Job 3: Job Pours Out His Sorrow

After seven days of silence, Job speaks. He curses the day of his birth and wishes he had never been born. He asks why light and life are given to those in misery, and says he has no ease, no quiet, and no rest, but trouble comes. Job does not curse God; he pours out his honest grief.

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Read Job 3

World English Bible · 26 verses

¹ After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
² Job answered:This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
³ “Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
⁴ Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
⁵ Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes the day black terrify it.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
⁶ As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
⁷ Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
⁸ Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
⁹ Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁰ because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹¹ “Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹² Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹³ For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁵ or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁶ or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁸ There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
¹⁹ The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²⁰ “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²¹ who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²² who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²³ Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²⁴ For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²⁵ For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
²⁶ I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.

Scripture: World English Bible, public domain, eBible.org

Worksheets

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Open Preschool on its own page

Job 3 · Preschool

Job Is Very Sad

Name Date

Color the night sky over Job! Job was very sad, and he told how he felt.

Can you find these in the picture? Circle each one!

Bible Verse

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”

Job 3:26 (WEB)

Prayer

Thank You, God, for making me!

Take It Home

Read the verse aloud. Say: Job was very, very sad. He said how he felt. When we are sad, we can tell God how we feel. God listens.

Open Grade 4 on its own page

Job 3 · Grade 4

Honest Grief

Name Date

Read and Think

After seven days of silence, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He did not curse God, as Satan had claimed he would. Instead he poured out his pain. He wished that day had been swallowed by darkness, that no joyful voice had been heard in it.

Job asked why he had not died at birth. He pictured the grave as a place of quiet, where the wicked cease from troubling, the weary are at rest, and the prisoners do not hear the taskmaster's voice. He asked why light is given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in.

Job closed by saying that the thing he feared had come on him. He was not at ease, not quiet, and had no rest, but trouble came. Job's words are raw, but he is still speaking about God, not walking away from Him. The Psalms also show that God's people may bring honest laments to Him.

Show What You Know

What did Job curse, and what did he not curse?
How did Job picture the grave?
What did Job ask about light?
How did Job describe himself at the end?

Word Bank Fill-In

Use the word bank to fill in each blank.

daydarknessGodlightrest

After seven days of silence, Job opened his mouth and cursed the of his birth.
He did not curse , as Satan had claimed he would.
He wished that day had been swallowed by , that no joyful voice had been heard in it.
He asked why is given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in.
He was not at ease, not quiet, and had no , but trouble came.

Think About It

Job told the truth about how he felt. What sad feelings could you honestly tell God about?
Job felt hedged in and could not see his way. How can you trust God when you cannot see what He is doing?

Memory Verse

“For the thing which I fear comes on me, that which I am afraid of comes to me.”

Job 3:25 (WEB)

Copy It

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for listening when I am very sad. Help me . Amen.

Take It Home

For families: talk about these together.

What can you do when you feel very tired?
How can you listen to someone's sad words without arguing?

Open Grade 5 on its own page

Job 3 · Grade 5

The Lament of Job

Name Date

Read and Think

The silence of seven days ends when Job opens his mouth and curses the day of his birth. The man who blessed Yahweh's name in chapter 1 now speaks in poetry full of anguish. Yet he does not renounce God, as Satan said he would. He curses his birthday, asking that the day perish and that the night be barren, with no joyful voice in it.

Job asks, Why didn't I die from the womb? He imagines the grave as rest: there the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest, and the small and the great are there. His questions press deeper: Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul, to those who long for death and it doesn't come? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

In chapter 1 Satan spoke of a hedge of blessing around Job. Now Job feels that God has hedged him in. His sighing comes before he eats, and his groanings are poured out like water. The thing which I fear comes on me, he says. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes. Job's lament is honest, and he will keep bringing his complaint to God rather than leaving Him.

Show What You Know

What does Job do when the seven days of silence end?
How does Job imagine the grave?
How has the idea of a hedge changed from chapter 1?
How does Job describe his groanings?
How does Job end his lament?

Crossword

Across

I am not at ease, neither am I ____
and cursed the day of his ____
Let that day be ____.

Down

There the ____ are at rest.
There the weary are at ____.

Think About It

Job's lament is honest but still addressed toward God. How can you bring your hardest feelings to God in prayer?
Job could not see his way. What helps you keep trusting God when you do not understand what is happening?

Memory Verse

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest; but trouble comes.”

Job 3:26 (WEB)

Copy It

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for listening when I am very sad. Help me . Amen.

Take It Home

For families: talk about these together.

Why is it safe to bring your strongest emotions to God?
How can honest lament be a way of trusting God?
What is one way you could live out this chapter this week?

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Job 3: Job Pours Out His Sorrow

Read Job 3

Worksheets

Job Is Very Sad

Prayer

Take It Home

Job Was Sad

Trace the Words

Match the Pictures

Mini Maze

Draw It

Prayer

Take It Home

Telling How He Felt

Trace the Words

Match the Pictures

Job's Sad Words

Prayer

Take It Home

Job Speaks

Read the Story

Show What You Know

Word Search

Prayer

Take It Home

Why Is Light Given?

Read the Story

Answer the Questions

Job's Sad Words

Word Search

Prayer

Take It Home

Honest Grief

Read and Think

Show What You Know

Word Bank Fill-In

Think About It

Copy It

Prayer

Take It Home

The Lament of Job

Read and Think

Show What You Know

Crossword

Think About It

Copy It

Prayer

Take It Home

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