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英文原文
"You have heard of the patience of Job," says the apostle, Jam 5:11. So we have, and of his impatience too. We wondered that a man should be so patient as he was (Job 1:1-2:13), but we wonder also that a good man should be so impatient as he is in this chapter, where we find him cursing his day, and, in passion, I. Complaining that he was born, Job 3:1-10. II. Complaining that he did not die as soon as he was born, Job 3:11-19. III. Complaining that his life was now continued when he was in misery, Job 3:20-26. In this it must be owned that Job sinned with his lips, and it is written, not for our imitation, but our admonition, that he who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall.
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Job Curses His Day (1520 BC)
約伯咒詛自己的生日（主前1520年）
¹ 此後，約伯開口，咒詛自己的生日。
² 約伯說：
³ 願我生的那日滅亡，說「懷了男胎」的那夜也滅沒。
⁴ 願那日變為黑暗；願神不從上面尋找它，願亮光不照於其上。
⁵ 願黑暗和死蔭索討它；願密雲停在其上；願日蚀的恐嚇使其驚惶。
⁶ 至於那夜，願黑暗奪取它；它不得與年中的日子連結，不得入月中的數目。
⁷ 看哪，願那夜孤寂，沒有歡樂的聲音在其中。
⁸ 願那些咒詛日子、能激動鱷魚的人，咒詛那夜。
⁹ 願那夜的晨星變為黑暗；它切望亮光，卻 得 不著；也不得見黎明的眼目：
¹⁰ 因它沒有關閉我 母親 胎的門，也沒有將患難向我的眼隱藏。
約伯的心在他裏面許久火熱；他默想的時候，火就燒起來，而且因被壓抑掩蓋而燒得更旺。他終於用舌頭說話了，卻不是大衛在久默之後所說的那種好話：耶和華啊，求你叫我曉得我一生之終（詩 39:3,4）。先知以西結與被擄的人一同坐下驚呆了七天，然後（可能是在安息日）耶和華的話臨到他（結 3:15,16）。約伯和他的朋友們也這樣坐著思想，卻甚麼也不說；他們 怕說出心裏所想的，恐怕使他憂傷；他 也不敢抒發自己的心思，恐怕冒犯他們。他們來要安慰他，但見他的災禍極不尋常，就開始覺得安慰不屬於他，懷疑他是假冒為善的人，因此甚麼也不說。但受苦的人總覺得自己有發言的權利，於是約伯首先抒發了自己的心思。除非他的心思更好，否則他若把這些話留在自己心裏，仍是好的。簡言之，他咒詛了自己的日子——他出生的日子——巴不得自己從未出生；他一想到自己出生，就充滿懊悔與煩躁。人們通常以歡喜來記念自己生日的週年，他卻視之為一年中最不祥的日子，因為那是他一生中最不幸的一天，是他一切禍患的入口。如今：
I. 這已經夠糟了。他痛苦的極端和他心神的紊亂可以部分地為他開脫，但他絕不能在這事上被算為無罪。如今他忘記了自己出生所得的好處，瘦牛吞吃了肥牛，他心中滿了對禍患的思念，巴不得自己從未出生。連先知耶利米也用與此差不多的話表達了他對自己災禍的痛苦感受：我的母親啊，我有禍了！因你生了我！（耶 15:10）。願我生的那日受咒詛（耶 20:14 等）。我們可以設想，約伯在昌盛之時曾多少次為自己出生的日子稱頌神，把它算為快樂的日子；如今他卻盡可能地用各樣恥辱的記號來標記它。當我們想到自己在其中受孕和出生的罪，我們的確有足夠的理由帶著憂傷和羞愧回顧自己出生的日子，並說我們 死的日子——藉此我們 脫離了罪（羅 6:7）——遠 為美（傳 7:1）。但只因自己在那一天進入了人生的苦難舞台就咒詛自己的生日，這是與造化的神爭吵，是輕看我們存在的尊嚴，是放縱一種連我們自己冷靜清醒的思想也會使我們為之羞愧的激憤。誠然，人在這世上所能處的任何境況，只要不是他自己的過失，他都可以在其中（若他願意）如此榮耀神、作成自己得救的工夫、為自己在一個更美的世界確保幸福，以至於他完全沒有理由巴不得自己從未出生，反而大有理由說他的存在是有意義的。然而必須承認，若沒有今生之後的另一種生命，沒有神的安慰在這前景中支持我們，這一生的憂愁和苦難如此之多，以至於我們有時可能會受試探說我們是 枉然被造（詩 89:47），巴不得自己從未存在。在地獄裏確有那些有充分理由巴不得自己從未出生的人，如猶大（太 26:24）。但在地獄的這一邊，卻不可能有理由作如此虛妄而忘恩的願望。咒詛自己的日子，是約伯的愚拙和軟弱。我們必須說：這是他的軟弱；但敬虔人有時也會在他們最卓越的恩典的操練上失敗，好讓我們明白，當聖經說他們 完全 時，是指他們正直，不是指他們無罪。末了，讓我們為了屬靈生命高於天然生命的榮耀而留意這事：雖然許多人曾咒詛自己第一次出生的日子，卻從沒有人咒詛自己重生之日，也沒有人巴不得自己從未蒙恩、從未被賜下施恩的聖靈。那些是最美好的恩賜，超過生命和存在本身，永遠不會成為重擔。
II. 然而這並不如撒但自己所指望的那樣糟。約伯咒詛了自己的日子，卻沒有咒詛他的神——他厭倦了自己的性命，甘願捨棄它，卻不厭倦自己的信仰；他堅決持守它，永不放手。神與撒但之間關乎約伯的爭論，不是約伯有沒有他的軟弱、他是否與我們一樣有情慾（那是已經承認了的），而是他是不是一個暗中恨神、若被激怒就會表露其恨意的假冒為善者；經過試驗，證明他絕非那樣的人。不，這一切都可以與他作忍耐的榜樣相容；因為他雖然如此用嘴唇輕率發言，卻在之前和之後都表達了對神聖旨意極大的順服與降服，並為自己的不耐煩懊悔；他為此定了自己的罪，因此神沒有定他的罪，我們也不可如此，反而當更加謹慎地守望自己，免得我們也照著這罪過犯的樣式犯罪。
- 約伯在咒詛自己的日子時所用的具體言辭，充滿了詩意的想像、火焰般的激情和狂熱，給注釋家造成的困難與這事本身給神學家造成的困難一樣大：我們不必對它們逐一詳述。當他要表達自己巴不得從未存在的激切願望時，他便攻擊那一天，並願：
（1）地願忘記它：願它滅亡（Job 3:3）；不得與年中的日子連結（Job 3:6）。「願它不僅不被用紅字列入日曆——像君王誕辰通常那樣」（而約伯是個王，Job 29:25），「更願它被塗抹抹去，埋葬於遺忘之中。願世界不知道曾有像我這樣的人出生在其中、生活在其中，而我如今竟成了這樣悲慘的展品。」
（2）天願向他皺眉：願神不從上面尋找它（Job 3:4）。「萬事的確都隨神而定；那一天之所以尊貴，是因他賜下尊榮，因他以他的恩寵和祝福將之分別出來並加冕，正如他對一週的第七日所行的；但願我的生日永不這樣受尊榮；願它被那定下先前的時期的神 用黑炭標記——標為凶日。眾光之父命定大光管晝、小光管夜；但願那一天兩者之益都不得享受。」[1.] 願那日變為黑暗（Job 3:4）；而若白晝的光變為黑暗，那黑暗是何等大呢！ 何等可怕！因為我們本指望亮光。願那日的陰沉代表約伯的境況——他的日頭在正午落下。[2.] 至於那夜，願它也缺了月亮和星辰的益處，願黑暗奪取它——濃厚的黑暗，可以摸到的黑暗，這黑暗不會以它的寂靜促成夜晚的安息，反而要以它的恐怖擾亂它。
（3）一切歡樂願離棄它：「願那夜成為陰鬱之夜、孤寂之夜，而不是音樂和舞蹈的歡樂之夜。願沒有歡樂的聲音在其中（Job 3:7）；願那夜漫長，不得見黎明的眼目（Job 3:9）——那帶來歡樂的清晨。」
（4）一切咒詛願跟隨它（Job 3:8）：「願無人渴想見它，它來時無人歡迎；相反，願那些咒詛日子的人咒詛它。無論何日有人受試探要咒詛，願他同時對我的生日也加上一咒，特別是那些以在喪禮上唱哀歌激起哀哭為業的人。願那些咒詛別人死亡之日的人，在同一口氣中也咒詛我出生之日。」或者，那些勇猛膽大到樂意去喚醒 鱷魚（因為這裏用的正是這個詞）的人——他們準備刺擊鯨魚或鱷魚時，用所能想出的最惡毒的咒詛咒詛它，指望藉著他們的咒語削弱它，從而制伏它——也許那裏確有這樣的風俗，我們這位屬靈的詩人就是暗指它。「願它如 人們為最大的不幸哀哭之日 那樣可憎，或如 他們看見最可怖的異象之時；」我想 Patrick 主教是如此理解的，他把這裏的鱷魚當作魔鬼，正如另一些人所理解的那樣，他們認為這是指行邪術的和術士在招鬼時所用的咒詛，或是當他們招來了無法驅遣的鬼時所用的咒詛。
- 但約伯與自己出生的日夜爭吵的根據是甚麼呢？是 因它沒有關閉他母親胎的門（Job 3:10）。請看激憤之不滿的愚妄和瘋狂，以及當韁繩放在它脖子上時，它是何等荒謬而放肆地說話。這就是那個因智慧大受人敬佩，以至於 人們側耳聽他，在他的指教前靜默，他說完之後他們不再發言 的約伯嗎？（Job 29:21,22）。他的智慧確實離棄了他：（1）當他費這麼大力氣表達自己巴不得從未出生的願望時——這充其量是個虛妄的願望，因為要使已經存在的事變為不曾存在，是不可能的。（2）當他對一個無法被傷害、不會因他的咒詛而變糟的日與夜大肆咒詛時。（3）當他對自己的母親存著如此野蠻的願望——巴不得她足月時不把他生下來——這必然會是她的死，而且是淒慘的死。（4）當他輕看神賜他存在的恩惠（這樣的存在，如此高貴而卓越的生命，如此遠超這下方世界任何其他受造之物的生命），並低估這份恩賜，以為不配領受，只因它 附帶著重擔——附有禍患的條款，而這禍患如今終於在多年享受其樂趣之後臨到他。巴不得自己的眼睛從未見過亮光，好使它們不致看見憂愁——這是何等愚昧的事！其實他可以盼望看透憂愁，在憂愁的那一邊看見喜樂！約伯既信且盼望他 要在肉身之中得見神（Job 19:26），卻又巴不得自己從未有這能以享受如此福樂的存在，只因目前他在肉身中有憂愁嗎？願神藉他的恩典保守我們，抵擋這愚昧而有損的不耐煩之慾。
英文原文
Job Curses His Day (1520 BC)
¹ After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
