Job 3:11

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?

Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לָ֤מָּה לֹּ֣א מֵרֶ֣חֶם אָמ֑וּת מִבֶּ֖טֶן יָצָ֣אתִי וְאֶגְוָֽע׃

Transliteration

lāmmâ lōʾ mēreḥem ʾāmût mibbeṭen yāṣāʾtî wəʾegwāʿ

Grammar Details

*lāmmâ*: interrogative adverb - why
*lōʾ*: negative particle - not
*mēreḥem*: preposition + noun, masculine singular - from womb
*ʾāmût*: verb, Qal imperfect, 1st common singular - I die
*mibbeṭen*: preposition + noun, feminine singular - from belly
*yāṣāʾtî*: verb, Qal perfect, 1st common singular - I came out
*wəʾegwāʿ*: conjunction + verb, Qal imperfect, 1st common singular - and expire

Word Meanings

*lāmmâ*: why/for what reason
*mēreḥem*: from womb/from birth
*ʾāmût*: I die/I would die
*mibbeṭen*: from belly/from womb
*yāṣāʾtî*: I came out/I emerged/I was delivered
*wəʾegwāʿ*: and expire/and perish/and die

ℹ️

About this Translation

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Formal EquivalenceSource: American Standard VersionBest for: Word studies and original-language research

🎯 Translation Approach

A highly literal, word-for-word translation (ASV, 1901) augmented with Strong's numbering to connect English words to underlying Hebrew and Greek terms for study.

Word-for-word

5/5

Readability

2/5

💎 Distinctive Features

Integrated Strong's numbering: Links English terms to underlying Hebrew and Greek words for deeper lexical study.
Formal equivalence: Prioritizes close alignment with source-language forms and structures.
Divine name rendering: Frequently renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah in the Old Testament, following ASV tradition.
Study-focused formatting: Optimized for reference and research rather than casual reading.

✅ Strengths

High fidelity to original languages
Includes Strong's numbers for precise word study
Consistent lexical choices aid exegesis
Stable, longstanding scholarly text

⚠️ Considerations

Archaic language reduces readability
Older textual basis compared to some modern translations
Strong's numbers are a concordance index, not full lexical definitions

👥 Who is this for?

Ideal for

Pastors and teachers
Seminary students
Serious Bible students
Readers conducting word studies
Those referencing Hebrew/Greek tools

Consider alternatives for

Casual readers
Children and early teens
ESL learners seeking simple English
Readers preferring contemporary language

🔄 Compare with

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Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

Job 10:18-19 : 18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me. 19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Ps 22:9-9 : 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; Thou didst make me trust [when I was] upon my mother's breasts. 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; Thou art my God since my mother bare me.
Ps 58:8 : 8 [ Let them be] as a snail which melteth and passeth away, [Like] the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.
Ps 71:6 : 6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb; Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: My praise shall be continually of thee.
Ps 139:13-16 : 13 For thou didst form my inward parts: Thou didst cover me in my mother's womb. 14 I will give thanks unto thee; For I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, [And] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, [Even] the days that were ordained [for me], When as yet there was none of them.
Isa 46:3 : 3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne [by me] from their birth, that have been carried from the womb;
Jer 15:10 : 10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.
Hos 9:14 : 14 Give them, O Jehovah—what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

Job 3:12-13
2 verses
89%
12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck?
13For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest,
Job 10:18-20
3 verses
88%
18Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
19I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20Are not my days few? cease then, And let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
Job 3:9-10
2 verses
88%
9Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:
10Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother's] womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
Jer 20:17-18
2 verses
84%
17because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
18Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
Job 3:16
79%
16Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
Job 3:2-3
2 verses
78%
2And Job answered and said:
3Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.
Jer 20:14
74%
14Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Job 31:14-16
3 verses
74%
14What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
Ps 22:9-10
2 verses
74%
9But thou art he that took me out of the womb; Thou didst make me trust [when I was] upon my mother's breasts.
10I was cast upon thee from the womb; Thou art my God since my mother bare me.
Ps 71:6
71%
6By thee have I been holden up from the womb; Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: My praise shall be continually of thee.
Job 7:15-16
2 verses
71%
15So that my soul chooseth strangling, And death rather than [these] my bones.
16I loathe [my life]; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity.
Job 14:13
71%
13Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
Ps 51:5
70%
5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.
Job 7:11-12
2 verses
70%
11Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, That thou settest a watch over me?
1 Kgs 3:21
70%
21And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I did bear.
Job 17:1
70%
1My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, The grave is [ready] for me.
Isa 38:10-11
2 verses
69%
10I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11I said, I shall not see Jehovah, [even] Jehovah in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
Job 1:21
69%
21and he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah.
Ps 116:3
69%
3The cords of death compassed me, And the pains of Sheol gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
Ps 139:15
69%
15My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, [And] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Jonah 4:3
69%
3Therefore now, O Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Ps 139:13
69%
13For thou didst form my inward parts: Thou didst cover me in my mother's womb.
Job 7:21
69%
21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be.
Job 14:1
69%
1Man, that is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job 6:11
69%
11What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be {H5315} patient?
Job 13:14
69%
14Wherefore should I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hand?
Ezek 16:5
68%
5No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, for that thy person was abhorred, in the day that thou wast born.
Job 31:18
68%
18(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And her have I guided from my mother's womb);
Eccl 6:3
68%
3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
Job 3:23
68%
23[ Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?
Job 17:15
68%
15Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
Num 12:12
68%
12Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.
2 Sam 12:22
68%
22And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who knoweth whether Jehovah will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?
1 Kgs 3:19
68%
19And this woman's child died in the night, because she lay upon it.
Job 38:8
68%
8Or [who] shut up the sea with doors, When it brake forth, [as if] it had issued out of the womb;
Ps 89:47
68%
47Oh remember how short my time is: For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!
Job 9:29
68%
29I shall be condemned; Why then do I labor in vain?