for non-existence that is beyond human capability. There is a strong element of Allusion to ancient Near Eastern mythology, particularly with the reference to Leviathan, symbolizing primordial chaos. This alludes to a cosmic battle between order and disorder, reflecting Job's internal turmoil. Finally, the Personification of "the day" as something that can be cursed, consumed, and blotted out gives it an active role in Job's suffering, making it a target for his profound bitterness.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 3:8 stands as a stark testament to the biblical portrayal of raw human suffering and the permission to lament, even to the point of cursing one's own existence. It challenges simplistic notions of divine justice and invites a deeper exploration of how faith endures in the face of inexplicable pain. The verse connects to broader theological themes of creation and chaos, as Job's desire for his birth day to be consumed by disorder implicitly yearns for a reversal of the divine ordering of the cosmos. It reminds us that while God is sovereign over all, human experience includes moments of profound despair where the very fabric of existence feels unbearable. The book of Job ultimately guides the reader through this lament to a renewed, though transformed, understanding of God's wisdom and sovereignty, even when answers to suffering remain elusive.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job's agonizing lament in Job 3:8 serves as a powerful validation for those who find themselves in the depths of despair, questioning their very existence. The Bible does not sanitize human suffering; instead, it provides space for the most profound and unsettling emotions. This verse reminds us that it is permissible, even necessary, to voice our pain honestly before God, without pretense or theological platitudes. While Job's initial response is one of despair and a desire for non-existence, the broader narrative of the book of Job gently guides us toward a path of perseverance, lament, and ultimately, a renewed, albeit transformed, trust in God's sovereign wisdom, even when answers are withheld. It teaches us that true faith is not the absence of doubt or pain, but the willingness to bring our brokenness to God, trusting that He is present even in the darkest valleys.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who are "them that curse the day" and why would Job invoke them?
Answer: "Them that curse the day" likely refers to individuals believed to possess special powers or ritualistic authority to pronounce potent curses. In ancient cultures, there were often figures like sorcerers, diviners, or professional cursers who were thought to be able to influence events or bring misfortune through their words. Job, in his extreme agony, is not merely expressing a personal wish but is invoking these powerful, external agents to ensure the complete and utter annihilation of his birth day. He desires that this day be retroactively undone, as if it had never occurred, thereby erasing his suffering and existence. This invocation underscores the depth of his despair and his desperate attempt to escape his unbearable reality by any means, even by appealing to forces associated with the dark arts or primordial chaos.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job's desperate wish in Job 3:8 to have his birth day cursed and consumed by chaos, thereby undoing his very existence, finds its ultimate and redemptive answer in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While Job yearned for non-existence to escape suffering, Christ willingly embraced existence and entered into the deepest human suffering, not to be undone, but to undo the power of sin and death. On the cross, Jesus became the ultimate "cursed one" (Galatians 3:13), bearing the curse of humanity's sin so that we might receive blessing. He descended into the chaos and darkness of death, not to be swallowed by it, but to conquer it, rising victorious over the forces of disorder that Job invoked. Through Christ's sacrifice, the "day" of our spiritual birth, our new creation in Him, is eternally secured and blessed, rather than cursed (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is the one who truly "raises up" life from the depths of despair, offering not oblivion, but abundant and eternal life (John 10:10). In Christ, our deepest laments are heard, our suffering is understood, and the ultimate victory over chaos and death is assured, transforming our desire for undoing into the hope of glorious renewal.