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Friday, December 26th, 2025
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

Job 3:4

That day—let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Despondency;   Prayer;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Darkness;   Murmuring;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Poetry of the Hebrews;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Color, Symbolic Meaning of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Heart;   Independency of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Poetry;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jeremiah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Darkness;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Dark;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Darkness;   Strophic Forms in the Old Testament;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If only that day had turned to darkness!May God above not care about it,or light shine on it.
Hebrew Names Version
Let that day be darkness; Don't let God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine on it.
King James Version
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
English Standard Version
Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.
New Century Version
Let that day turn to darkness. Don't let God care about it. Don't let light shine on it.
Amplified Bible
"May that day be darkness; Let God above not care about it, Nor light shine on it.
New American Standard Bible
"May that day be darkness; May God above not care for it, Nor light shine on it.
World English Bible
Let that day be darkness; Don't let God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine on it.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Let that day bee darkenesse, let not God regarde it from aboue, neyther let the light shine vpon it,
Legacy Standard Bible
May that day be darkness;Let not God seek it from above,Nor light shine on it.
Berean Standard Bible
If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.
Contemporary English Version
Forget about that day, cover it with darkness,
Complete Jewish Bible
may gloom dark as death defile it, may clouds settle on it, may it be terrified by its own blackness.
Darby Translation
That day—let it be darkness, let not +God care for it from above, neither let light shine upon it:
Easy-to-Read Version
I wish that day had remained dark. I wish God above had forgotten that day and not let any light shine on it.
George Lamsa Translation
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Good News Translation
Turn that day into darkness, God. Never again remember that day; never again let light shine on it.
Lexham English Bible
Let that day become darkness; may God not seek it from above, nor may daylight shine on it.
Literal Translation
Let that day be darkness! Let not God look on it from above, nor let the light shine on it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The same daye be turned to darcknesse, and not regarded of God from aboue, nether be shyned vpo wt light:
American Standard Version
Let that day be darkness; Let not God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine upon it.
Bible in Basic English
That day--let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The same day be [turned to] darknesse, and not regarded of God from aboue, neither let the light shyne vpon it:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Let that day be darkness;
King James Version (1611)
Let that day bee darkenesse, let not God regard it from aboue, neither let the light shine vpon it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it.
English Revised Version
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thilke dai be turnede in to derknessis; God seke not it aboue, and be it not in mynde, nethir be it liytned with liyt.
Update Bible Version
Let that day be darkness; Don't let God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine on it.
Webster's Bible Translation
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
New King James Version
May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it.
New Living Translation
Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it.
New Life Bible
May that day be darkness. May God above not care for it. May light not shine on it.
New Revised Standard
Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
That day, be it darkness, - Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.
Revised Standard Version
Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.
Young's Literal Translation
That day -- let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"May that day be darkness; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it.

Contextual Overview

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. 2 Job spoke up and said: 3 "Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived!' 4 That day—let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it! 5 Let darkness and the deepest shadow claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it! 6 That night—let darkness seize it; let it not be included among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months! 7 Indeed, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy penetrate it! 8 Let those who curse the day curse it— those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. 9 Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn, 10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

darkness: Exodus 10:22, Exodus 10:23, Joel 2:2, Amos 5:18, Matthew 27:45, Acts 27:20, Revelation 16:10

God regard: Deuteronomy 11:12

Reciprocal: Amos 5:20 - darkness Zephaniah 1:15 - a day of darkness

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
So the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman replied, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."
Deuteronomy 29:19
When such a person hears the words of this oath he secretly blesses himself and says, "I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit." This will destroy the watered ground with the parched.
2 Kings 1:4
Therefore this is what the Lord says, "You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!"'" So Elijah went on his way.
2 Kings 1:6
They replied, "A man came up to meet us. He told us, "Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: "You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die."'"
2 Kings 1:16
Elijah said to the king, "This is what the Lord says, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.'"
2 Kings 8:10
Elisha said to him, "Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,' but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die."
Psalms 10:11
He says to himself, "God overlooks it; he does not pay attention; he never notices."
2 Corinthians 2:11
so that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
1 Timothy 2:14
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, because she was fully deceived, fell into transgression.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Let that day be darkness,.... Not only dark, but darkness itself, extremely dark; and which is to be understood not figuratively of the darkness of affliction and calamity; this Job would not wish for, either for himself, who had enough of that, or for others; but literally of gross natural darkness, that was horrible and dreadful, as some x render it: this was the reverse of what God said at the creation, "let there be light", Genesis 1:3, and there was, and he called it day; but Job wishes his day might be darkness, as the night; either that it had been always dark, and never become day, or in its return be remarkably dark and gloomy:

