EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Job 3:12
12Instead, my mother held me on her knees. I drank from her breasts.
Job 3:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
- New International Version (NIV)Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
Context of Job 3:12
10I curse that day because it allowed me to be born. It brought me into a life of trouble. 11It would have been better if I had died at birth. I should have been born dead. Instead, my mother held me on her knees. I drank from her breasts. 13If I had died at birth, I would now be resting in peace. 14I would be resting with kings and rulers. They lived in beautiful houses which are now heaps of stones.
Read all of Job 3Job 3:12 word by word
מַ֭דּוּעַ קִדְּמ֣וּנִי בִרְכָּ֑יִם וּמַה־שָּׁ֝דַ֗יִם כִּ֣י אִינָֽק׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 3:12
- Genesis 30:3Rachel said, ‘Take my servant Bilhah and have sex with her. Then she can have children on my behalf. Through her, I can have a family.’
- Genesis 50:23And he was still alive to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also saw Makir's children. Makir was Manasseh's son. Joseph took Makir's children to be his own children.
- Isaiah 66:12The Lord says, ‘Look! I will give peace to Jerusalem, like a great river. Riches from other nations will pour into the city, like a stream that is full of water. Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother that feeds her baby. She will carry you in her arms, and she will hold you on her knees.
- Ezekiel 16:4They did not take proper care of you on the day that you were born. They did not wash you properly. They did not cut your cord. They did not put salt or oil on your skin. They did not put cloths around you.
Commentaries on Job 3:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Why did the knees prevent me? - Why was I dandled on the knees? Why was I nourished by the breasts? In either of the above cases I had neither been received into a mother's lap, nor hung upon a mother's breasts.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Why did the knees prevent me? - That is, the lap of the nurse or of the mother, probably the latter. The sense is, that if he had not been delicately and tenderly nursed, he would have died at once. He came helpless into the world, and but for the attention of others he would have soon died. Jahn supposes (Archae section 161) that it was a common custom for the father, on the birth of a son, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, while music was heard…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-19Verses 11-19 Job complained of those present at his birth, for their tender attention to him. No creature comes into the world so helpless as man. God's power and providence upheld our frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. Natural affection is put into parents' hearts by God. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die, only that we may be…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 11-24Job's language shifts from wishing he was never born to grief. He goes from hating life towards an attraction for death. Job asks "why" seven times, as he has grief for his situation (3:11, 12, 16, 20, 23; see Psalms 10:1; 22:1; Jeremiah 20:18; Lamentations 5:20).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. Why did the knees prevent me?--Old English for "anticipate my wants." The reference is to the solemn recognition of a new-born child by the father, who used to place it on his knees as his own, whom he was bound to rear (Ge 30:3; 50:23; Is 66:12).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 3:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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