Job 3:9

Myles Coverdale Bible

Let the starres be dymme thorow darcknesse of it. Let it loke for light, but let it se none, nether the rysynge vp of the fayre mornynge:

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
May its morning stars grow dark.May it wait for daylight but have none;may it not see the breaking of dawn.

Hebrew Names Version
Let the stars of the twilight of it be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, Neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

King James Version
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

English Standard Version
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,

New Century Version
Let that day's morning stars never appear; let it wait for daylight that never comes. Don't let it see the first light of dawn,

New English Translation
Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

Amplified Bible
"Let the stars of its early dawn be dark; Let the morning wait in vain for the light, Let it not see the eyelids of morning (the day's dawning),

New American Standard Bible
"May the stars of its twilight be darkened; May it wait for light but have none, And may it not see the breaking dawn;

World English Bible
Let the stars of the twilight of it be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, Neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Let the starres of that twilight be dimme through darkenesse of it: let it looke for light, but haue none: neither let it see the dawning of the day,

Legacy Standard Bible
Let the stars of its twilight be darkened;Let it hope for light but have none,And let it not see the breaking dawn,

Berean Standard Bible
May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

Contemporary English Version
Darken its morning stars and remove all hope of light,

Complete Jewish Bible
because it didn't shut the doors of the womb I was in and shield my eyes from trouble.

Darby Translation
Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it wait for light, and have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the dawn:

Easy-to-Read Version
Let that day's morning star be dark. Let that night wait for a morning that never comes. I wish it had never seen the first rays of sunlight.

George Lamsa Translation
Let the stars of twilight thereof be dark; let the people wait for light, but receive none; neither let them see the dawning of the day;

Good News Translation
Keep the morning star from shining; give that night no hope of dawn.

Lexham English Bible
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light but there be none, and let it not see the eyelids of dawn

Literal Translation
Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it look for light, but have none, let it wait for eyelids of the dawn.

American Standard Version
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

Bible in Basic English
Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Let the starres of that night be dimme thorowe darkenesse of it, let it loke for light, but haue none, neither let it see the dawning of the day:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning;

King James Version (1611)
Let the starres of the twilight thereof be darke, let it looke for light, but haue none, neither let it see the dawning of the day:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain dark, and not come into light; and let it not see the morning star arise:

English Revised Version
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: let it look for light, but have none; neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sterris be maad derk with the derknesse therof; abide it liyt, and se it not, nethir the bigynnyng of the morwetid risyng vp.

Update Bible Version
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it see the eyelids of the morning:

Webster's Bible Translation
Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it look for light, but [have] none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

New King James Version
May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day;

New Living Translation
Let its morning stars remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light.

New Life Bible
Let the early morning stars be made dark. Let it wait for light but have none. Do not let it see the light of day.

New Revised Standard
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning—

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Darkened be the stars of its twilight, - Let it wait for light, and there be none, neither let it see the eyelashes of the dawn:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:

Revised Standard Version
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning;

Young's Literal Translation
Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the dawn.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; Let it wait for light but have none, And let it not see the breaking dawn;

Contextual Overview

¹ After this opened Iob his mouth, and cursed his daye, ² and sayde: ³ lost be that daye, wherin I was borne: and the night, in the which it was sayde: there is a manchilde conceaued. ⁴ The same daye be turned to darcknesse, and not regarded of God from aboue, nether be shyned vpo wt light: ⁵ but be couered with darcknesse, and the shadowe of death. Let the dymme cloude fall vpon it, and let it be lapped in with sorowe. ⁶ Let the darckstorme ouercome ye night, let it not be reckened amonge the dayes off the yeare, ner counted in the monethes. ⁷ Despysed be that night, and discommended: let them that curse the daye, ⁸ geue it their curse also, euen those that be ready to rayse vp Leuiathan. ⁹ Let the starres be dymme thorow darcknesse of it. Let it loke for light, but let it se none, nether the rysynge vp of the fayre mornynge: ¹⁰ because it shut not vp the wombe that bare me, ner hyd these sorowes fro myne eyes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

look for light: Job 30:26, Jeremiah 8:15, Jeremiah 13:16

the dawning of the day: Heb. the eye-lids of the morning, Job 41:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:14 - and let Job 33:28 - see

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
Then sayde Adam: The woman which thou gauest me (to beare me company) gaue me of the tre, and I ate.

Genesis 3:13
And the LORDE God sayde vnto the woman: wherfore hast thou done this? The woman sayde: the serpent disceaued me so, that I ate.