² And Job spake, and said,
³ Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
⁴ Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
⁵ Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶ As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
⁷ Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
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 dawning of the day:
¹⁰ Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Long was Job's heart hot within him; and, while he was musing, the fire burned, and the more for being stifled and suppressed. At length he spoke with his tongue, but not such a good word as David spoke after a long pause: Lord, make me to know my end, Ps 39:3,4. Seven days the prophet Ezekiel sat down astonished with the captives, and then (probably on the sabbath day) the word of the Lord came to him, Eze 3:15,16. So long Job and his friends sat thinking, but said nothing; they were afraid of speaking what they thought, lest they should grieve him, and he durst not give vent to his thoughts, lest he should offend them. They came to comfort him, but, finding his afflictions very extraordinary, they began to think comfort did not belong to him, suspecting him to be a hypocrite, and therefore they said nothing. But losers think they may have leave to speak, and therefore Job first gives vent to his thoughts. Unless they had been better, it would however have been well if he had kept them to himself. In short, he cursed his day, the day of his birth, wished he had never been born, could not think or speak of his own birth without regret and vexation. Whereas men usually observe the annual return of their birth-day with rejoicing, he looked upon it as the unhappiest day of the year, because the unhappiest of his life, being the inlet into all his woe. Now,
I. This was bad enough. The extremity of his trouble and the discomposure of his spirits may excuse it in part, but he can by no means be justified in it. Now he has forgotten the good he was born to, the lean kine have eaten up the fat ones, and he is filled with thoughts of the evil only, and wishes he had never been born. The prophet Jeremiah himself expressed his painful sense of his calamities in language not much unlike this: Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me! Jer 15:10. Cursed be the day wherein I was born, Jer 20:14, etc. We may suppose that Job in his prosperity had many a time blessed God for the day of his birth, and reckoned it a happy day; yet now he brands it with all possible marks of infamy. When we consider the iniquity in which we were conceived and born we have reason enough to reflect with sorrow and shame upon the day of our birth, and to say that the day of our death, by which we are freed from sin (Ro 6:7), is far better. Ec 7:1. But to curse the day of our birth because then we entered upon the calamitous scene of life is to quarrel with the God of nature, to despise the dignity of our being, and to indulge a passion which our own calm and sober thoughts will make us ashamed of. Certainly there is no condition of life a man can be in in this world but he may in it (if it be not his own fault) so honour God, and work out his own salvation, and make sure a happiness for himself in a better world, that he will have no reason at all to wish he had never been born, but a great deal of reason to say that he had his being to good purpose. Yet it must be owned, if there were not another life after this, and divine consolations to support us in the prospect of it, so many are the sorrows and troubles of this that we might sometimes be tempted to say that we were made in vain (Ps 89:47), and to wish we had never been. There are those in hell who with good reason wish they had never been born, as Judas, Mt 26:24. But, on this side hell, there can be no reason for so vain and ungrateful a wish. It was Job's folly and weakness to curse his day. We must say of it, This was his infirmity; but good men have sometimes failed in the exercise of those graces which they have been most eminent for, that we may understand that when they are said to be perfect it is meant that they were upright, not that they were sinless. Lastly, Let us observe it, to the honour of the spiritual life above the natural, that though many have cursed the day of their first birth, never any cursed the day of their new-birth, nor wished they never had had grace, and the Spirit of grace, given them. Those are the most excellent gifts, above life and being itself, and which will never be a burden.
