New English Translation
Job 3:12
12Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them?
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
10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes! 11“Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb? Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them? 13For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peace 14with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate,
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 30:3She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.”
- Genesis 50:23Joseph saw the descendants of Ephraim to the third generation. He also saw the children of Makir the son of Manasseh; they were given special inheritance rights by Joseph.
- Isaiah 66:12For this is what the Lord says: “Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river, the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. You will nurse from her breast and be carried at her side; you will play on her knees.
- Ezekiel 16:4As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets.
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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