Job 3:13

"Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?"

Key Reflection

In Job 3:13, Job questions the purpose of his birth and existence by asking why he was given knees to kneel upon and a breast for nursing as an infant. This rhetorical question highlights Job's despair over his circumstances, suggesting that even the most basic human experiences seem meaningless in light of his suffering. The original audience would have understood these body parts as symbols of infancy and helplessness, underscoring Job’s profound sense of hopelessness and the futility of life amidst great tribulation.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

For now should I have lain still -In this verse Job uses four expressions to describe the state in which be would have been if he had been so happy as to have died when an infant. It is evidently a very pleasant subject to him, and he puts it in a great variety of form. He uses thc words which express the most quiet repose, a state of perfect rest, a gentle slumber; and then in the next verses he says, that instead of being in the miserable condition in which he then was, he would have been in the same state with kings and the most illustrious men of the earth. I should have lain still --שׁכבshâkab. I should have been “lying down,” as one does who is taking grateful repose.

Related Verses

More from Job 3

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