II. Yet it was not so bad as Satan promised himself. Job cursed his day, but he did not curse his God—was weary of his life, and would gladly have parted with that, but not weary of his religion; he resolutely cleaves to that, and will never let it go. The dispute between God and Satan concerning Job was not whether Job had his infirmities, and whether he was subject to like passions as we are (that was granted), but whether he was a hypocrite, who secretly hated God, and if he were provoked, would show his hatred; and, upon trial, it proved that he was no such man. Nay, all this may consist with his being a pattern of patience; for, though he did thus speak unadvisedly with his lips, yet both before and after he expressed great submission and resignation to the holy will of God and repented of his impatience; he condemned himself for it, and therefore God did not condemn him, nor must we, but watch the more carefully over ourselves, lest we sin after the similitude of this transgression.
1. The particular expressions which Job used in cursing his day are full of poetical fancy, flame, and rapture, and create as much difficulty to the critics as the thing itself does to the divines: we need not be particular in our observations upon them. When he would express his passionate wish that he had never been, he falls foul upon the day, and wishes,
(1.) That earth might forget it: Let it perish (Job 3:3); let it not be joined to the days of the year, Job 3:6. "Let it be not only not inserted in the calendar in red letters, as the day of the king's nativity useth to be" (and Job was a king, Job 29:25), "but let it be erased and blotted out, and buried in oblivion. Let not the world know that ever such a man as I was born into it, and lived in it, who am made such a spectacle of misery."
(2.) That Heaven might frown upon it: Let not God regard it from above, Job 3:4. "Every thing is indeed as it is with God; that day is honourable on which he puts honour, and which he distinguishes and crowns with his favour and blessing, as he did the seventh day of the week; but let my birthday never be so honoured; let it be nigro carbone notandus—marked as with a black coal for an evil day by him that determines the times before appointed. The father and fountain of light appointed the greater light to rule the day and the less lights to rule the night; but let that want the benefit of both." [1.] Let that day be darkness (Job 3:4); and, if the light of the day be darkness, how great is that darkness! how terrible! because then we look for light. Let the gloominess of the day represent Job's condition, whose sun went down at noon. [2.] As for that night too, let it want the benefit of moon and stars, and let darkness seize upon it, thick darkness, darkness that may be felt, which will not befriend the repose of the night by its silence, but rather disturb it with its terrors.
(3.) That all joy might forsake it: "Let it be a melancholy night, solitary, and not a merry night of music and dancing. Let no joyful voice come therein (Job 3:7); let it be a long night, and not see the eye-lids of the morning (Job 3:9), which bring joy with them."
(4.) That all curses might follow it (Job 3:8): "Let none ever desire to see it, or bid it welcome when it comes, but, on the contrary, let those curse it that curse the day. Whatever day any are tempted to curse, let them at the same time bestow one curse upon my birth-day, particularly those that make it their trade to raise up mourning at funerals with their ditties of lamentation. Let those that curse the day of the death of others in the same breath curse the day of my birth." Or those who are so fierce and daring as to be ready to raise up the Leviathan (for that is the word here), who, being about to strike the whale or crocodile, curse it with the bitterest curse they can invent, hoping by their incantations to weaken it, and so to make themselves master of it. Probably some such custom might there be used, to which our divine poet alludes. "Let it be as odious as the day wherein men bewail the greatest misfortune, or the time wherein they see the most dreadful apparition;" so bishop Patrick, I suppose taking the Leviathan here to signify the devil, as others do, who understand it of the curses used by conjurors and magicians in raising the devil, or when they have raised a devil that they cannot lay.
2. But what is the ground of Job's quarrel with the day and night of his birth? It is because it shut not up the doors of his mother's womb, Job 3:10. See the folly and madness of a passionate discontent, and how absurdly and extravagantly it talks when the reins are laid on the neck of it. Is this Job, who was so much admired for his wisdom that unto him men gave ear, and kept silence at his counsel, and after his words they spoke not again? Job 29:21,22. Surely his wisdom failed him, (1.) When he took so much pains to express his desire that he had never been born, which, at the best was a vain wish, for it is impossible to make that which has been not to have been. (2.) When he was so liberal of his curses upon a day and a night that could not be hurt, or made any the worse for his curses. (3.) When he wished a thing so very barbarous to his own mother as that she had not brought him forth when her full time had come, which must inevitably have been her death, and a miserable death. (4.) When he despised the goodness of God to him in giving him a being (such a being, so noble and excellent a life, such a life, so far above that of any other creature in this lower world), and undervalued the gift, as not worth the acceptance, only because transit cum onere—it was clogged with a proviso of trouble, which now at length came upon him, after many years' enjoyment of its pleasures. What a foolish thing it was to wish that his eyes had never seen the light, that so they might not have seen sorrow, which yet he might hope to see through, and beyond which he might see joy! Did Job believe and hope that he should in his flesh see God at the latter day (Job 19:26), and yet would he wish he had never had a being capable of such a bliss, only because, for the present, he had sorrow in the flesh? God by his grace arm us against this foolish and hurtful lust of impatience.
11-26
Job's Complaint of Life (1520 BC)
約伯對生命的抱怨（公元前1520年）
¹¹ 我為何不出母胎而死？為何不出母腹絕氣？
¹² 為何有膝接收我？為何有奶哺養我呢？
¹³ 不然，我就早已躺臥安睡；
¹⁴ 和地上為自己重造荒丘的君王、謀士一同安息；
¹⁵ 或與有金子、將銀子裝滿了房屋的王子一同安息；
¹⁶ 或像隱而未現、不到期而落的胎，就如未見光的嬰孩。
¹⁷ 在那裡惡人止息攪擾，疲乏的人得享安息；
¹⁸ 被囚的人同得安逸，不聽見督工的聲音。
¹⁹ 大小都在那裡；奴僕脫離主人的轄制。
約伯也許在反省自己巴不得沒有出生的愚妄之後，繼續下去，要以另一個差不多同樣糟糕的念頭來加以補救——巴不得他一出生就死了——他在這些經文中對此加以闡述。我們的主在要描繪一種極其災難性的狀態時，似乎容許這樣的話：不生育的和未曾懷胎的，未曾乳養嬰孩的有福了（路 23:29）；但稱頌不生育的胎是一回事，咒詛結果子的胎又是另一回事！善用苦難中的好處是有益的，但將恩慈中最壞的一面加以利用卻是不好的。我們的法則是：*只要祝福，不可咒詛。*生命常被用來代表一切的好處，死亡代表一切的惡事；然而約伯在這裡非常荒謬地抱怨生命和生命的支持是他身上的咒詛和災禍，而將死亡和墳墓視為最大、最可羨慕的福氣。撒但在論到約伯時引用了那句格言——人為保全性命，願意捨棄一切——實在是被約伯欺騙了；因為從來沒有人像他那樣把生命看得如此低賤。
I. 他忘恩地埋怨生命，氣憤它沒有在賜給他的同時就被取去（約伯記 3:11-12）：*我為何不出母胎而死？請看這裡，1. 人來到世上時是何等軟弱無助的受造之物，生命的線在最初抽出時是何等纖細。我們一出母胎就預備要死，一開始呼吸就預備要斷氣。我們不能像別的受造之物那樣為自己做什麼，若沒有膝接收我們，就會跌入墳墓中；生命的燈初次點燃時，若沒有賜給我們的奶來哺養、供應新的油，它自己也會熄滅。2. 神聖護理在我們進入世界時對我們有何等仁慈和溫柔的眷顧。正因如此，我們才不出母胎而死、才不在出母腹時絕氣。為什麼我們不是一出生就被剪除？不是因為我們不該如此。這樣的雜草本可在剛長出時就被拔去；這樣的毒蛇本可在蛋中被碾碎。也不是因為我們能或確實照管自己和自己 的安全：沒有任何受造之物來到世上時像人那樣無助。保全我們這些生命的，不是我們的能力或我們手的力量，而是神的權能和護理托住了我們脆弱的生命，他的憐憫和寬容饒恕了我們已經喪失的生命。正因如此，膝才接收了我們。父母心中的自然情感是由自然之神的手放入的：因此胸的福氣伴隨著胎的福氣。3. 人的生命中伴隨著何等多的虛空和煩惱。如果我們在這世上沒有要事奉的神，在另一個世界沒有更好的盼望，考慮到我們所賦有的能力和我們所面臨的諸般患難，我們就會強烈地受試探巴不得一出母胎就死了，*那樣就可以避免許多的罪和痛苦。
4. 不忍耐、煩躁和不滿的邪惡。當這些佔上風時，它們是不合理和荒謬的，是不敬虔和忘恩的。放縱它們就是輕看和貶低神的恩惠。無論生命多麼苦澀，我們都當說：「這是因耶和華的慈愛，我們才不出母胎而死，才不被消滅。」對生命的恨惡與人類共同的常識和感受相矛盾，也與我們自己在任何其他時候的感受相矛盾。讓不滿的人對生命發再多牢騷，到了關頭他們還是捨不得放棄的。正如寓言中的老人因背負重擔而厭倦了，便滿懷不滿地將它扔下並呼喚死亡；死亡來了，問他要它為他做什麼——他那時回答說：「什麼也不做，只要幫我把重擔背起來。」
II. 他激情地稱頌死亡和墳墓，似乎完全愛上了它們。渴望死去以便與基督同在、得以脫離罪、並得以穿上我們那從天上來的房屋，這是恩典的效果和證據；但僅僅為了在墳墓中得安息、脫離今生的苦難而渴望死去，卻帶有敗壞的氣味。約伯在這裡的思考，對於在死亡來到時使我們與之和解、在它的拘禁下使我們安然，可以有好的用處；但它們不應當被用作藉口，去在生命持續時與生命爭吵，或使我們在它的重擔下不安。我們的智慧和本分是善用現狀——無論是活是死——如此為主而活且為主而死，在兩者中都是屬乎主的（羅 14:8）。約伯在這裡因思想而使自己煩躁：他若一出生就死了、從母胎被帶到墳墓，1. 他的境況就會與最好的那些人一樣好：我就會（他說——約伯記 3:14）與地上為自己重造荒丘的君王、謀士在一起——他們的排場、權勢和計謀不能使他們超出死亡的範圍，不能保護他們免於墳墓，也不能在墳墓中將他們的塵土與普通的塵土區分開來。即使是有豐富金子的王子，也不能用金子賄賂死亡，使它在奉命而來時忽略他們；雖然他們用銀子裝滿了他們的房屋，卻不得不將一切留在身後，不再歸回。有人將君王和謀士在此所說為自己重造的荒丘理解為他們生前為自己預備的墳墓或紀念碑，如捨伯那（賽 22:16）為自己鑿出墳墓；而王子們所擁有的金子、裝滿他們房屋的銀子，他們理解為那些據說通常被存放在偉人墳墓中的財寶。人們使用了這樣的手段，為要盡可能在死亡的另一邊保存自己的尊嚴，使自己不至於與那些地位較低的人平起平坐；但這是不行的：死亡是、且將是一個不可抗拒的平均者。死亡使權杖與鏟子平等。富足人和貧窮人在墳墓中相遇；在那裡，一個隱而未現、不到期而落的胎（約伯記 3:16）——一個要麼從未見過光的嬰孩，要麼只剛剛睜開眼睛向世上窺探了一下，覺得不滿意，就閉上眼睛急忙離開了——躺臥得與那些有金子的君王、謀士和王子一樣柔軟安適，一樣高峻安全。「因此，」約伯說，「我巴不得躺在那裡的塵土中，而不是躺在這裡的灰燼中！」2. 他的境況就會比現在好得多（約伯記 3:13）：*不然，我就早已躺臥安睡——而如今我不能如此，不能如此安然，而是輾轉反側、不得安寧；那時我就安睡了，*而如今睡眠離開了我的雙眼；*那時我就早已安息，*而如今我不得安息。如今生命和不朽已被福音帶到了比從前清楚得多的亮光中，敬虔的基督徒可以對死亡的益處作出比這更好的交代：「那時我便與主同在；那時我便面對面得見他的榮耀，不再隔著鏡子觀看，模糊不清。」但可憐的約伯所夢想的，不過是在墳墓中脫離惡信的恐懼和毒瘡的痛苦而得安息和安靜。*那時我便安然；而他若保持了他從前記錄在前兩章中的那種平靜安穩的性情——完全順服於神聖潔的旨意並在其中安息——他如今就可以安然了；至少他的靈魂可以在身體躺臥痛苦之中時安然居住（詩 25:13）。請看他何等優美地描述了墳墓的安息——這（前提是靈魂也在神裡面安息）可以大大幫助我們勝過對死亡的恐懼。（1.）那些如今受攪擾的人在那裡將脫離攪擾的範圍（約伯記 3:17）：在那裡惡人止息攪擾。當逼迫者死了，他們就不能再逼迫了；他們的恨惡和嫉妒就必消滅。希律曾苦害教會，但當他成了蟲子的食物，他就止息了攪擾。當受逼迫者死了，他們就脫離了進一步受攪擾的危險。約伯若在他墳墓中安息，就不會受示巴人和迦勒人的攪擾，他的仇敵中沒有一個會給他製造麻煩。（2.）那些如今勞碌的人在那裡將看見他們勞碌的終結。在那裡疲乏的人得享安息。天國對聖徒的靈魂來說不僅僅是安息，但墳墓對他們的身體來說是安息。他們的朝聖之旅是令人疲倦的朝聖之旅；罪和世界使他們厭倦；他們的服事、受苦和期待使他們疲憊不堪；但在墳墓裡他們從一切的勞碌中安息（啟 14:13、賽 57:2）。他們在那裡安然，不再發怨言；在那裡信徒在耶穌裡睡了。（3.）那些在此被奴役的人在那裡得著自由。死亡是囚犯的釋放、受壓迫者的解脫、僕人的解放（約伯記 3:18）：在那裡被囚的人雖然不能自由行走，卻同得安逸，*不必在那監牢裡推磨做工。他們不再受殘酷的監工侮辱踐踏、威脅恐嚇：*不聽見督工的聲音。*那些在此被定為永遠服苦役、連自己的身體都不能稱為自己所有的人，在那裡不再受管轄或控制：在那裡奴僕脫離主人的轄制——這是一個很好的理由，說明那些有權力的人當溫和地使用它，而那些在服從中的人當忍耐地承受它，不過再忍耐片時。（4.）那些與別人相距甚遠的人在那裡處於同一水平（約伯記 3:19）：*大小都在那裡，*在那裡都一樣，在那裡都一樣，在死人中都同樣自由。伴隨偉人的冗長排場在那裡終結了。一切貧窮和卑微狀態的不便之處也同樣結束了；死亡和墳墓不分彼此。
²⁰ 受患難的人為何有光賜給他呢？心中愁苦的人為何有生命賜給他呢？
²¹ 他們切望死，卻不得死；求死勝於求隱藏的珍寶。
²² 他們尋見墳墓就歡喜快樂嗎？
²³ 人的道路既然遮蔽， 神又四面圍困他，為何有光賜給他呢？
²⁴ 我未曾吃飯就發出歎息；我的唉哼如水湧出來。
²⁵ 因我所恐懼的臨到我身，我所懼怕的迎我而來。
²⁶ 我不得安逸，不得安靜，也不得安息；卻有患難來到。
約伯發現巴不得自己沒有出生或一出生就死了都無濟於事，如今在這裡抱怨他的生命被延續而不被剪除。人一旦開始爭吵就沒完沒了；敗壞的心會繼續那脾氣。既已咒詛了自己出生的日子，如今他又來討好自己死亡的日子。這爭端和不忍耐的開端如同放水一般，一發不可收拾。
I. 他認為一般而言，痛苦的生命被延長是一件難以接受的事（約伯記 3:20-22）：為何有光賜給心中愁苦的人呢？靈裡的痛苦使生命本身也變得苦澀。為何有光賜給他呢？（原文如此）：他指的是神，卻不提名——雖然魔鬼曾說「他必當面棄掉你」；但他暗暗地批評神聖的護理不公不仁，在生命的安慰被除去之後還延續生命。生命被稱為光，因為它令人愉悅、有助於行走和工作。它是燭光；燒得越久就越短，越接近燭臺。這光被說是賜給我們的；因為若不是每日藉著新的恩賜更新給我們，它就會失去。但約伯認為對那些在苦難中的人來說，這是「賜而又非賜」——一個他們寧可沒有的恩賜——因為光只是使他們藉以看見自己的苦難。人的生命如此虛空，有時成了煩惱；而死亡的性質如此可變，雖然本性上可怕，卻可能對本性本身成為可羨慕的。他在這裡論到那些，1. 渴望死亡的人——當他們的安慰和用處都已過去，被年老和軟弱、疼痛或疾病、貧窮或恥辱所壓，而死亡卻不來；而同時，它卻臨到許多懼怕它、巴不得遠離它的人。生命的延續和終止必須照神的旨意，不是照我們的旨意。我們不當被諮詢要活多久、何時死；我們的時代在比我們自己更好的手中。2. 那些如尋找隱藏的珍寶般尋找它的人——就是說，為得著從這世界公正的解脫而願意付出任何代價的人——這暗示那時人自己作自己的行刑者這樣的想法還沒有被提出或暗示，否則那些渴望它的人就不必費很大力氣去尋找了，他們很快就能得到它（如塞涅卡告訴他們的），只要他們願意。3. 那些歡迎它、尋見墳墓就歡喜快樂、看見自己正在步入其中的人。如果今生的苦難能違背本性使死亡本身成為可羨慕的，那麼對更美生命的盼望和期望——死亡是我們通往那生命的途徑——豈不更當如此，使我們完全不怕它嗎？渴望死亡可能是一種罪，但我確知渴望天堂絕不是罪。
