The Meaning of Job 3:4 Explained

Job 3:4

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

YLT: That day -- let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it.

Darby: That day let it be darkness, let not +God care for it from above, neither let light shine upon it:

ASV: Let that day be darkness; Let not God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine upon it.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Job 3:4 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 3:4 mean?

Day that May be darkness not May seek it God above nor shine upon it the light
הַיּ֥וֹם הַה֗וּא יְֽהִ֫י חֹ֥שֶׁךְ אַֽל־ יִדְרְשֵׁ֣הוּ אֱל֣וֹהַּ מִמָּ֑עַל וְאַל־ תּוֹפַ֖ע עָלָ֣יו נְהָרָֽה

הַיּ֥וֹם  Day 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
הַה֗וּא  that 
Parse: Article, Pronoun, third person masculine singular
Root: הוּא 
Sense: he, she, it.
יְֽהִ֫י  May  be 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect Jussive, third person masculine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
חֹ֥שֶׁךְ  darkness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֹשֶׁךְ  
Sense: darkness, obscurity.
יִדְרְשֵׁ֣הוּ  May  seek  it 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine singular
Root: דַּרְיׄושׁ 
Sense: to resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require.
אֱל֣וֹהַּ  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלֹוהַּ  
Sense: God.
מִמָּ֑עַל  above 
Parse: Preposition-m, Adverb
Root: מַעַל 
Sense: higher part, upper part adv.
וְאַל־  nor 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: אַל  
Sense: not, no, nor, neither, nothing (as wish or preference).
תּוֹפַ֖ע  shine 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect Jussive, third person feminine singular
Root: יָפַע  
Sense: to shine, shine forth or out, cause to shine, send out beams.
עָלָ֣יו  upon  it 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
נְהָרָֽה  the  light 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: נְהָרָה  
Sense: light, daylight.