Job 3:9 kjv
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
Job 3:9 nkjv
May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day;
Job 3:9 niv
May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
Job 3:9 esv
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,
Job 3:9 nlt
Let its morning stars remain dark.
Let it hope for light, but in vain;
may it never see the morning light.
Job 3 9 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Gen 1:2-5 | The earth was formless and void... "Let there be light"... and there was light. | God's creative act bringing light and order from chaos, directly contrasted by Job's wish for chaos and absence of light for his birth-day. |
| Gen 1:14-19 | God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse..." and He made the two great lights. | God establishes the order of celestial bodies, including stars; Job wishes for these natural lights to fail for his cursed day. |
| Job 10:20-22 | "Are not my days few? ...to a land of deepest darkness, of utter gloom." | Job elsewhere speaks of a desired state of darkness, reinforcing his lament in Job 3. |
| Ps 74:16 | "The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun." | Affirmation of God's sovereignty over day and night, contrasting Job's wish for a disruption of this order. |
| Ps 104:19 | "He made the moon for seasons; the sun knows its setting." | Reinforces the divine establishment and regularity of day and night, which Job seeks to disrupt. |
| Ps 112:4 | "Light arises in the darkness for the upright." | Thematically contrasts Job's despair; light is for the righteous, Job wants no light for his existence. |
| Ps 139:11-12 | "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will engulf me...'; Even the darkness is not dark to You." | God transcends darkness; Job wishes for a darkness God still rules, albeit a despairing one. |
| Prov 4:18-19 | "But the path of the righteous is like the light... The way of the wicked is like darkness." | Light often symbolizes righteousness/knowledge, darkness evil/ignorance. Job wishes his 'start' be in eternal darkness. |
| Isa 5:30 | "In that day... darkness, and sorrow... light is darkened in its clouds." | Prophetic judgment includes widespread darkness and despair, echoing Job's desired cosmic gloom for his birthday. |
| Isa 59:9-10 | "We grope for the wall like blind men... We hope for light, but there is darkness." | Directly echoes Job's phrase "hope for light, but have none," illustrating futility in the face of despair or judgment. |
| Jer 20:14-18 | "Cursed be the day when I was born... Why did I come out from the womb to see trouble and sorrow?" | Jeremiah's lament directly mirrors Job's curse on his birth-day, wishing for non-existence. |
| Amos 5:18 | "Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! ...It will be darkness instead of light." | Judgment is often portrayed as darkness, indicating God's removal of blessing, similar to Job's self-judgment. |
| Matt 27:45 | "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." | Divine demonstration of power through darkness, reminiscent of the chaotic darkness Job desires for his day. |
| Jn 1:4-5 | "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." | Christ as the Light contrasting with darkness, illustrating Job's desire for life's negation. |
| Jn 3:19 | "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness." | People preferring darkness; Job literally wishes for the absence of light for his day of entry into the world. |
| Eph 5:8 | "For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord." | Transformation from darkness to light; Job wants his "day" to remain in its prior "darkness" state. |
| 1 Thes 5:5 | "For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness." | Emphasizes believers as associated with light, contrasting Job's desire for eternal night and detachment from 'day.' |
| 2 Pet 2:17 | "These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever." | Metaphorical darkness for condemnation, reflecting the perpetual, ultimate darkness Job desires for his birth. |
| Jude 1:13 | "for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever." | Further reinforces the imagery of ultimate, eternal darkness, which parallels Job's radical wish for non-dawn. |
| Rev 6:12 | "The sun became black as sackcloth, and the whole moon became like blood." | Cosmic disruption of light, an echo of the grand scale of darkness Job invokes, though from judgment perspective. |
Job 3 verses
Job 3 9 Meaning
Job 3:9 expresses Job's deep despair as he curses the day of his birth, wishing it to be erased from time's progression. He desires that this specific night, when he was born, never experience the arrival of dawn. His longing is for perpetual darkness, where even the faintest stars of twilight are extinguished, any hope for light is unfulfilled, and the morning's eyelids never open, thereby preventing his birth into existence and perpetually holding that moment in a state of chaotic non-creation.
Job 3 9 Context
Job 3:9 is part of Job's initial and profound lament following his catastrophic losses and debilitating suffering. After seven days of silent grieving with his friends (Job 2:13), Job finally breaks the silence, not with a direct accusation against God, but with a deeply despairing curse on the day he was born. This marks a pivotal shift from Job's prior patience and resignation ("The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" – Job 1:21) to an expression of raw, human agony and an existential wish for non-existence. Job isn't simply wishing he had died at birth, but desiring to actively undo or annul the moment of his entry into life, seeking to retroactively blot his birthday out of the chronological sequence of days, hence the focus on the natural cycles of night and day. He yearns for the primal darkness and unformed state of creation, rather than the light and order that marked his coming into being.
