Job 3:1-10 shows how, after seven days of silence, Job begins to air his grief to his friends. He curses his own existence, wishing that he had never been born. He speaks in poetry, wishing that darkness would undo his entry into the world. He wishes others would curse his birth with such volume that even the monstrous Leviathan might hear the curse. If he had never been born, he would not be suffering as he is now.

Job 3:11-19 doubles down on Job’s lament. His sorrow turns from wishing he had never been born to wishing he had died at birth. He is exploring and expressing all hypothetical ways he could avoid the pain of his current life, had he never been born, or if born, then died immediately. He wishes he had died as an infant because then he would be at rest in death, where there is no ambition or striving, and all are equal and at peace, he imagines.

Job 3:20-26 wonders about the purpose of continued existence under Job’s present suffering. Since he has wished to never have existed, or to have died at birth, he ponders why people in pain should stay alive. Why does pain not end us? Why is Job, who wishes to die, still alive? If he is to suffer, why can’t he at least die of his pain? He anticipates death to be like treasure for those who suffer. He feels imprisoned by God, that he should remain alive and so miserable. He cannot enjoy food. He has feared this lack of reprieve, and yet it is his reality. Job feels no relief. He is in constant pain.