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Job 3:2

in Job 3

And this is what he said:

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Job answered and said:

KJV

And Job spake, and said,

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This verse in Job 3

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
And Job spake - Margin, as in Hebrew, “answered.” The Hebrew word used here ענה ‛ânâh “to answer,” is often employed when one commences a discourse, even though no question had preceded. It is somewhat in the sense of replying to a subject, or of speaking in a case where a question might appropriately be asked; Isa. 14:l0 (Hebrew), Zec 3:4; Deu 26:5 (Hebrew), Deu 27:14 (Hebrew). The word “to answer” ἀποκρίνομαι apokrinomai is frequently used in this way in the New Testament; Mat 17:4, Mat 17:17; Mat 28:5; Mar 9:5; Mar 10:51, et al.

This site's exposition

cursed the day of his birth

on Job 3:1-2

Job "cursed the day of his birth" and never his God, holding the wager to the letter. Satan's challenges at 1:11 and 2:5 both aimed at a curse to God's face. Seven days of silence break into a lament that runs for thirty chapters and never crosses that line.

This site's exposition

And this is what he said

Barnes notes the Hebrew verb is answered, used to open a speech where no question has come before. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take Job as answering his own case, the night he was conceived and the day of his birth. Jeremiah curses the day of his birth at Jeremiah 20:14.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Didymus the Blind

COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:1 · Written before 398.

proposed

The wise man is no babbler, nor does he utter through his mouth anything that cannot happen. Thus he does not curse the day as a period of time but those things that occurred on that day. For it is Scripture's custom to call occurrences …

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Ishodad of Merv

COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:1 · Written before 850.

proposed

Human beings are apt to curse and grumble against the misfortunes that befall them. God, in fact, does not expect insensitivity on our part. But when we are in tribulations and suffer those afflictions that strike us, God expects that we not abandon ourselves to …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Job spake, and said.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

spake--Hebrew, "answered," that is, not to any actual question that preceded, but to the question virtually involved in the case. His outburst is singularly wild and bold (Jer 20:14). To desire to die so as to be free from sin is a mark of grace; to desire to die so as to escape troubles is a mark of corruption.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

3 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיַּ֥עַןand he answered

    vaiyaanH6030 →331 times

  • אִיּ֗וֹבJob

    ʾiyovH347 →58 times

  • וַיֹּאמַֽר׃and he said

    vaiyomarH559 →5305 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

1 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Judges 18:14

    Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image,…

    it leads to

    • Judges 17:5

      Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.

    • Judges 18:3–4

      And while they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why…

    • Proverbs 19:27

      If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

    • Isaiah 8:19–20

      When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

    • 1 Samuel 14:28

      Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Job

Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Job: the study guide →Read Job 3 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:1; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:1; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Job 3 →