Job 3:20

Complete Jewish Bible

They long for death, but it never comes; they search for it more than for buried treasure;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Why is light given to one burdened with grief,and life to those whose existence is bitter,

Hebrew Names Version
"Why is light given to him who is in misery, Life to the bitter in soul,

King James Version
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

English Standard Version
"Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

New Century Version
"Why is light given to those in misery? Why is life given to those who are so unhappy?

New English Translation
"Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter,

Amplified Bible
"Why is the light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter in soul,

New American Standard Bible
"Why is light given to one burdened with grief, And life to the bitter of soul,

World English Bible
"Why is light given to him who is in misery, Life to the bitter in soul,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wherefore is the light giuen to him that is in miserie? and life vnto them that haue heauie hearts?

Legacy Standard Bible
"Why is light given to him who is troubled,And life to the bitter of soul,

Berean Standard Bible
Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

Contemporary English Version
Why does God let me live when life is miserable and so bitter?

Darby Translation
Wherefore is light given to him that is in trouble, and life to those bitter of soul,

Easy-to-Read Version
"Why must a suffering person continue to live? Why let anyone live such a bitter life?

George Lamsa Translation
Why is light given to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul,

Good News Translation
Why let people go on living in misery? Why give light to those in grief

Lexham English Bible
"Why does he give light to one in misery and life to those bitter of soul,

Literal Translation
Why is light given to the miserable one, and life to him who is bitter in soul;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wherfore is the light geuen, to him that is in mysery? and life vnto them, that haue heuy hertes?

American Standard Version
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul;

Bible in Basic English
Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wherefore is the light geuen to hym that is in miserie? & lyfe vnto them that haue heauy heartes?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Wherewith is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul--

King James Version (1611)
Wherefore is light giuen to him that is in misery, and life vnto the bitter in soule?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those souls which are in griefs?

English Revised Version
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whi is liyt youun to the wretche, and lijf to hem that ben in bitternesse of soule?

Update Bible Version
Why is light given to him that is in misery, And life to the bitter in soul?

Webster's Bible Translation
Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter [in] soul;

New King James Version
"Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,

New Living Translation
"Oh, why give light to those in misery, and life to those who are bitter?

New Life Bible
"Why is light given to him who suffers? Why is life given to those who feel sad in their soul?

New Revised Standard
"Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul? -

Douay-Rheims Bible
Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?

Revised Standard Version
"Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

Young's Literal Translation
Why giveth He to the miserable light, and life to the bitter soul?

THE MESSAGE
"Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, why bother keeping bitter people alive, Those who want in the worst way to die, and can't, who can't imagine anything better than death, Who count the day of their death and burial the happiest day of their life? What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Why is light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul,

Contextual Overview

²⁰ They long for death, but it never comes; they search for it more than for buried treasure; ²¹ when at last they find the grave, they are so happy they shout for joy. ²² [Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly, whom God shuts in on every side? ²³ "My sighing serves in place of my food, and my groans pour out in a torrent; ²⁴ for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me, what I dreaded has happened to me. ²⁵ I have no peace, no quiet, no rest; and anguish keeps coming." ²⁶ class="poetry"> Iyov said, "Perish the day I was born and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.' May that day be darkness, may God on high not seek it, may no light shine on it, may gloom dark as death defile it, may clouds settle on it, may it be terrified by its own blackness. "As for that night, may thick darkness seize it, may it not be joined to the days of the year, may it not be numbered among the months; may that night be desolate, may no cry of joy be heard in it; may those who curse days curse it, those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan; may the stars of its twilight be dark, may it look for light but get none, may it never see the shimmer of dawn — because it didn't shut the doors of the womb I was in and shield my eyes from trouble. "If I had been stillborn, if I had died at birth, had there been no knees to receive me or breasts for me to suck. Then I would be lying still and in peace, I would have slept and been at rest, along with kings and their earthly advisers, who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had [plenty of] gold, who filled their houses with silver. Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried child that never saw light. "There the wicked cease their raging, there the weary are at rest, prisoners live at peace together without hearing a taskmaster's yells. Great and small alike are there, and the slave is free of his master. "So why must light be given to the miserable and life to the bitter in spirit? They long for death, but it never comes; they search for it more than for buried treasure; when at last they find the grave, they are so happy they shout for joy. [Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly, whom God shuts in on every side? "My sighing serves in place of my food, and my groans pour out in a torrent; for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me, what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quiet, no rest; and anguish keeps coming."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Wherefore: Job 6:9, Job 7:15, Job 7:16, Jeremiah 20:18

