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Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary

Job 3:12

Why did the knees prevent me? why did the midwife or nurse receive me, and lay me upon her knees, and did not suffer me to fall upon the bare ground, and there to lie, in a neglected and forlorn condition, till merciful death had taken me out of this miserable world, into which the cruel kindness of my mother and midwife hath betrayed me? Why the breasts that I should suck? Why did the breasts prevent me, (which may be fitly understood out of the former member,) to wit, from perishing through hunger, or supply me, that I should have what to suck ? Seeing my mother had not a miscarrying womb, but did unhappily bring me forth why had she not dry breasts? or why were there any breasts for me which I might suck? Thus Job most unthankfully and unworthily despiseth and traduceth these wonderful and singular mercies of God towards poor helpless infants, because of the present inconveniencies which he had by means of them.

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See also Job 3:12 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Job 3:12. _WHY 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 h...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    WHY 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. H...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 3 JOB'S LAMENT _ 1. Job curses the day of his birth (Job 3:1)_ 2. He longs for death (Job 3:10) 3. The reason why (Job 3:24) Job 3:1. The s

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    JOB'S LAMENTATION. Here the later poem begins, and at once we pass into another world. The patient Job of the Volksbuch is gone, and we have instead one who complains bitterly that ever he was born. T...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    THE KNEES [of the mother]. Figure of speech _Ellipsis._ App-6. PREVENT. come before, so as to meet....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Would God I had died from my birth If he must be born, Job asks, Why he did not die from the womb? his eye turning to the next possibility and chance of escaping sorrow. Had he died he would have bee...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _the knees prevent me_ Rather, RECEIVE, or meet me. The reference may be to the father's knees, on which the new born child was laid, or more general. As to the expression, see Genesis 50:23; Isaiah 6...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    2. Asks why he was born (Job 3:11-19) TEXT 3:11-19 11 WHY DIED I NOT FROM THE WOMB? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, th...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _WHY DID THE KNEES PREVENT ME? OR WHY THE BREASTS THAT I SHOULD SUCK?_ WHY DID THE KNEES PREVENT ME? - old English for anticipate my wants. The reference is to the solemn recognition of a newborn chil...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    PREVENT ME] RV 'receive me.' It was usual for the newborn child to be laid on its father's knees in token of ownership. If he suffered it to remain he pledged himself TO bring it up....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JOB CURSES HIS DAY Job curses the day of his birth. He asks why he did not die at birth: why should his wretched life be prolonged? We are now confronted with a striking change in Job's frame of mind...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Job imagined that he had died as a child. Job thought that death was beautiful because of his terrible troubles. He thought about dead bodies. Dead bodies seem to be asleep. And Job wished that he cou...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    JOB, A SERVANT OF GOD Job _KEITH SIMONS_ Words in boxes (except for words in brackets) are from the Bible. This commentary has been through Advanced Checking. CHAPTER 3 JOB’S FIRST SPEECH JOB R...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    PREVENT — _i.e._, “Why was I nursed with care instead of being allowed to fall to the ground and be killed?”...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    מַ֭דּוּעַ קִדְּמ֣וּנִי בִרְכָּ֑יִם וּ מַה ־שָּׁ֝דַ֗יִם...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    VI. THE CRY FROM THE DEPTH Job 3:1 Job SPEAKS WHILE the friends of Job sat beside him that dreary week of silence, each of them was meditating in his own way the sudden calamities which had brought...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    IS LIFE WORTH LIVING? Job 3:1 In the closing paragraphs of the previous chapter three friends arrive. Teman is Edom; for Shuah see Genesis 25:2; Naamah is Arabia. The group of spectators, gathered r...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Silent sympathy always creates an opportunity for grief to express itself. Job's outcry was undoubtedly an answer to their sympathy. So far, it was good, and they had helped him. It is always better t...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Knees, by my father or grandfather, Genesis xxx 3. (Homer, Iliad ix.) (Calmet)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (8) Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. (9) Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawn...

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    Job's Complaint (Response to an insurance company) I am writing in response to your request for additional information regarding my claim. In block #3 of the accident form, I put "trying to do the job...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    But the depths of Job's heart were not yet reached, and to do this was the purpose of God, whatever Satan's thoughts may have been. Job did not know himself, and up to this time, with all his piety, h...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHY DID THE KNEES PREVENT ME?.... Not of the mother, as Jarchi, but of the midwife, who received him into her lap, and nourished and cherished him, washed him with water, salted, and swaddled him; or...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? Ver. 12. _Why did the knees prevent me?_] Why did the too officious midwife lay me on her lap, and not let me alone to perish by m...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Why died I not from the womb?_ It would surely have been far better, and much happier for me, had I either expired in the womb where I received my life, or it had been taken from me the very moment m...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Why did the knees prevent me? "Prevent" is here used in the old sense of anticipate, be ready for, said of the father, who took the new-born child on his lap, joyfully acknowledging his son. OR WHY TH...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    JOB LONGS FOR DEATH...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    JOB'S BITTER COMPLAINT (vv.1-26) Though Job would not dare to curse God for his trouble, yet it seems that the presence of his friends only caused a stronger, gradual build-up of bitter distress in...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "WHY DID THE KNEES RECEIVE ME, AND WHY THE BREASTS, THAT. SHOULD SUCK?": "Why was his life preserved so that after birth he was placed on his father's (Genesis 48:12; Job 50:23) or mother's knees (Isa...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Job 3:12 knees H1290 receive H6923 (H8765) breasts H7699 nurse H3243 (H8799) the knees - Genesis 30:3

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Job tells his misery and despair. CHARACTERS: God, Job. CONCLUSION: «Pity thyself» is the devil's most popular sermon to one who will listen to him, for he delights to embitter the saint b...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Job 3:1. _After this opened Job his mouth._ The Masoretic Jews, as well as our modern divines, seem agreed that Job now began the _drama,_ and spake in poetic effusions of _verse._ They say the same o...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _After this opened Job his month, and cursed his day._ THE PERIL OF IMPULSIVE SPEECH In regard to this chapter, containing the first speech of Job, we may remark that it is impossible to approve the...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    NOTES Job 3:5. “_Let the blackness of the day terrify it_.” Margin, “_Let them terrify it as those who have a bitter day_” The expression כִּמרִירֵי־יוֹם (_chimrire-yom_) gives rise to two classes of...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION The "Historical Introduction" ended, we come upon a long colloquy, in which the several _dramatis personae_ speak for themselves, the writer, or compiler, only prefacing each speech with a...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    And finally Job spoke up. Job begins to curse the day of his birth. Job opened his mouth, and he cursed his day (Job 3:1). Notice he didn't curse God; just the day in which he was born. Let the day...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Ezekiel 16:4; Ezekiel 16:5; Genesis 30:3; Genesis 50:23; Isaiah 66:12

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    JOB'S SORROWS AND SIGHS Job 2:9; Job 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS In this study we will consider the verses which lie in the second chapter of Job beginning with verse nine where we left off in the forme...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    The knees — Why did the midwife or nurse receive and lay me upon her knees, and not suffer me to fall upon the bare ground, 'till death had taken me out of this miserable world, into which their cruel...

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