Job 3 9 Word analysis
Let the stars of its twilight be dark;
- stars (כּוֹכְבֵי, koch'vey): The celestial bodies that offer light in the darkness of night. By cursing even these, Job desires an ultimate, absolute darkness, not merely a moonless night, but one devoid of any natural luminescence.
- its twilight (נִשְׁפּוֹ, nish'po): Refers to the deepest, darkest part of the night, specifically the period just before dawn breaks. This is significant; Job is targeting the very edge of morning's approach, wishing that the impending light be obliterated before it can appear.
- be dark (יֶחְשַׁכוּ, yechshachu): To be blackened, obscured, or withdrawn. It's not just a passive absence of light, but an active darkening, suggesting a cosmic suppression.
let it hope for light, but have none;
- hope (יְקַוֶּה, yekavveh): To wait, long for, anticipate. Here, the night of Job's birth is personified as actively longing for the return of light, an inherent function of natural cycles. The term often used elsewhere for hoping in the Lord (e.g., Ps 130:5, Isa 40:31), adding a layer of bitter irony to the night's futile hope.
- light (אוֹר, or): The first creation of God (Gen 1:3). Light represents life, knowledge, order, and God's blessing. Job's desire for its absence for his birth-day is a desire for non-existence and chaos.
- have none (וְאַיִן, ve'ayin): Literally "and nothing," "non-existent," or "no coming." It signifies absolute futility and negation. The longed-for light simply never materializes, it remains absent.
nor let it see the eyelids of the morning.
- see (יִרְאֶה, yireh): To perceive, behold. Personifies the night again, giving it the capacity to observe.
- eyelids (עַפְעַפֵּי, af'apey): Literally "lashes" or "lids." A highly poetic and rare usage for dawn. This metaphor powerfully personifies the morning as a living entity that opens its eyes to reveal a new day.
- morning (שָׁחַר, shachar): The dawn, the break of day, the moment light overtakes darkness. By wishing the eyelids of morning never open, Job expresses a profound desire for that night to be frozen eternally, without transition to a new day. This symbolizes his wish to remain in a state of un-creation, never truly emerging into existence.
Words-group analysis:
- "Let the stars of its twilight be dark": This phrase paints a picture of complete and absolute darkness, surpassing normal night. It suggests a cosmic act of dimming even the faintest sources of natural illumination, emphasizing the extreme nature of Job's despair.
- "Let it hope for light, but have none": This is a powerful statement of unfulfilled desire and perpetual negation. The personification of the night, longing for the light it will never receive, underscores the futility and ultimate cosmic curse Job wishes upon his own birth.
- "nor let it see the eyelids of the morning": This iconic Hebrew idiom creates a vivid image of dawn's failure to appear. It's not just that the morning doesn't come, but that it cannot even begin to open its 'eyes,' signifying a deep, fundamental denial of life's start and the very progression of time for that specific moment. This is a desire for that day to be perpetually aborted, eternally suspended in pre-dawn gloom.
Job 3 9 Bonus section
The "eyelids of the morning" (af'apey shachar) is a rare and striking poetic metaphor in Hebrew Bible. This phrase showcases the rich literary nature of the Book of Job, elevating the language beyond mere lament into a grand, cosmic imprecation. It highlights the cultural appreciation for dawn as a symbolic moment of new life and revelation, which Job explicitly seeks to deny. Furthermore, Job's choice of reversing the established cycles of light and darkness underscores a theological tension, albeit one borne of profound human suffering, as he effectively wishes to undo a small part of God's perfect creation order. This is a direct challenge to the "goodness" attributed to each day of creation in Genesis, indicating how Job's suffering has distorted his perception of reality to the point of desiring primeval chaos.
Job 3 9 Commentary
Job 3:9 profoundly illustrates the depth of Job's agony by using vivid, cosmic imagery to express his desire for non-existence. His curse transcends merely wishing for death, instead seeking to reverse or annul the very moment of his coming into being. By wishing for perpetual darkness, the cessation of even the stars' faint light, and the eternal delay of dawn's 'opening eyelids,' Job calls for an inversion of the created order established by God in Genesis 1, where light separated from darkness initiated life and time. This desire reflects not just a weariness with life but an unbearable torment that makes his entrance into the world seem an cosmic error he longs to rectify, sealing that fateful day in unbreached, futile darkness.