to go (causatively · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
womb
מֵ֭רֶחֶםMe.re.chem
H7358
the womb · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
ghost
אֶ֝גְוַ֗ע'eg.Va'
H1478
to breathe out · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
eye
וְעַ֣יִןve.'A.yin
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
seen
תִרְאֵֽנִיtir.'E.ni
H7200
to see · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 20:14-18 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Job 3:10-11 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
Job 14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
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…
Matthew 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 10:14–end
Here we have,
I. Job's passionate complaints. On this harsh and unpleasant string he harps much, in which, though he cannot be justified, he may be excused. He complained not for nothing, as the murmuring Israelites, but had cause to complain. If we think it looks ill in him, let it be a warning to us to keep our temper better.
1. He complains of the strictness of God's judgment and the rigour of his proceedings against him, and is ready to call it summum jus - justice bordering on severity. (1.) That he took all advantages against him: "If I sin, then thou markest me, Job 10:14.(1.) If I do but take one false step, misplace a word, or cast a look awry, I shall be sure to hear of it. Conscie…
witnesses--His accumulated trials were like a succession of witnesses brought up in proof of his guilt, to wear out the accused.
changes and war--rather, "(thou settest in array) against me host after host" (literally, "changes and a host," that is, a succession of hosts); namely, his afflictions, and then reproach upon reproach from his friends.
John Gill on Job 10:18
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?.... Into this world; this act is rightly ascribed by Job to the Lord, as it is by David, Psalm 22:9; which kind act of God Job complains of, and wishes it had never been, seeing his life was now so miserable and uncomfortable; here he returns to his former complaints, wishes, and expostulations, expressed with so much vehemence and passion in Job 10:3; and for which his friends blamed him, and endeavoured to convince him of his error in so doing; but it does not appear that their arguments carried any force in them with him, or had any effect upon him; he still continues in the same mind, and by repeating justifies what he had said;…
18 And wherefore hast Thou brought me forth out of the womb?
I should have expired, that no eye had seen me,
19 I should have been as though I had never been,
Carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? then cease
And turn from me, that I may become a little cheerful,
21 Before I go to return no more
Into the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,
22 The land of deep darkness like to midnight,
Of the shadow of death and of confusion,
And which is bright like midnight.
The question Wherefore? Job 10:18, is followed by futt. as modi conditionales (Ges. 127, 5) of that which would and should have happened, if God had not permitted him to be born alive: I should have expire…
The Church Fathers
"Why did you shoot me from my mother's womb? From an obscure condition to an illustrious rank; this rank alone is the source of a greater misery, when. we are precipitated. He has already recalled this birth above.
Someone could think that Job's statement comes from desperation, but that is proven wrong by what God has said: "Do you believe I treated you like this for any other reason than to reveal your righteousness?" Job, who previously had said, "If I am wicked, woe to me," does not contradict this assumption but reveals the bitterness of life. An evil person would not do that, for he rejoices in this [life]. Above all, Job wants to reveal to his friends the reason why he did not die at the moment of his birth, namely, because he was to be an example of energy and strength. According to a different interpretation, even the life in the flesh is indicated, about which Paul writes, "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." Job experiences the pleasant as well as the bitter sides of life; no one who has rid himself of the flesh rejoices in wealth or excess, nor is he plagued by hardship. Job has tasted this life and its pleasures, for he was blessed with many good children and was rich and healthy. But since his situation turned into its opposite, he also experienced the reverse of his previous life and acknowledged in real life the vanity of these things. This is why Job teaches us not to long for them by saying, "Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, and were as though I had not been."Job expresses this in the form of a prayer, for his burdens were not light and he endured the pains not without feeling them. For it would not have been manful had he not felt his sufferings. But he teaches that he endured the pain with the help of God's power, by praying in gratefulness. Paul also expresses this: "It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Philosophy · provi — provi
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
A succession of images describes God’s role in creating Job. • You formed me with your hands . . . made me from dust: This was how a potter made a vessel (Isa 45:9; Jer 18:1-12). Although the potter has incontestable sovereignty over the clay (Isa 45:9; Jer 18:5-12; Rom 9:20-25), Job was questioning God. • back to dust: This common motif in Job represents the temporary nature of life (Job 4:19; 7:9-10, 21; 14:1-2, 10; see Gen 3:19). • You guided my conception and formed me in the womb: The Hebrew terminology (literally You poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese) evokes graphic images of a newborn baby still covered with the creamy substance called vernix.
Rashi on Job 10:18
Would that I had died and no eye had seen me If only I had died [upon emerging] from the womb.
