Ayub 3:11

Job Wishes He Had Died at Birth ¹ 

3:11 “Why did I not ²  die ³  at birth, ⁴ 

and why did I not expire

as ⁵  I came out of the womb?

Ayub 3:16

3:16 Or why ⁶  was ⁷  I not buried ⁸ 

like a stillborn infant, ⁹ 

like infants ¹⁰  who have never seen the light? ¹¹ 

Ayub 10:18-19

An Appeal for Relief

10:18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?

I should have died ¹² 

and no eye would have seen me!

10:19 I should have been as though I had never existed; ¹³ 

I should have been carried

right from the womb to the grave!

Ayub 4:2

4:2 “If someone ¹⁴  should attempt ¹⁵  a word with you,

will you be impatient? ¹⁶ 

But who can refrain from speaking ¹⁷ ?

[3:11]  ¹ sn Job follows his initial cry with a series of rhetorical questions. His argument runs along these lines: since he was born (v. 10), the next chance he had of escaping this life of misery would have been to be still born (vv. 11-12, 16). In vv. 13-19 Job considers death as falling into a peaceful sleep in a place where there is no trouble. The high frequency of rhetorical questions in series is a characteristic of the Book of Job that sets it off from all other portions of the OT. The effect is primarily dramatic, creating a tension that requires resolution. See W. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry, 340-41.

[3:11]  ² tn The negative only occurs with the first clause, but it extends its influence to the parallel second clause (GKC 483 §152.z).

[3:11]  ³ tn The two verbs in this verse are both prefix conjugations; they are clearly referring to the past and should be classified as preterites. E. Dhorme (Job, 32) notes that the verb “I came out” is in the perfect to mark its priority in time in relation to the other verbs.

[3:11]  ⁴ tn The translation “at birth” is very smooth, but catches the meaning and avoids the tautology in the verse. The line literally reads “from the womb.” The second half of the verse has the verb “I came out/forth” which does double duty for both parallel lines. The second half uses “belly” for the womb.

[3:11]  ⁵ tn The two halves of the verse use the prepositional phrases (“from the womb” and “from the belly I went out”) in the temporal sense of “on emerging from the womb.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.

[3:16]  ⁷ tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”

[3:16]  ⁹ tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.

[3:16]  ¹⁰ tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.

[3:16]  ¹¹ tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.

[10:18]  ¹² tn The two imperfect verbs in this section are used to stress regrets for something which did not happen (see GKC 317 §107.n).

[10:19]  ¹³ sn This means “If only I had never come into existence.”

[4:2]  ¹⁴ tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so may be translated with “one” or “someone.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn The Piel perfect is difficult here. It would normally be translated “has one tried (words with you)?” Most commentaries posit a conditional clause, however.

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn The verb means “to be weary.” But it can have the extended sense of being either exhausted or impatient (see v. 5). A. B. Davidson (Job, 29) takes it in the sense of “will it be too much for you?” There is nothing in the sentence that indicates this should be an interrogative clause; it is simply an imperfect. But in view of the juxtaposition of the first part, this seems to make good sense. E. Dhorme (Job, 42) has “Shall we address you? You are dejected.”

[4:2]  ¹⁷ tn The construction uses a noun with the preposition: “and to refrain with words – who is able?” The Aramaic plural of “words” (מִלִּין, millin) occurs 13 times in Job, with the Hebrew plural ten times. The commentaries show that Eliphaz’s speech had a distinctly Aramaic coloring to it.