Ayub 10:18-19

An Appeal for Relief

10:18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?

I should have died ¹ 

and no eye would have seen me!

10:19 I should have been as though I had never existed; ² 

I should have been carried

right from the womb to the grave!

Kejadian 20:18

20:18 For the Lord ³  had caused infertility to strike every woman ⁴  in the household of Abimelech because he took ⁵  Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Kejadian 29:31

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ⁶  he enabled her to become pregnant ⁷  while Rachel remained childless.

Kejadian 29:1

The Marriages of Jacob

29:1 So Jacob moved on ⁸  and came to the land of the eastern people. ⁹ 

1 Samuel 1:5

1:5 But he would give a double ¹⁰  portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her. ¹¹  Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children. ¹² 

Pengkhotbah 6:3-5

6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –

even if he lives a long, long time, ¹³  but cannot enjoy his prosperity –

even if he were to live forever ¹⁴  –

I would say, “A stillborn child ¹⁵  is better off than he is!” ¹⁶ 

6:4 Though the stillborn child ¹⁷  came into the world ¹⁸  for no reason ¹⁹  and departed into darkness,

though its name is shrouded in darkness, ²⁰ 

6:5 though it never saw the light of day ²¹  nor knew anything, ²² 

yet it has more rest ²³  than that man –

Yeremia 20:17

20:17 For he did not kill me before I came from the womb,

making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. ²⁴ 

[10:18]  ¹ tn The two imperfect verbs in this section are used to stress regrets for something which did not happen (see GKC 317 §107.n).

[10:19]  ² sn This means “If only I had never come into existence.”

[20:18]  ³ tn In the Hebrew text the clause begins with “because.”

[20:18]  ⁴ tn Heb had completely closed up every womb.” In the Hebrew text infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:18]  sn The Lord had closed up every womb. This fact indicates that Sarah was in Abimelech’s household for weeks or months before the dream revelation was given (20:6-7). No one in his household could have children after Sarah arrived on the scene.

[20:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of.” The words “he took” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[29:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.

[29:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.

[29:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.

[1:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and the Lord had closed her womb.” So also in v. 6. The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is pertinent to the story.

[6:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”

[6:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (vÿgam-qÿvurah lo’-haytah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.

[6:3]  ¹⁵ tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.

[6:3]  ¹⁶ sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (“the stillborn child”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:4]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “into the world” does not appear in Hebrew, but is added in the translation for clarity.

[6:4]  ¹⁹ sn The birth of the stillborn was in vain – it did it no good to be born.

[6:4]  ²⁰ sn The name of the stillborn is forgotten.

[6:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “it never saw the sun.”

[6:5]  ²² tn The word “anything” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:5]  ²³ sn The Hebrew term translated rest here refers to freedom from toil, anxiety, and misery – part of the miserable misfortune that the miserly man of wealth must endure.

[20:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “because he did not kill me from the womb so my mother might be to me for my grave and her womb eternally pregnant.” The sentence structure has been modified and the word “womb” moved from the last line to the next to the last line for English stylistic purposes and greater clarity.