English Standard Version
Job 3:12
12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
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?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Why was I laid on my mother’s lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts?
Context of Job 3:12
10because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11"Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 14with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
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 30:3Then she said, "Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her."
- Genesis 50:23And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own.
- Isaiah 66:12For thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees.
- Ezekiel 16:4And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries