Job 3:16

Job 3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw light.

Ver. 16. Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been] As an abortive or miscarrying embryo that falleth from the mother, as untimely fruit falleth off from the tree. See Rev 6:13. Hidden it is called, because cast aside as an unsightly spectacle, that cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name is covered with darkness, Ecc 6:4. Job could have wished some way or other never to have been, rather than to have been in so calamitous a condition; and herein he sinned, no doubt: for that which is of the flesh is flesh, Joh 3:6.

As infants which never saw light] But were still born, as we call them. The word rendered infants is taken from a word that signifieth to defile, see Job 16:15, for children in the womb are compassed about with pollution; and the first sheet or blanket wherewith they are covered is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth, Eze 16:4; Eze 16:6.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

untimely birth-- (Psa 58:8); preferable to the life of the restless miser (Ecc 6:3-5).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) Untimely birth.—Another condition which would have relieved him from the experience of suffering.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. With strong revulsion from the anguish of life Job desires even if possible a deeper death than to have died when born, even the death of having been dead born, scarcely to be distinguished from non-existence itself. Comp. Ecc_4:2-3, with Plumptre’s notes and citations from the classics.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or as an hidden untimely birth,.... Or "hid, as one born out of time", as Mr. Broughton reads it; the Septuagint use the same word as the apostle does, when he says the like of himself, Co1 15:8; the word has the signification of "falling" (s), and designs an abortive, which is like to fruit that falls from the tree before it is ripe; and this may be said to be "hidden", either in the belly, as the Targum, or however from the sight of man, it being not come to any proper shape, and much less perfection; now Job suggests, that if he had not lain with kings, counsellors, and princes, yet at least he should have been as an abortion, and that would have been as well to him: then

I had not been; or should have been nothing, not reckoned anything; should not have been numbered among beings, but accounted as a nonentity, and should have had no subsistence or standing in the world at all:

as infants which never saw light; and if not like an untimely birth, which is not come to any perfection, yet should have been like infants, which, though their mothers have gone their full time with them, and they have all their limbs in perfection and proportion, yet are dead, or stillborn, their eyes have never been opened to see any light; meaning not the light of the law, as the Targum, but the light of the sun, or the light of the world, see Ecc 6:3; infants used to be buried in the wells or caves of the mummies (t).

(s) "sicut abortivus qui ex utero excidit, aut in terram cadit", Michaelis. (t) Vansleb, ut supra, (Relation of a Voyage to Egypt,) p. 90.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or as an hidden untimely birth - As an abortion which is hid, or concealed; that is, which is soon removed from the sight. So the Psalmist, Psa 58:8 :

As a snail which melteth, let thom dissolve;

As the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

Septuagint ἔκτρωμα ektrōma, the same word which is used by Paul in 1Co 15:8, with reference to himself; see the notes at that place.

I had not been - I should have perished; I should not have been a man, as I now am, subject to calamity. The meaning is, that he would have been taken away and concealed, as such an untimely birth is, and that he would never have been numbered among the living and the suffering.

As infants which never saw light - Job expresses here no opinion of their future condition, or on the question whether such infants had immortal souls. He is simply saying that his lot would have been as theirs was, and that he would have been saved from the sorrows which he now experienced.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Light; dying in the womb. He expresses a desire that he had been thus prevented from feeling his present miseries and danger of sin. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Hidden; undiscerned and unregarded.

Untimely birth; born before the due time, and therefore extinct.

I had not been, to wit, in the land of the living, of which he here speaketh.

As infants which never saw light; being stifled and dead before they were born.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Untimely birth — A like figure appears in Psa_58:8. A similarity has been traced in other passages between Job and the Psalms. That such resemblance should exist does not necessarily determine which of the works was written before the other. The most it attests is, that the prior work (Job) was received as a sacred book by later writers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. This is added as another way in which Job might have escaped his misery. Though conceived and brought to the birth, he might have been still-born, and so have known no suffering.

"To be or not to be.

I AGAINST BEING AND IN FAVOUR OF NOT-BEING.

1. Life is little other than a capacity for suffering affliction.

2. At the best, life is so short, and man"s powers so feeble, that nothing he undertakes can attain to perfection.

3. In every instance life involves the terrible necessity and painful experience of dying.

4. Life always carries in its bosom the possibility of coming short of everlasting felicity.

II IN FAVOUR OF BEING AND AGAINST NOT-BEING.

1. Life in itself is a thing of pure enjoyment.

2. Man"s powers, though imperfect, are susceptible of infinite improvement.

3. The day of existence, whether long or short, affords a noble opportunity for serving God.

4. The fact that one is born gives him a chance, by being born again, of attaining to salvation and eternal life.

LESSONS.

1. Notwithstanding all the miseries of human life, it is better to have been born than to have remained in non-existence.

2. Notwithstanding all its brevity and imperfection, life is worth living.

3. Because of all its hardships and sorrows, it should be given up with resignation when God recalls it to himself.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hidden - Undiscerned and unregarded. Born before the due time. Been - In the land of the living.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

like infants Heb. כעוללים, infants. He calls them עוללים because they are all play and dirt, like (below 16:15), “And I sullied (ועללתי) with dust,” and like (Jud. 19:25), “and abused (ויתעללו) her the entire night.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.