New English Translation

Job 3:20-26

20 1“Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter,

21to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures,

22who rejoice even to jubilation, and are exultant when they find the grave?

23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

24For my sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water.

25For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me, and what I feared has come upon me.

26I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me.”

Notes

1. Job 3:20 Since he has survived birth, Job wonders why he could not have died a premature death. He wonders why God gives light and life to those who are in misery. His own condition throws gloom over life, and so he poses the question first generally, for many would prefer death to misery (20-22); then he comes to the individual, himself, who would prefer death (23). He closes his initial complaint with some depictions of his suffering that afflicts him and gives him no rest (24-26). ↩