The Meaning of Job 3:23 Explained

Job 3:23

KJV: Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

YLT: To a man whose way hath been hidden, And whom God doth shut up?

Darby: To the man whose way is hidden, and whom +God hath hedged in?

ASV: Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

[Why is light given] to a man  whose way  is hid,  and whom God  hath hedged in? 

What does Job 3:23 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 3:1-26 - Is Life Worth Living?
In the closing paragraphs of the previous chapter three friends arrive. Teman is Edom; for Shuah see Genesis 25:2; Naamah is Arabia. The group of spectators, gathered round Job's mound, reverently make way for them.
Job opens his mouth in a curse. But it was not, as Satan had expected, against God. The Hebrew word is different from that used in Job 2:9. He does not curse God, but the day of his birth, and asks that his stripped and suffering existence may be brought to as speedy an end as possible. Job's words are very profitable for all whose way is hid. Is the joy of life fled? Yet its duties remain. Continue in these and the path will lead back to light.
This opening elegy consists of two parts: the first, Job 3:1-10, calls on darkness to blot out the day which witnessed the beginning of so sad a life; the second, Job 3:11-26, inquires why, if he were doomed to be born, the luxury of instant death had not been also granted. Oh, human heart, of what sore anguish art thou not capable! [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 3

1  Job curses the day and services of his birth
13  The ease of death
20  He complains of life, because of his anguish

What do the individual words in Job 3:23 mean?

[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hidden and has hedged in God whom
לְ֭גֶבֶר אֲשֶׁר־ דַּרְכּ֣וֹ נִסְתָּ֑רָה ؟ וַיָּ֖סֶךְ אֱל֣וֹהַּ בַּעֲדֽוֹ

לְ֭גֶבֶר  [Why  is  light  given]  to  a  man 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: גֶּבֶר  
Sense: man, strong man, warrior (emphasising strength or ability to fight).
אֲשֶׁר־  whose 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
דַּרְכּ֣וֹ  way 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: דֶּרֶךְ  
Sense: way, road, distance, journey, manner.
נִסְתָּ֑רָה  is  hidden 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: סָתַר  
Sense: to hide, conceal.
؟ וַיָּ֖סֶךְ  and  has  hedged  in 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: סוּךְ 
Sense: (Qal) to hedge, fence about, shut in.
אֱל֣וֹהַּ  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלֹוהַּ  
Sense: God.
בַּעֲדֽוֹ  whom 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: בַּעַד 
Sense: behind, through, round about, on behalf of, away from, about.