Job 3:9-10

People are glad to see light in the early morning. Then, they know that daylight is beginning. Then, their troubles in the night will not continue. Perhaps they were afraid during the night. But they would be safe during the daytime. But Job was not glad that he saw the light. He wished that he was dead.

Job’s original ideas about death

v11 I would be happier:

• if I died at birth;

• v12 if my mother never looked after me;

• if my mother’s breasts had no milk.

v13 (If I had died,) I would not suffer now. Instead, I would be lying down. And I would be like someone who sleeps. v14 I would rest, with the world’s great kings and advisers. Their great buildings are now heaps of stone. v15 Or, I would rest with the rulers who collected gold and silver.

v16 My mother should have buried my body in the earth. I would be like a child who was born dead.

v17 In their graves, wicked men do not cause trouble. And tired people rest. v18 Slaves are free. They hear no commands from their masters. v19 Everyone is there, whether that person was important or not. And nobody serves anyone else.