31 After this hath Job opened his mouth, and revileth his day. 2 And Job answereth and saith:— 3 Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that hath said: 'A man-child hath been conceived.' 4 That day—let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it. 5 Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days. 6 That night—let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Into the number of months let it not come. 7 Lo! that night—let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it. 8 Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan. 9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the dawn. 10 Because it hath not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from mine eyes.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 3:1-10
Commentary on Job 3:1-10
(Read Job 3:1-10)
For seven days Job's friends sat by him in silence, without offering consolidation: at the same time Satan assaulted his mind to shake his confidence, and to fill him with hard thoughts of God. The permission seems to have extended to this, as well as to torturing the body. Job was an especial type of Christ, whose inward sufferings, both in the garden and on the cross, were the most dreadful; and arose in a great degree from the assaults of Satan in that hour of darkness. These inward trials show the reason of the change that took place in Job's conduct, from entire submission to the will of God, to the impatience which appears here, and in other parts of the book. The believer, who knows that a few drops of this bitter cup are more dreadful than the sharpest outward afflictions, while he is favoured with a sweet sense of the love and presence of God, will not be surprised to find that Job proved a man of like passions with others; but will rejoice that Satan was disappointed, and could not prove him a hypocrite; for though he cursed the day of his birth, he did not curse his God. Job doubtless was afterwards ashamed of these wishes, and we may suppose what must be his judgment of them now he is in everlasting happiness.