II. 他認為自己特別受到了不公的對待——在他不能用任何其他方式得著解脫時，卻不能藉死亡減輕他的痛苦和苦難。因我們所遇到的苦難而不忍耐生命，不但本身不合乎本性，而且對生命的賜予者忘恩，表明我們放縱自己的激情是罪惡的，對我們將來的狀態漫不經心也是罪惡的。讓我們以預備好迎接另一個世界為我們最大而持續不斷的關切，然後把遷往那裡的環境交託給神照他所看為合宜的來安排：「主啊，隨你所喜悅的時間和方式」；而且帶著如此淡然的心，以至於他若將這事交給我們，我們也會再交還給他。恩典教導我們在生命最大的安慰中願意死去，在生命最大的十字架中願意活著。約伯為自己在如此強烈地渴望死去上辯護，提到他在生命中所得的安慰和滿足何其少。
1. 在他如今受苦的狀態中，痛苦不斷被感受到，而且看來將繼續如此。他以為自己有足夠的理由厭倦活著，因為，（1.）他從生命中得不到安慰：我未曾吃飯就發出歎息（約伯記 3:24）。生命的憂患預先防備並搶先於生命的支持；不但如此，它們奪去了他對必需食物的胃口。他的悲傷如同他的飯食一樣按時歸來，患難成了他日用的飲食。不但如此，他的痛苦和煎熬大到一個地步，他不只是歎息，而是咆哮，他的唉哼如水湧出來——豐盛而持續不斷。我們的主曾經受憂患，我們也當預料如此。（2.）他沒有改善境況的指望：他的道路被遮蔽，神又四面圍困他（約伯記 3:23）。他看不見敞開的拯救之路，也不知道該走什麼方向；他的路*被荊棘圍住，*使他找不到自己的路徑。參見約伯記 23:8、哀 3:7。
2. 即使在他從前興盛的狀態中，他也常常擔心患難；因此那時他也不得安寧（約伯記 3:25-26）。他對世界的虛空和他生來自然要面臨的患難知道得太多，以至於*他不得安逸，也不得安息。*使他的憂患如今更加沉重的是，他不覺得自己在興盛之日有過什麼大的疏忽或安逸，以至於會惹神如此管教他。（1.）他不是疏忽和不留心自己的事務的，而是保持了對患難的適當敬畏——這對保持警覺是必要的。他在兒女設擺筵席時為他們擔心，唯恐他們得罪了神（約伯記 1:5）；他為僕人擔心，唯恐他們得罪了鄰舍；他盡一切所能照管自己的健康，以一切可能的謹慎來管理自己和自己的事務；然而一切都是徒然。（2.）他不是安逸的，沒有放縱自己在舒適和柔嫩中，沒有倚靠自己的財富，也沒有以歡樂將持續不斷的幻想來奉承自己；然而患難還是來了——為要使他確信並提醒他世界的虛空，而這一點他在安逸度日時也沒有忘記。如此，他的路被遮蔽了，因為他不知道神為何與他爭論。如今這個思想不但不加重他的憂患，反而可以用來減輕它。沒有什麼比我們的良心為我們作見證——我們在興盛之日多少盡了我們的本分——更能使患難變得容易忍受的了；而對患難的期待會使它在來到時更輕省。越是出乎意料，越是令人恐懼。
英文原文
Job's Complaint of Life (1520 BC)
¹¹ Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
¹² Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
¹³ For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
¹⁴ With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
¹⁵ Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
¹⁶ Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
¹⁸ There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
¹⁹ The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Job, perhaps reflecting upon himself for his folly in wishing he had never been born, follows it, and thinks to mend it, with another, little better, that he had died as soon as he was born, which he enlarges upon in these verses. When our Saviour would set forth a very calamitous state of things he seems to allow such a saying as this, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps which never gave suck (Lu 23:29); but blessing the barren womb is one thing and cursing the fruitful womb is another! It is good to make the best of afflictions, but it is not good to make the worst of mercies. Our rule is, Bless, and curse not. Life is often put for all good, and death for all evil; yet Job here very absurdly complains of life and its supports as a curse and plague to him, and covets death and the grave as the greatest and most desirable bliss. Surely Satan was deceived in Job when he applied that maxim to him, All that a man hath will he give for his life; for never any man valued life at a lower rate than he did.
