the Fifth Week after Easter
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Job 3:16
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Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child,like infants who never see daylight?
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants who never saw light.
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?
Why was I not buried like a child born dead, like a baby who never saw the light of day?
Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?
"Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist, Like infants who never saw light.
"Or like a miscarriage which is hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants who never saw light.
Or why was I not hid, as an vntimely birth, either as infants, which haue not seene the light?
Or why was I not like a miscarriage hidden away,As infants that never saw light?
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
I wish I had been born dead and then buried, never to see the light of day.
"There the wicked cease their raging, there the weary are at rest,
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.
Or like a hidden untimely birth, as if I had not been; like infants that never saw the light.
or sleeping like a stillborn child.
Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage, like infants who did not see the light?
or as a hidden miscarriage, I would not have been, like infants who never saw light.
O that I vtterly had no beynge, or were as a thige borne out of tyme (that is put asyde) ether as yonge children, which neuer sawe the light.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.
Or [why] was not I hyd, as a thing borne out of tune, [either] as young children which neuer sawe the light?
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that never saw light.
Or as an hidden vntimely birth, I had not bene; as infants which neuer saw light.
or I should have been as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother’s womb, or as infants who never saw light.
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
ethir as a `thing hid not borun Y schulde not stonde, ethir whiche conseyued sien not liyt.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw light.
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light?
Why wasn't I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light?
Why did I not die before I was born, hidden and put away, as babies that never see the light?
Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light?
Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:
Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that, being conceived, have not seen the light.
Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never see the light?
(Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants -- they have not seen light.)
"Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
an hidden: Psalms 58:8, 1 Corinthians 15:8
Reciprocal: Numbers 12:12 - of whom Job 3:20 - light Job 33:28 - see Ecclesiastes 6:3 - that an Jeremiah 20:17 - he slew
Cross-References
The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, "Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?"
The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.
Then it was as if their eyes opened, and they saw things differently. They saw that they were naked. So they got some fig leaves, sewed them together, and wore them for clothes.
During the cool part of the day, the Lord God was walking in the garden. The man and the woman heard him, and they hid among the trees in the garden.
The Lord God called to the man and said, "Where are you?"
The man said, "I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid."
God said to the man, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from that special tree? I told you not to eat from that tree!"
The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it."
Then God said to the woman, "I will cause you to have much trouble when you are pregnant. And when you give birth to children, you will have much pain. You will want your husband very much, but he will rule over you."
Then God said to the man, "I commanded you not to eat from that tree. But you listened to your wife and ate from it. So I will curse the ground because of you. You will have to work hard all your life for the food the ground produces.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Or as an hidden untimely birth,.... Or "hid, as one born out of time", as Mr. Broughton reads it; the Septuagint use the same word as the apostle does, when he says the like of himself, 1 Corinthians 15:8; the word has the signification of "falling" s, and designs an abortive, which is like to fruit that falls from the tree before it is ripe; and this may be said to be "hidden", either in the belly, as the Targum, or however from the sight of man, it being not come to any proper shape, and much less perfection; now Job suggests, that if he had not lain with kings, counsellors, and princes, yet at least he should have been as an abortion, and that would have been as well to him: then
I had not been; or should have been nothing, not reckoned anything; should not have been numbered among beings, but accounted as a nonentity, and should have had no subsistence or standing in the world at all:
as infants [which] never saw light; and if not like an untimely birth, which is not come to any perfection, yet should have been like infants, which, though their mothers have gone their full time with them, and they have all their limbs in perfection and proportion, yet are dead, or stillborn, their eyes have never been opened to see any light; meaning not the light of the law, as the Targum, but the light of the sun, or the light of the world, see Ecclesiastes 6:3; infants used to be buried in the wells or caves of the mummies t.
s כגפל "sicut abortivus qui ex utero excidit, aut in terram cadit", Michaelis. t Vansleb, ut supra, (Relation of a Voyage to Egypt,) p. 90.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Or as an hidden untimely birth - As an abortion which is hid, or concealed; that is, which is soon removed from the sight. So the Psalmist, Psalms 58:8 :
As a snail which melteth, let thom dissolve;
As the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Septuagint ἔκτρωμα ektrōma, the same word which is used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:8, with reference to himself; see the notes at that place.
I had not been - I should have perished; I should not have been a man, as I now am, subject to calamity. The meaning is, that he would have been taken away and concealed, as such an untimely birth is, and that he would never have been numbered among the living and the suffering.
As infants which never saw light - Job expresses here no opinion of their future condition, or on the question whether such infants had immortal souls. He is simply saying that his lot would have been as theirs was, and that he would have been saved from the sorrows which he now experienced.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 3:16. Or as a hidden untimely birth — An early miscarriage, which was scarcely perceptible by the parent herself; and in this case he had not been - he had never had the distinguishable form of a human being, whether male or female.
As infants — Little ones; those farther advanced in maturity, but miscarried long before the time of birth.
