Thy Strong Word — Job 3: A Cry from the Ashes

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In one of Scripture’s most emotionally raw passages, we witness the moment when Job’s legendary patience transforms into profound lament. His words don’t just express grief; they paint a poetic masterpiece of suffering, where darkness battles light, where the peace of death seems sweeter than the torment of life, and where the fundamental question of human existence hangs heavy in the air: Why was I born to suffer?

The Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, IL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Job 3.

Why do the righteous suffer? That’s the burning question at the heart of the book of Job—one of the most profound and challenging books in all of Scripture. From a Lutheran perspective, Job’s story isn’t just about a man enduring unimaginable hardship; it’s about wrestling with God’s will, grappling with well-meaning but misguided advice, and ultimately finding comfort in God’s grace rather than human understanding. As Job’s friends offer simplistic answers, Job demands the truth, and God’s response reminds us of His infinite wisdom and mercy. Through it all, we see glimpses of Christ—the truly innocent sufferer—who redeems our pain and points us to the cross, where suffering meets salvation. Join us as we journey through Job, confronting tough questions about faith, suffering, and God’s mysterious ways with hope grounded in Christ alone.

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Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: [e-mail].

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

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Job 3

Job Laments His Birth

3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ² And Job said:

³ “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
⁴ Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
⁵ Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶ That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
⁷ Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
⁸ Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
⁹ Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
¹⁰ because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ “Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
¹² Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
¹³ For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
¹⁵ or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
¹⁶ Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
¹⁸ There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.

²⁰ “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
²¹ who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
²² who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
²³ Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
²⁴ For my sighing comes instead of^[a] my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
²⁵ For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
²⁶ I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

Footnotes

1. Job 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org