📖 Job — Chapter 3 (KJV)
Read the complete King James Version chapter below, then explore the passage sections, check what you remember, and keep your private study notes.
Scripture source: Project Gutenberg KJV, ebook 10.
Job 3:1 RAfter this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Job 3:2 And Job RTspake, and said,
Job 3:3 RLet the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Job 3:4 Let that day be Rdarkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Job 3:5 Let darkness and Rthe shadow of death Tstain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; Tlet the blackness of the day terrify it.
Job 3:6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; Tlet it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
Job 3:7 Lo, let that night be Rsolitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Job 3:8 Let them curse it that curse the day, Rwho are ready to raise up Ttheir mourning.
Job 3:9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it Rlook for light, but have none; neither let it see Tthe dawning of the day:
Job 3:10 Because Rit shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Job 3:11 Why Rdied I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job 3:12 Why did Rthe knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: Rthen had I been at rest,
Job 3:14 With Rkings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;
Job 3:15 Or with princes that had gold, Rwho filled their houses with silver:
Job 3:16 Or as Ran hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
Job 3:17 There Rthe wicked cease from troubling; and there the Tweary be at rest.
Job 3:18 There the prisoners rest together; Rthey hear not the voice of the oppressor.
Job 3:19 RThe small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Job 3:20 RWherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
Job 3:21 Which RTlong for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Job 3:22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
Job 3:23 Why is light given to a man Rwhose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
Job 3:24 For Rmy sighing cometh before TI eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Job 3:25 For Tthe thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and Rthat which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Job 3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; Ryet trouble came.
📚 Study This Chapter
📖 What We’re Reading
Job 3:1–10 — Job laments his birth
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
Job curses the day of his birth and uses images of darkness to express unbearable sorrow. He is not reported here as cursing God. The poetic language gives voice to anguish after immense loss. It records a sufferer's lament, not a command for readers to despise their lives or a complete account of what life means.
Key Truth: Listen compassionately to severe lament.
Check What You Remember
1. What did Job curse? (Job 3:1)
Find it in Job 3:1 (KJV).
2. What does he wish would cover that day? (Job 3:4)
Find it in Job 3:4 (KJV).
3. What had not been hidden from his eyes? (Job 3:10)
Find it in Job 3:10 (KJV).
📖 What We’re Reading
Job 3:11–19 — A longing for rest
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
Job imagines death as rest shared by kings, prisoners, the weary, and servants. These lines speak from his grief and longing, not as a full doctrinal description of life after death. The social contrasts reveal how deeply he desires an end to pain and oppression. Hear the need beneath the imagery.
Key Truth: Do not turn a cry for rest into a simplistic doctrine.
Check What You Remember
1. What does Job say the weary would have? (Job 3:17)
Find it in Job 3:17 (KJV).
2. Whose voice would prisoners no longer hear? (Job 3:18)
Find it in Job 3:18 (KJV).
3. From whom does he picture the servant as free? (Job 3:19)
Find it in Job 3:19 (KJV).
📖 What We’re Reading
Job 3:20–26 — Questions without an easy answer
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
Job asks why life continues for people in misery and describes the fear and unrest that now fill his days. The chapter leaves those questions open. The book gives space to anguish before offering any final response. Compassion should not rush to settle what the sufferer is still struggling to express.
Key Truth: Give suffering questions room without hurried judgment.
Check What You Remember
1. What is given to those in misery in Job's question? (Job 3:20)
Find it in Job 3:20 (KJV).
2. What had come upon him that he feared? (Job 3:25)
Find it in Job 3:25 (KJV).
3. Did Job describe himself as at rest? (Job 3:26)
Find it in Job 3:26 (KJV).
Related Scripture (KJV)
Psalms 88:3 — This psalm also gives voice to deep distress without a quick cheerful ending.
This related passage is selected for its connection with this chapter. It is separate from the chapter text.
Reflect and Apply
How can you listen to difficult words of grief without treating them as an argument to win?
Advanced Questions and Answers
Study this chapter’s wording, patterns, contrasts, and meaning in greater depth.
1. What is the object of Job’s opening curse?
2. How do darkness and the calendar express his lament?
3. What shared condition does Job picture for small and great?
4. What tension lies behind his question about light and life?
5. How does the closing describe the relation of fear and present experience?
Notes
Write what you want to remember, questions to explore, or Scriptures to look up later. Your saved notes are private to your account.
Loading your notes…
Chapter Navigation