I. He ungratefully quarrels with life, and is angry that it was not taken from him as soon as it was given him (Job 3:11,12): Why died not I from the womb? See here, 1. What a weak and helpless creature man is when he comes into the world, and how slender the thread of life is when it is first drawn. We are ready to die from the womb, and to breathe our last as soon as we begin to breathe at all. We can do nothing for ourselves, as other creatures can, but should drop into the grave if the knees did not prevent us; and the lamp of life, when first lighted, would go out of itself if the breasts given us, that we should suck, did not supply it with fresh oil. 2. What a merciful and tender care divine Providence took of us at our entrance into the world. It was owing to this that we died not from the womb and did not give up the ghost when we came out of the belly. Why were we not cut off as soon as we were born? Not because we did not deserve it. Justly might such weeds have been plucked up as soon as they appeared; justly might such cockatrices have been crushed in the egg. Nor was it because we did, or could, take any care of ourselves and our own safety: no creature comes into the world so shiftless as man. It was not our might, or the power of our hand, that preserved us these beings, but God's power and providence upheld our frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. It was owing to this that the knees prevented us. Natural affection is put into parents' hearts by the hand of the God of nature: and hence it was that the blessings of the breast attended those of the womb. 3. What a great deal of vanity and vexation of spirit attends human life. If we had not a God to serve in this world, and better things to hope for in another world, considering the faculties we are endued with and the troubles we are surrounded with, we should be strongly tempted to wish that we had died from the womb, which would have prevented a great deal both of sin and misery.
4. The evil of impatience, fretfulness, and discontent. When they thus prevail they are unreasonable and absurd, impious and ungrateful. To indulge them is a slighting and undervaluing of God's favour. How much soever life is embittered, we must say, "It was of the Lord's mercies that we died not from the womb, that we were not consumed." Hatred of life is a contradiction to the common sense and sentiments of mankind, and to our own at any other time. Let discontented people declaim ever so much against life, they will be loth to part with it when it comes to the point. When the old man in the fable, being tired with his burden, threw it down with discontent and called for Death, and Death came to him and asked him what he would have with him, he then answered, "Nothing, but to help me up with my burden."
II. He passionately applauds death and the grave, and seems quite in love with them. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, and that we may be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die only that we may be quiet in the grave, and delivered from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption. Job's considerations here may be of good use to reconcile us to death when it comes, and to make us easy under the arrest of it; but they ought not to be made use of as a pretence to quarrel with life while it is continued, or to make us uneasy under the burdens of it. It is our wisdom and duty to make the best of that which is, be it living or dying, and so to live to the Lord and die to the Lord, and to be his in both, Ro 14:8. Job here frets himself with thinking that if he had but died as soon as he was born, and been carried from the womb to the grave, 1. His condition would have been as good as that of the best: I would have been (says he, Job 3:14) with kings and counsellors of the earth, whose pomp, power, and policy, cannot set them out of the reach of death, nor secure them from the grave, nor distinguish theirs from common dust in the grave. Even princes, who had gold in abundance, could not with it bribe Death to overlook them when he came with commission; and, though they filled their houses with silver, yet they were forced to leave it all behind them, no more to return to it. Some, by the desolate places which the kings and counsellors are here said to build for themselves, understand the sepulchres or monuments they prepared for themselves in their life-time; as Shebna (Isa 22:16) hewed himself out a sepulchre; and by the gold which the princes had, and the silver with which they filled their houses, they understand the treasures which, they say, it was usual to deposit in the graves of great men. Such arts have been used to preserve their dignity, if possible, on the other side death, and to keep themselves from lying even with those of inferior rank; but it will not do: death is, and will be, an irresistible leveller. Mors sceptra ligonibus æquat—Death mingles sceptres with spades. Rich and poor meet together in the grave; and there a hidden untimely birth (Job 3:16), a child that either never saw light or but just opened its eyes and peeped into the world, and, not liking it, closed them again and hastened out of it, lies as soft and easy, lies as high and safe, as kings and counsellors, and princes, that had gold. "And therefore," says Job, "would I had lain there in the dust, rather than to lie here in the ashes!" 2. His condition would have been much better than now it was (Job 3:13): "Then should I have lain still, and been quiet, which now I cannot do, I cannot be, but am still tossing and unquiet; then I should have slept, whereas now sleep departeth from my eyes; then had I been at rest, whereas now I am restless." Now that life and immortality are brought to a much clearer light by the gospel than before they were placed in good Christians can give a better account than this of the gain of death: "Then should I have been present with the Lord; then should I have seen his glory face to face, and no longer through a glass darkly." But all that poor Job dreamed of was rest and quietness in the grave out of the fear of evil tidings and out of the feeling of sore boils. Then should I have been quiet; and had he kept his temper, his even easy temper still, which he was in as recorded in the two foregoing chapters, entirely resigned to the holy will of God and acquiescing in it, he might have been quiet now; his soul, at least, might have dwelt at ease, even when his body lay in pain, Ps 25:13. Observe how finely he describes the repose of the grave, which (provided the soul also be at rest in God) may much assist our triumphs over it. (1.) Those that now are troubled will there be out of the reach of trouble (Job 3:17): There the wicked cease from troubling. When persecutors die they can no longer persecute; their hatred and envy will then perish. Herod had vexed the church, but, when he became a prey for worms, he ceased from troubling. When the persecuted die they are out of the danger of being any further troubled. Had Job been at rest in his grave, he would have had no disturbance from the Sabeans and Chaldeans, none of all his enemies would have created him any trouble. (2.) Those that are now toiled will there see the period of their toils. There the weary are at rest. Heaven is more than a rest to the souls of the saints, but the grave is a rest to their bodies. Their pilgrimage is a weary pilgrimage; sin and the world they are weary of; their services, sufferings, and expectations, they are wearied with; but in the grave they rest from all their labours, Re 14:13, Isa 57:23. They are easy there, and make no complaints; there believers sleep in Jesus. (3.) Those that were here enslaved are there at liberty. Death is the prisoner's discharge, the relief of the oppressed, and the servant's manumission (Job 3:18): There the prisoners, though they walk not at large, yet they rest together, and are not put to work, to grind in that prison-house. They are no more insulted and trampled upon, menaced and terrified, by their cruel task-masters: They hear not the voice of the oppressor. Those that were here doomed to perpetual servitude, that could call nothing their own, no, not their own bodies, are there no longer under command or control: There the servant is free from his master, which is a good reason why those that have power should use it moderately, and those that are in subjection should bear it patiently, yet a little while. (4.) Those that were at a vast distance from others are there upon a level (Job 3:19): The small and great are there, there the same, there all one, all alike free among the dead. The tedious pomp and state which attend the great are at an end there. All the inconveniences of a poor and low condition are likewise over; death and the grave know no difference.
