Job 3:12
in Job 3Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should be nursed?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
KJV
Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
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This verse in Job 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verseMORAL INTERPRETATION. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? Be the thought far from us, that blessed Job, who was endued with such high spiritual knowledge, and who had such a witness of praise from the Judge within, should wish that he had perished in abortive birth!
This site's exposition
Why did I not perish at birth
on Job 3:11-13
The curse gives way to a second movement, asking why Job was let live past that day at all. "Why were there knees to receive me" recalls the custom, found by Gill and Clarke, of a newborn set on the father's knees. Job wishes the welcome itself undone.
This site's exposition
Why were there knees to receive me
Barnes and Clarke place the knees in the lap of Job's mother. Barnes notes an infant left untended at birth would die as he came from the womb, so the knees and the breasts kept him alive. Job questions the very kindness that nursed him.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Sometimes however, the external life is taken away by the loss of some necessary assistance, which can be extrinsic like being carried, warmth and other aids of this kind. The verse, "Why did the knees receive me?" refers to this; or something intrinsic, like food, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, and that we may be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die only that we may be quiet in the grave, and delivered from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption.
Why did the knees prevent me?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Why did the knees prevent me? - Why was I dandled on the knees? Why was I nourished by the breasts? In either of the above cases I had neither been received into a mother’s lap, nor hung upon a mother’s breasts.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Why did the knees prevent me?--Old English for "anticipate my wants." The reference is to the solemn recognition of a new-born child by the father, who used to place it on his knees as his own, whom he was bound to rear (Ge 30:3;
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1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Why did the knees prevent me? - That is, the lap of the nurse or of the mother, probably the latter. The sense is, that if he had not been delicately and tenderly nursed, he would have died at once. He came helpless into the world, and but for the attention of others he would have soon died. Jahn supposes (Archae section 161) that it was a common custom for the father, on the birth of a son, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, while music was heard to sound, and by this ceremony to declare it as his own. That there was some such recognition of a child or expression of paternal regard, is apparent from Gen 50:23. Probably, however, the whole sense of the passage is expressed by the tender care which is necessarily shown to the new-born infant to preserve it alive. The word rendered “prevent” here קדם qâdam, means properly to anticipate, to go before, as the English word “prevent” formerly did; and hence, it means to go to meet anyone in order to aid him in any way. There is much beauty in the word here. It refers to the provision which God has made in the tender affection of the parent to “anticipate” the needs of the child. The arrangement has been made beforehand. God has taken care when the feeble and helpless infant is born, that tender affection has been already created and prepared to meet it. It has not to be created then; it is not to be excited by the suffering of the child; it is already in existence as an active, powerful, and self-denying principle, to “anticipate” the needs of the newborn babe, and to save it from death.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Why did I not die from the womb? why was I not ready to die immediately upon my emergence from the womb?
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
I would be lying Heb. ושכבתי, I would be lying in the grave.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַ֭דּוּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| קִדְּמ֣וּנִי | kidemuni | did they receive me | H6923 → | 26 times |
| בִרְכָּ֑יִם | virkayim | knees | H1290 → | |
| וּמַה־ | umahosha- | and why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| שָּׁ֝דַ֗יִם | shadayim | breasts | H7699 → | |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִינָֽק׃ | ʾinak | I will suckle | H3243 → |
מַ֭דּוּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
קִדְּמ֣וּנִיdid they receive me
kidemuniH6923 →26 times
בִרְכָּ֑יִםknees
virkayimH1290 →
וּמַה־and why?
umahosha-H4100 →752 times
שָּׁ֝דַ֗יִםbreasts
shadayimH7699 →
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִינָֽק׃I will suckle
ʾinakH3243 →
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
Isaiah 66:12For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 60:16
You will drink the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of royalty; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
- Isaiah 48:18
If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
- Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge…
- Isaiah 66:11
so that you may nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you may drink deeply and delight yourselves in her glorious abundance.
- Isaiah 61:6
But you will be called the priests of the LORD; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will feed on the wealth of nations, and you will boast in their…
- Isaiah 60:16
Through
Genesis 50:23He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
it leads to
- Numbers 32:39
The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.
- Job 42:16
After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
- Numbers 32:39
Through
Genesis 30:3Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.”
it leads to
- Genesis 50:23
He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
- Genesis 50:23
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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.