Job 3:10
in Job 3For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
KJV
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
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This verse in Job 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBecause it shut not up the doors - Here is the reason why he curses the day and the night in which he was conceived and born; because, had he never been brought into existence, he would never have seen trouble. It seems, however, very harsh that he should have wished the destruction of his mother, in order that his birth might have been prevented; and I rather think Job’s execration did not extend thus far.
This site's exposition
may that night be barren
on Job 3:7-10
The curse turns to the night of his conception, asking that it be barren, with "no joyful voice" such as a birth-night would carry. Verse 8 calls on "those prepared to rouse Leviathan," which Delitzsch reads as professional cursers whose trade is stirring up the sea monster of chaos.
This site's exposition
did not shut the doors of the womb
Barnes reports Aben Ezra took God as the one who left the womb open, while Barnes himself refers the verse to the night Job cursed. Wesley reads it as poetry that credits the night with what was done in it. Here Job gives the reason for his curse.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
MORAL INTERPRETATION. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor took away sorrow from mine eyes. As has been likewise remarked above, the words, it shut not up, are 'it opened,' and it took not away, 'it brought upon me.' So that this night, i.e. sin, opened the door of the womb, in that to man, conceived unto sin, it unsealed the lust of concupiscence, whereof the Prophet says, Enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors. For we 'enter our chambers,' when we go into the recesses of our own hearts. And we 'shut the doors,' when we restrain forbidden lusts; and so whereas our consent set open these doors of carnal concupiscence, it forced us to the countless evils of our corrupt state. And so now we henceforth groan under the weight of mortality, though we came thereunto by our own free will, in that the justice of the sentence against us requires thus much, that what we have done willingly, we should bear with against our will.
But since what he had said seemed impossible, namely, for day and dawn not to succeed night, he shows how his words should be interpreted saying, "because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb." For the life of man is a hidden …
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. What the womb of his mother is to each individual man, that the primary abode in Paradise became to the whole human race. For from it came forth the family of man as it were from the womb, and tending to the increase of the race, as if to the growth of the body, it issued forth without.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It - The night or the day: to which those things are ascribed which were done by others in them, as is frequent in poetical writings. Womb - That it might never have brought me forth.
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? ch. xxix. 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 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Because it shut not up ... - That is, because the accursed day and night did not do it. Aben Ezra supposes that God is meant here, and that the complaint of Job is that he did not close his mother’s womb. But the more natural interpretation is to refer it to the Νυχθήμεροι Nuchthēmeroi - the night and the day which he had been cursing, on which he was born. Throughout the description the day and the night are personified, and are spoken of as active in introducing him into the world. He here curses them because they did not wholly prevent his birth. Nor hid sorrow from mine eyes - By preventing my being born. The meaning is, that he would not have known sorrow if he had then died.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
For He did not shut He Who was able to shut. This too is one of the verses that resemble “the night when one said” (verse 2).
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Why did I not die from the womb? why was I not ready to die immediately upon my emergence from the womb?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| סָ֭גַר | sagar | it shut | H5462 → | 91 times |
| דַּלְתֵ֣י | daltei | [the] doors of | H1817 → | 88 times |
| בִטְנִ֑י | vitni | womb my | H990 → | 72 times |
| וַיַּסְתֵּ֥ר | vaiyaster | and it hid | H5641 → | 80 times |
| עָ֝מָ֗ל | ʾamal | trouble | H5999 → | 55 times |
| מֵעֵינָֽי׃ | meeinai | from eyes my | H5869 → | 887 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
סָ֭גַרit shut
sagarH5462 →91 times
דַּלְתֵ֣י[the] doors of
dalteiH1817 →88 times
בִטְנִ֑יwomb my
vitniH990 →72 times
וַיַּסְתֵּ֥רand it hid
vaiyasterH5641 →80 times
עָ֝מָ֗לtrouble
ʾamalH5999 →55 times
מֵעֵינָֽי׃from eyes my
meeinaiH5869 →887 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Ecclesiastes 11:10So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- 2 Timothy 2:22
Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2
“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
- Ecclesiastes 1:14
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
- Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
- 2 Corinthians 7:1
Through
Jeremiah 20:17because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.
it leads to
- Job 3:10–11
For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.
- Job 10:18–19
Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
- Job 3:10–11
Through
Genesis 20:18for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.
it leads to
- Genesis 12:17
The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
- Genesis 12:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.