²⁰ Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
²¹ Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
²² Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
²³ Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
²⁴ For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
²⁵ For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
²⁶ I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Job, finding it to no purpose to wish either that he had not been born or had died as soon as he was born, here complains that his life was now continued and not cut off. When men are set on quarrelling there is no end of it; the corrupt heart will carry on the humour. Having cursed the day of his birth, here he courts the day of his death. The beginning of this strife and impatience is as the letting forth of water.
I. He thinks it hard, in general, that miserable lives should be prolonged (Job 3:20-22): Wherefore is light in life given to those that are bitter in soul? Bitterness of soul, through spiritual grievances, makes life itself bitter. Why doth he give light? (so it is in the original): he means God, yet does not name him, though the devil had said, "He will curse thee to thy face;" but he tacitly reflects on the divine Providence as unjust and unkind in continuing life when the comforts of life are removed. Life is called light, because pleasant and serviceable for walking and working. It is candle-light; the longer it burns the shorter it is, and the nearer to the socket. This light is said to be given us; for, if it were not daily renewed to us by a fresh gift, it would be lost. But Job reckons that to those who are in misery it is doron adoron—gift and no gift, a gift that they had better be without, while the light only serves them to see their own misery by. Such is the vanity of human life that it sometimes becomes a vexation of spirit; and so alterable is the property of death that, though dreadful to nature, it may become desirable even to nature itself. He here speaks of those, 1. Who long for death, when they have out-lived their comforts and usefulness, are burdened with age and infirmities, with pain or sickness, poverty or disgrace, and yet it comes not; while, at the same time, it comes to many who dread it and would put it far from them. The continuance and period of life must be according to God's will, not according to ours. It is not fit that we should be consulted how long we would live and when we would die; our times are in a better hand than our own. 2. Who dig for it as for hidden treasures, that is, would give any thing for a fair dismission out of this world, which supposes that then the thought of men's being their own executioners was not so much as entertained or suggested, else those who longed for it needed not take much pains for it, they might soon come at it (as Seneca tells them) if they are pleased. 3. Who bid it welcome, and are glad when they can find the grave and see themselves stepping into it. If the miseries of this life can prevail, contrary to nature, to make death itself desirable, shall not much more the hopes and prospects of a better life, to which death is our passage, make it so, and set us quite above the fear of it? It may be a sin to long for death, but I am sure it is no sin to long for heaven.
II. He thinks himself, in particular, hardly dealt with, that he might not be eased of his pain and misery by death when he could not get ease in any other way. To be thus impatient of life for the sake of the troubles we meet with is not only unnatural in itself, but ungrateful to the giver of life, and argues a sinful indulgence of our own passion and a sinful inconsideration of our future state. Let it be our great and constant care to get ready for another world, and then let us leave it to God to order the circumstances of our removal thither as he thinks fit: "Lord, when and how thou pleasest;" and this with such an indifference that, if he should refer it to us, we would refer it to him again. Grace teaches us, in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and, in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live. Job, to excuse himself in this earnest desire which he had to die, pleads the little comfort and satisfaction he had in life.
1. In his present afflicted state troubles were continually felt, and were likely to be so. He thought he had cause enough to be weary of living, for, (1.) He had no comfort of his life: My sighing comes before I eat, Job 3:24. The sorrows of life prevented and anticipated the supports of life; nay, they took away his appetite for his necessary food. His griefs returned as duly as his meals, and affliction was his daily bread. Nay, so great was the extremity of his pain and anguish that he did not only sigh, but roar, and his roarings were poured out like the waters in a full and constant stream. Our Master was acquainted with grief, and we must expect to be so too. (2.) He had no prospect of bettering his condition: His way was hidden, and God had hedged him in, Job 3:23. He saw no way open of deliverance, nor knew he what course to take; his way was hedged up with thorns, that he could not find his path. See Job 23:8, La 3:7.
2. Even in his former prosperous state troubles were continually feared; so that then he was never easy, Job 3:25,26. He knew so much of the vanity of the world, and the troubles to which, of course, he was born, that he was not in safety, neither had he rest then. That which made his grief now the more grievous was that he was not conscious to himself of any great degree either of negligence or security in the day of his prosperity, which might provoke God thus to chastise him. (1.) He had not been negligent and unmindful of his affairs, but kept up such a fear of trouble as was necessary to the maintaining of his guard. He was afraid for his children when they were feasting, lest they should offend God (Job 1:5), afraid for his servants lest they should offend his neighbours; he took all the care he could of his own health, and managed himself and his affairs with all possible precaution; yet all would not do. (2.) He had not been secure, nor indulged himself in ease and softness, had not trusted in his wealth, nor flattered himself with the hopes of the perpetuity of his mirth; yet trouble came, to convince and remind him of the vanity of the world, which yet he had not forgotten when he lived at ease. Thus his way was hidden, for he knew not wherefore God contended with him. Now this consideration, instead of aggravating his grief, might rather serve to alleviate it. Nothing will make trouble easy so much as the testimony of our consciences for us, that, in some measure, we did our duty in a day of prosperity; and an expectation of trouble will make it sit the lighter when it comes. The less it is a surprise the less it is a terror.
使徒說：「你們聽見過約伯的忍耐」（Jam 5:11）。我們確實聽見了，也聽見了他的不耐。我們曾驚訝一個人竟能像他那樣忍耐（Job 1:1-2:13），但我們也驚訝一個好人竟會像他在本章中那樣不耐，在本章裏我們看見他咒詛自己的生日，並在激憤之中：I. 抱怨自己被生下來（Job 3:1-10）。II. 抱怨自己出生時沒有立刻死去（Job 3:11-19）。III. 抱怨自己如今身處苦難之中，生命卻仍被延續（Job 3:20-26）。在這事上必須承認，約伯用嘴唇犯了罪；這話被記下來，不是為讓我們效法，而是為警戒我們，叫自以為站得穩的應當謹慎，免得跌倒。