Job 10:19
in Job 10If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
KJV
I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
⋯
This verse in Job 10
Commentary
10 notes on this verseSomeone could think that Job's statement comes from desperation, but that is proven wrong by what God has said: "Do you believe I treated you like this for any other reason than to reveal your righteousness?" Job, who previously had said, "If I am wicked, …
This site's exposition
Why then did You bring me from the womb
on Job 10:18-19
"Why then did You bring me from the womb" returns to the death wish, now aimed at God where chapter 3 cursed the day itself. "Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me" carries the wish back before birth.
This site's exposition
carried from the womb to the grave
Job returns to the wish of Job 3:16, the stillborn child who never sees the light. Clarke reads it as a life ended, as though it had never been, and Gill likens it to a birth buried and forgotten. Job wishes his life had never come to be.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Wherefore then hast Thou brought me forth out of the womb. Oh that I had been consumed, and no eye had seen me. Which same sentiment he had already uttered in his first speech, saying, Why died I not from the womb? and whilst he subjoins that which he adds here, I should have been as though I had not been, I should have been carried from the womb to the grave; he adds in other words, but no other sense, saying, Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants which never saw light.
Because someone could object that absolutely considered (simpliciter) it is better to exist even in tribulations than not to have been born at all, he rejects this opinion saying, "would that I had perished," in my mother's womb," so that no eye would see me," …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
I should have been as though I had not been,.... For though it cannot be said absolutely of such an one, an abortive or untimely birth, that it is a nonentity, or never existed; yet comparatively it is as if it never had a being; it being seen by none or very few, it having had no name, nor any conversation among men; but at once buried, and buried in forgetfulness, as if no such one had ever been; see Ecc 6:
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? 4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? 5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days, 6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
): "If this was designed for my lot, why was I brought out of the womb, and not smothered there, or stifled in the birth?" This was the language of his passion, and it was a relapse into the same sin he fell into before.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I should have been as though - Had I given up the ghost as soon as born, as I could not then have been conscious of existence, it would have been, as it respects myself, as though I had never been; being immediately transported from my mother’s womb to the grave.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave - See the notes at Job 3:16.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הָיִ֣יתִי | hayiti | I had been | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אֶהְיֶ֑ה | ʾehyeh | I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מִ֝בֶּ֗טֶן | mibeten | from [the] womb | H990 → | 72 times |
| לַקֶּ֥בֶר | lakever | to the grave | H6913 → | 67 times |
| אוּבָֽל׃ | ʾuval | I was brought | H2986 → | 18 times |
כַּאֲשֶׁ֣רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
הָיִ֣יתִיI had been
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
אֶהְיֶ֑הI was
ʾehyehH1961 →3559 times
מִ֝בֶּ֗טֶןfrom [the] womb
mibetenH990 →72 times
לַקֶּ֥בֶרto the grave
lakeverH6913 →67 times
אוּבָֽל׃I was brought
ʾuvalH2986 →18 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 58:8Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
it leads to
- Job 3:16
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
- Ecclesiastes 6:3
A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial,…
- Psalms 37:35–36
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- James 1:10
But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Job 3:16
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 10:18-22; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.