Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

JOB 3:4KJV
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Job 3:4 (KJV)

What does Job 3:4 mean?

Job 3:4 describes Job’s wish that the day of his birth would be erased from existence, asking that it be covered in darkness and ignored by God, with no light shining on it. Job is expressing a deep desire that his birthday would be forgotten and have no place in God’s attention or the world’s memory.

Job is speaking these words aloud after immense suffering, directing his lament to anyone listening, but especially to God. In this moment, Job is not cursing God but is cursing the day he was born, wishing it had never been noticed or blessed. This verse is part of Job’s larger speech where he mourns his existence and the pain he is experiencing.

The Hebrew behind Job 3:4

  • "day" (יוֹם, yom): This word refers to the literal day of Job’s birth, which he wishes could be blotted out or undone.
  • "darkness" (חֹשֶׁךְ, ḥoshekh): Job asks for his birthday to be covered in darkness, a symbol for misery, obscurity, and the absence of God’s blessing.
  • "God" (אֱלוֹהַּ, eloah): Job specifically asks that God would not "regard" or pay attention to that day, emphasizing how completely he wishes it would be ignored.
  • "regard" (דָּרַשׁ, darash): This word often means to seek or pay attention to. Job wants even God not to look for or care about the day of his birth.
  • "light" (נְהוֹרָה, nehorah): Light often symbolizes life, blessing, or hope. Job’s wish that no light would shine on that day shows how thoroughly he wants it to be erased from all goodness or notice.
  • "shine" (יָפַע, yafa‘): This verb means to shine or give light. Job’s use of it here underlines his desire for his birthday to have no trace of brightness or favor.

Why Job 3:4 matters

  • Job 3:4 shows the depth of Job’s despair without suggesting he is blaming God for his suffering; instead, he is lamenting his own existence.
  • The verse highlights the poetic way Job expresses his pain, using darkness and the absence of God’s attention as images for how he feels.
  • Understanding this verse helps clarify that Job’s complaint is about his circumstances, not a rejection of God, setting the tone for the honest wrestling with suffering that follows in the book.

Where else these words appear

“shine” Hebrew H3313 · used in 8 verses

  • Deuteronomy 33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
  • Job 10:22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
  • Psalms 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

“God” Hebrew H433 · used in 56 verses

  • Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
  • Job 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
  • Job 33:12 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

“darkness” Hebrew H2822 · used in 77 verses

  • Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
  • Job 20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
  • Ecclesiastes 5:17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

“above” Hebrew H4605 · used in 134 verses

  • Genesis 6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
  • Numbers 4:30 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.
  • 2 Chronicles 5:8 For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.