light: Job 3:16, Job 33:28, Job 33:30

the bitter: Job 7:15, Job 7:16, 1 Samuel 1:10, 2 Kings 4:27, Proverbs 31:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 27:46 - I am Genesis 30:1 - or else I die Exodus 16:3 - we had Numbers 11:15 - kill me 1 Kings 19:4 - he requested Job 9:18 - filleth me Job 10:1 - My soul Job 13:26 - writest Job 18:18 - He shall be driven Job 21:25 - in the bitterness Job 36:20 - Desire Job 40:2 - he that reproveth Ecclesiastes 2:17 - I hated Isaiah 15:4 - his Jeremiah 8:3 - death Jonah 4:3 - take Revelation 9:6 - shall men

Cross-References

Genesis 2:20
(S: iii) So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.

Genesis 2:23
The man-person said, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman , because she was taken out of Man ."

Genesis 5:29
whom he called Noach [restful]; for he said, "This one will comfort us in our labor, in the hard work we do with our hands [to get what comes] from the ground that Adonai cursed."

Genesis 16:11
The angel of Adonai said to her, "Look, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma‘el [God pays attention] because Adonai has paid attention to your misery.

Genesis 35:18
But she died in childbirth. As she was dying she named her son Ben-Oni [son of my grief], but his father called him Binyamin [son of the right hand, son of the south].

Exodus 2:10
Then, when the child had grown some, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter; and she began to raise him as her son. She called him Moshe [pull out], explaining, "Because I pulled him out of the water."

1 Samuel 1:20
She conceived; and in due time she gave birth to a son, whom she named Sh'mu'el, "because I asked Adonai for him."

Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘ Adonai saves,'] because he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:23
"The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ‘Immanu El." (The name means, "God is with us.")

Acts 17:26
"From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,.... That labours under various calamities and afflictions, as Job did, being stripped of his substance, deprived of his children, and now in great pain of body and distress of mind; who, since he died not so soon as he wished he had, expostulates why his life is protracted; for that is what he means by light, as appears from the following clause, even the light of the living, or the light of the world; which though sweet and pleasant to behold to a man in health, yet not to one in pain of body and anguish of mind, as he was, who chose rather to be in the dark and silent grave; this he represents as a gift, as indeed life is, and the gift of God: the words may be rendered, "wherefore does he give light?" y that is, God, as some z supply it, who is undoubtedly meant, though not mentioned, through reverence of him, and that he might not seem to quarrel with him; the principle of life is from him, and the continuance and protraction of it, and all the means and mercies by which it is supported; and Job asks the reasons, which he seems to be at a loss for, why it should be continued to a person in such uncomfortable circumstances as he was in; though these, with respect to a good man as he was, are plain and obvious: such are continued in the world under afflictions, both for their own good, and for the glory of God, that their graces may be tried, their sins purged away or prevented, and they made more partakers of divine holiness; and be weaned from this world, and fitted for another, and not be condemned with the world of the ungodly:

and life unto the bitter [in] soul; whose lives are embittered to them by afflictions, comparable to the waters of Marah, and to wormwood and gall, which occasion bitterness of spirit in them, and bitter complaints from them; see Job 13:26.

y למה יתן "quare dat", Cocceius, Schmidt, Schultens, Michaelis. z So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. vid. Schultens in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery? - The word “light” here is used undoubtedly to denote “life.” This verse commences a new part of Job’s complaint. It is that God keeps people alive who would prefer to die; that he furnishes them with the means of sustaining existence, and actually preserves them, when they would consider it an inestimable blessing to expire. Schultens remarks, on this part of the chapter, that the tone of Job’s complaint is considerably modified. He has given vent to his strong feelings, and the language here is more mild and gentle. Still it implies a reflection on God. It is not the language of humble submission. It contains an implied charge of cruelty and injustice; and it laid the foundation for some of the just reproofs which follow.

And life unto the bitter in soul - Who are suffering bitter grief. We use the word “bitter” yet to denote great grief and pain.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 3:20. Wherefore is light given — Why is life granted to him who is incapable of enjoying it, or of performing its functions?