Job 3:11

King James Version with Strong's Numbers

Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

📖 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

Referenced Verses

• Job 10:18-19 : 18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that 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 hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
• Ps 58:8 : 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away{H8799)}: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see{H8804)} the sun.
• Ps 71:6 : 6 By thee have I been holden up{H8738)} from the womb: thou art he that took{H8802)} me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
• Ps 139:13-16 : 13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, 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, which are borne by me from the belly, which are 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 neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
• Hos 9:14 : 14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.