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Contemporary English Version
Job 3:16
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Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child,like infants who never see daylight?
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants who never saw light.
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?
Why was I not buried like a child born dead, like a baby who never saw the light of day?
Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?
"Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist, Like infants who never saw light.
"Or like a miscarriage which is hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants who never saw light.
Or why was I not hid, as an vntimely birth, either as infants, which haue not seene the light?
Or why was I not like a miscarriage hidden away,As infants that never saw light?
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
"There the wicked cease their raging, there the weary are at rest,
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.
Why wasn't I a child who died at birth and was put in the ground? I wish I had been buried like a baby who never saw the light of day.
Or like a hidden untimely birth, as if I had not been; like infants that never saw the light.
or sleeping like a stillborn child.
Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage, like infants who did not see the light?
or as a hidden miscarriage, I would not have been, like infants who never saw light.
O that I vtterly had no beynge, or were as a thige borne out of tyme (that is put asyde) ether as yonge children, which neuer sawe the light.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.
Or [why] was not I hyd, as a thing borne out of tune, [either] as young children which neuer sawe the light?
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that never saw light.
Or as an hidden vntimely birth, I had not bene; as infants which neuer saw light.
or I should have been as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother’s womb, or as infants who never saw light.
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
ethir as a `thing hid not borun Y schulde not stonde, ethir whiche conseyued sien not liyt.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw light.
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light?
Why wasn't I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light?
Why did I not die before I was born, hidden and put away, as babies that never see the light?
Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light?
Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:
Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that, being conceived, have not seen the light.
Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never see the light?
(Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants -- they have not seen light.)
"Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
an hidden: Psalms 58:8, 1 Corinthians 15:8
Reciprocal: Numbers 12:12 - of whom Job 3:20 - light Job 33:28 - see Ecclesiastes 6:3 - that an Jeremiah 20:17 - he slew
Cross-References
The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, "Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"
The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too.
Right away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.
Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the Lord God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.
The Lord called out to the man and asked, "Where are you?"
The man answered, "I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!"
"How did you know you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"
"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said. "She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it."
Then the Lord said to the woman, "You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you."
The Lord said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate fruit from that tree. And so, the ground will be under a curse because of what you did. As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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, 1 Corinthians 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 Ecclesiastes 6:3; infants used to be buried in the wells or caves of the mummies t.
s כגפל "sicut abortivus qui ex utero excidit, aut in terram cadit", Michaelis. t Vansleb, ut supra, (Relation of a Voyage to Egypt,) p. 90.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
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, Psalms 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 1 Corinthians 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.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 3:16. 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.
