English Standard Version
Job 3:23
23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
Job 3:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
- New International Version (NIV)Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Why is life given to those with no future, those God has surrounded with difficulties?
Context of Job 3:23
21who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 22who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
Read all of Job 3Job 3:23 word by word
לְ֭גֶבֶר אֲשֶׁר־דַּרְכּ֣וֹ נִסְתָּ֑רָה וַיָּ֖סֶךְ אֱל֣וֹהַּ בַּעֲדֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 3:23
- Isaiah 40:27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
- Job 12:14If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.
- Job 19:8He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.
- Psalms 31:8and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.
- Lamentations 3:7He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;
- Hosea 2:6Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
Commentaries on Job 3:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23To a man whose way is hid - Who knows not what is before him in either world, but is full of fears and trembling concerning both. God hath hedged in? - Leaving him no way to escape; and not permitting him to see one step before him. There is an exact parallel to this passage in Lamentations 3:7, Lamentations 3:9; : He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone. Mr. Good translates the verse thus: To the man whose…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23Why is light given “to a man uhose way is hid?” That is, who does not know what way to take, and who sees no escape from the misery that surrounds him. Whom God hath hedged in - See Notes, Job 1:10. The meaning here is, that God had surrounded him as with a high wall or hedge, so that he could not move freely. Job asks with impatience, why light, that is, life, should be given to such a man? Why should he not be permitted to die? This closes the complaint…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-26Verses 20-26 Job was like a man who had lost his way, and had no prospect of escape, or hope of better times. But surely he was in an ill frame for death when so unwilling to live. Let it be our constant care to get ready for another world, and then leave it to God to order our removal thither as he thinks fit. Grace teaches us in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live…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. 2323. whose way is hid--The picture of Job is drawn from a wanderer who has lost his way, and who is hedged in, so as to have no exit of escape (Ho 2:6; La 3:7, 9).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 3:23
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