Job 10:19

I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
carried	אוּבָֽל 'u.Val	H2986	properly · verb, hophal imperfect, 1st person common singular
womb	מִ֝בֶּ֗טֶן mi.Be.ten	H990	the belly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
grave	לַקֶּ֥בֶר la.Ke.ver	H6913	a sepulchre · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

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

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.

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…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 10:17

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 10:19

I should have been as though I had not been,.... For though it cannot be said absolutely of such an one, an abortive or untimely birth, that it is a nonentity, or never existed; yet comparatively it is as if it never had a being; it being seen by none or very few, it having had no name, nor any conversation among men; but at once buried, and buried in forgetfulness, as if no such one had ever been; see Ecclesiastes 6:3. This Job wished for, for so some render it, "oh, that I had been as though I had never been" (f); and then he would have never been involved in such troubles he was, he would have been free from all his afflictions and distresses, and never have had any experience of the sorr…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Job 10:18–end

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

"I would have been like not being," completely ignored. Hence this word: "He calls what is not, as is (1)," from the point of view of reputation.
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Wherefore then hast Thou brought me forth out of the womb. Oh that I had been consumed, and no eye had seen me. Which same sentiment he had already uttered in his first speech, saying, Why died I not from the womb? and whilst he subjoins that which he adds here, I should have been as though I had not been, I should have been carried from the womb to the grave; he adds in other words, but no other sense, saying, Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants which never saw light. But forasmuch as we have made out these particulars very much at length above, to avoid wearying the reader we forbear to unfold points already explained.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX

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).

Job 10:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 10:14–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 10:17

John Gill on Job 10:19

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 10:18–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 10:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 10:14–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 10:17

John Gill on Job 10:19

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 10:18–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 10:8-11

Rashi on Job 10:19