Job 3:4

If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job speaks in solitary lament, immediately following his curse upon the day of his birth. He addresses the void, demanding that his birth day be erased from divine attention.

The words — חֹשֶׁךְ (cho.shékh) means darkness, and יִדְרְשֵׁהוּ (yid.ré.shé.hú) means he will seek or care for it. The text commands that God above should not care for that day.

The thread — The motif of divinely sent or prophesied darkness appears in Exodus 10:22 and Joel 2:2. These references frame darkness as a tangible manifestation of judgment or divine presence.

Why it lands — The text demands that the reader confront the raw impulse to wish suffering itself out of existence. It requires acknowledging despair as a legitimate textual category without offering immediate resolution.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

הַיּ֥וֹםhai./Yomthe/ day הַה֗וּאha./Hu'<the>/ that יְֽהִ֫יye.Hilet it be חֹ֥שֶׁךְCho.shekhdarkness אַֽל־'al-may not יִדְרְשֵׁ֣הוּyid.re.She./huhe care for/ it אֱל֣וֹהַּ'e.Lo.ahGod מִמָּ֑עַלmi./Ma.'al<from>/ above וְאַל־ve./'al-and/ may not תּוֹפַ֖עto.Fa'it shine forth עָלָ֣יו'a.La/von/ it נְהָרָֽה׃ne.ha.Rahdaylight

King James Version

Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Cross-references

Exodus 10:22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.
Deuteronomy 11:12 It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.
Joel 2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.
Amos 5:18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
Matthew 27:45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
Acts 27:20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved.
Revelation 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish