Job 3 · Verse 11

Job 3:11

Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job 3:11, King James Version

Job 3:11 in other translations

BSBWhy did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?
WEB“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
ASVWhy died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?
YLTWhy from the womb do I not die? From the belly I have come forth and gasp!
DARBYWherefore did I not die from the womb, — come forth from the belly and expire?
BBEWhy did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath?
WebsterWhy died I not from the womb? why did I not expire at the time of my birth?

What does Job 3:11 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 11 Why died I not from the womb - As the other circumstance did not take place, why was I not still-born, without the possibility of reviviscence? or, as this did not occur, why did I not die as soon as born? These three things appear to me to be clearly intended here: - 1. Dying in the womb, or never coming to maturity, as in the case of an abortion. 2. Being still-born, without ever being able to breathe. 3. Or, if born alive, dying within a short time after. And to these states he seems to refer in the following verses.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 3:11-19
Job complained of those present at his birth, for their tender attention to him. No creature comes into the world so helpless as man. God's power and providence upheld our frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. Natural affection is put into parents' hearts by God. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die, only that we may be delivered from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption. It is our wisdom and duty to make the best of that which is, be it living or dying; and so to live to the Lord, and die to the Lord, as in both to be his, Ro 14:8. Observe how Job describes the repose of the grave; There the wicked cease from troubling. When persecutors die, they can no longer persecute. There the weary are at rest: in the grave they rest from all their labours. And a rest from sin, temptation, conflict, sorrows, and labours, remains in the presence and enjoyment of God. There believers rest in Jesus, nay, as far as we trust in the Lord Jesus and obey him, we here find rest to our souls, though in the world we have tribulation.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 3:11 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

לָ֤מָּהLa.mah<to> why?H4100
לֹּ֣אlo'notH3808
מֵרֶ֣חֶםme.Re.chemfrom [the] wombH7358
אָמ֑וּת'a.Mutdid I dieH4191
מִבֶּ֖טֶןmi.Be.tenfrom [the] bellyH990
יָצָ֣אתִיya.Tza.tiI came forthH3318
וְאֶגְוָֽע\׃ve.'eg.Va'and I may expire?H1478

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 3:11

  • Isaiah 46:3

    Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

  • Job 10:18-19

    Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

  • Hosea 9:14

    Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

  • Jeremiah 15:10

    Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

  • Psalms 139:13-16

    For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

  • Psalms 58:8

    As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

  • Psalms 71:6

    By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

  • Psalms 22:9-10

    But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
died I.
Ps 58:8; Jer 15:10; Ho 9:14
when I came.
Ps 22:9,10; 71:6; 139:13-16; Isa 46:3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 3:10

    Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

  • Job 3:11

    Why died 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 the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

Read all of Job 3

Job 3:11 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Por qué no morí yo desde la matriz, o fuí traspasado en saliendo del vientre?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Pourquoi ne suis-je pas mort dès la matrice, n’ai-je pas expiré quand je sortis du ventre?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Warum starb ich nicht von Mutterleibe an, kam aus dem Schoße hervor und verschied?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quare non in vulva mortuus sum? egressus ex utero non statim perii?