Genesis 3:17
And vnto Adam he sayde: For so moch as thou hast herkened vnto the voyce of thy wyfe, and hast eaten of the tre, wherof I commaunded the, sayenge: thou shalt not eate of it. Cursed be ye earth for thy sake. With sorowe shalt thou eate therof, all the dayes of thy life.

Genesis 3:19
In the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate thy bred, tyll thou be turned agayne vnto earth, whece thou art take: for earth thou art, and vnto earth shalt thou be turned agayne.

Genesis 3:20
And Adam called his wyfe Heua, because she is the mother of all lyuynge.

Genesis 3:21
And the LORDE God made Adam & his wyfe garmentes of skynnes, & those he put on them.

Genesis 4:9
Then sayde the LORDE vnto Cain: Where is Abell thy brother? He sayde: I can not tell. Am I my brothers keper?

Genesis 11:5
Then came ye LORDE downe, to se ye cite & tower, yt ye childre of me had buylded.

Genesis 16:8
and sayde vnto her: Agar Sarais maide, whence commest thou? & whyther wylt thou go? She sayde: I fle fro my mastresse Sarai.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark,.... Either of the morning or evening twilight; both may be meant, rather the latter, because of the following clause; the sense is, let not these appear to adorn the heavens, and to relieve the darkness of the night, and make it more pleasant and delightful, as well as to be useful to travellers and sailors:

let it look for light, but [have] none; that is, either for the light of the moon and stars, to shine in the night till daybreak, or for the light of the sun at the time when it arises; but let it have neither; let the whole time, from sun setting to sunrising, from one twilight to another, be one continued gross and horrible darkness; here, by a strong and beautiful figure, looking is ascribed to the night:

neither let it see the dawning of the day; or, "let it not see the eyelids of the morning" l, or what we call "peep of day"; here, in very elegant language, the dawn of morning light is expressed, which is like the opening of an eye and its lids, quick and vibrating, when light is let in and perceived; or this may be interpreted of the sun, the eye of the morning and of light, and of its rays, which, when first darted, are like the opening of the eyelids.

l עפעפי שחר "palpebras aurorae", Montanus, Mercerus, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark - That is, be extinguished, so that it shall be total darkness - darkness not even relieved by a single star. The word here rendered “twilight” נשׁף nesheph means properly a breathing; and hence, the evening, when cooling breezes “blow,” or gently breathe. It is used however, to denote both the morning and the evening twilight, though here probably it means the latter. He wishes that the evening of that night, instead of being in any way illuminated, should “set in” with total darkness and continue so. The Septuagint renders it, “night.

Let it look for light, but have none - Personifying the night, and representing it as looking out anxiously for some ray of light. This is a beautiful poetic image - the image of “Night,” dark and gloomy and sad, anxiously looking out for a single beam or a star to break in upon its darkness and diminish its gloom.

Neither let it see the dawning of the day - Margin, more literally and more beautifully, “eyelids of the morning.” The word rendered “dawning” עפעפים ‛aph‛aphı̂ym means properly “the eyelashes” (from עוּף ‛ûph “to fly”), and it is given to them from their flying or fluttering. The word rendered “day” שׁחר shachar means the aurora, the morning. The sun when he is above the horizon is called by the poets the eye of day; and hence, his earliest beams, before he is risen, are called the eyelids or eyelashes of the morning opening upon the world. This figure is common in the ancient Classics, and occurs frequently in the Arabic poets; see Schultens “in loc.” Thus, in Soph. Antiq. 104, the phrase occurs, Ἁμέρας βλέφυρον Hameras blefaron. So in Milton’s Lycidas,

“ - Ere the high lawns appeared

Under the opening eyelids of the dawn,

We drive afield.”

Job’s wish was, that there might be no star in the evening twilight, and that no ray might illuminate that of the morning; that it might be enveloped in perpetual, unbroken darkness.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 3:9. Let the stars of the twilight thereof — The stars of the twilight may here refer to the planets Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury, as well as to the brighter fixed stars.

Let it look for light — Here the prosopopoeia or personification is still carried on. The darkness is represented as waiting for the lustre of the evening star, but is disappointed; and these for the aurora or dawn, but equally in vain. He had prayed that its light, the sun, should not shine upon it, Job 3:4; and here he prays that its evening star may be totally obscured, and that it might never see the dawning of the day. Thus his execration comprehends every thing that might irradiate or enliven it.