Job 3 · Verse 16

Job 3:16

Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
Job 3:16, King James Version

Job 3:16 in other translations

BSBOr why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
WEBor as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
ASVOr as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
YLT(Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants--they have not seen light.)
DARBYOr as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.
BBEOr as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.
WebsterOr as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

What does Job 3:16 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
16. untimely birth--(Psa 58:8); preferable to the life of the restless miser (Ec 6:3-5).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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.

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…

Read the full comment on Job 3:11-19 →

Job 3:16 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.

א֤וֹ'oorH176
כְנֵ֣פֶלkhe.Ne.fellike a miscarriageH5309
טָ֭מוּןTa.munhiddenH2934
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
אֶהְיֶ֑ה'eh.Yehwas I?H1961
כְּ֝עֹלְלִ֗יםke.'o.le.Limlike childrenH5768
לֹא\־lo'-[who] notH3808
רָ֥אוּRa.'uthey have seenH7200
אֽוֹר\׃'orlightH216

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

Cross references for Job 3:16

  • 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.

  • Ecclesiastes 6:3

    If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:8

    And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
an hidden.
Ps 58:8; 1Co 15:8

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

Context

  • Job 3:15

    Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

  • Job 3:16

    Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

  • Job 3:17

    There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

Read all of Job 3

Job 3:16 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		O ¿por qué no fuí escondido como aborto, como los pequeñitos que nunca vieron luz?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ou, comme un avorton caché, je n’aurais pas été, – comme les petits enfants qui n’ont pas vu la lumière.
German
Elberfelder 1871		oder, gleich einer verborgenen Fehlgeburt, wäre ich nicht da, gleich Kindern, die das Licht nicht erblickt haben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		aut sicut abortivum absconditum non subsisterem, vel qui concepti non viderunt lucem.