let not God regard it, from above; that is, either God who is above, and on high, the High and Holy One, the Most High God, and who is higher than the highest, and so this is a descriptive character of him; or else this respects the place where he is, the highest heaven, where is his throne, and from whence he looks and takes notice of the sons of men, and of all things done below: and this wish must be understood consistent with his omniscience, who sees and knows all persons and things, even what are done in the dark, and in the darkest days; for the darkness and the light are alike to him; and as consistent with his providence, which is continually exercised about persons and things on earth without any intermission, even on every day in the year; and was it to cease one day, hour, or moment, all would be dissolved, and be thrown into the utmost confusion and disorder: but Job means the smiles of his providence, which he wishes might be restrained on this day; that he would not cause his sun in the heavens to shine out upon it, nor send down gentle and refreshing showers of rain on it; in which sense he is said to care for and regard the land of Canaan,

Deuteronomy 11:11; where the same word is used as here; or the sense is, let it be so expunged from the days of the year, the when it is sought for, and if even it should be by God himself, let it not be found; or let him not "seek" y after it, to do any good upon it:

neither let the light shine upon it; the light of the sun, or the morning light, as the Targum, much less the light at noonday; even not the diurnal light, as Schmidt interprets it, in any part of the day: light is God's creature, and very delightful and desirable; the best things, and the most comfortable enjoyments, whether temporal, spiritual, or eternal, are expressed by it; and, on the other hand, a state of darkness is the most uncomfortable, and therefore the worst and most dismal things and states are signified by it.

x חשך "horrens", Caligo, Schultens. y אל ידרשהו "ne requirat", Montanus, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let that day be darkness - Let it not be day; or, O, that it had not been day, that the sun had not risen, and that it had been night.

Let not God regard it from above - The word rendered here “regard” דרשׁ dârash means properly to seek or inquire after, to ask for or demand. Dr. Good renders it here, “Let not God inclose it,” but this meaning is not found in the Hebrew. Noyes renders it literally, “Let not God seek it.” Herder, “Let not God inquire after it.” The sense may be, either that Job wished the day sunk beneath the horizon, or in the deep waters by which he conceived the earth to be surrounded, and prays that God would not seek it and bring it from its dark abode; or he desired that God would never inquire after it, that it might pass from his remembrance and be forgotten. What we value, we would wish God to remember and bless; what we dislike, we would wish him to forget. This seems to be the idea here. Job hated that day, and he wished all other beings to forget it. He wished it blotted out, so that even God would never inquire after it, but regard it as if it had never been.

Neither let the light shine upon it - Let it be utter darkness; let not a ray ever reveal it. It will be seen here that Job first curses “the day.” The amplification of the curse with which he commenced in the first part of Job 3:3, continues through Job 3:4-5; and then he returns to the “night,” which also (in the latter part of Job 3:3) he wished to be cursed. His desires in regard to that unhappy night, he expresses in Job 3:6-10.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 3:4. Let that day be darkness — The meaning is exactly the same with our expression, "Let it be blotted out of the calendar." However distinguished it may have been, as the birthday of a man once celebrated for his possessions, liberality, and piety, let it no longer be thus noted; as he who was thus celebrated is now the sport of adversity, the most impoverished, most afflicted, and most wretched of human beings.

Let not God regard it from above — אל ידרשהו al yidreshehu, "Let Him not require it" - let Him not consider it essential to the completion of the days of the year; and therefore he adds, neither let the light shine upon it. If it must be a part of duration, let it not be distinguished by the light of the sun.


 
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