The Meaning of Job 3:5 Explained

Job 3:5

KJV: Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

YLT: Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.

Darby: Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it; let clouds dwell upon it; let darkeners of the day terrify it.

ASV: Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Let darkness  and the shadow of death  stain  it; let a cloud  dwell  upon it; let the blackness  of the day  terrify  it. 

What does Job 3:5 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 3:5 mean?

May claim it darkness and the shadow of death May settle on it a cloud May terrify it the blackness of the day
יִגְאָלֻ֡הוּ חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְ֭צַלְמָוֶת תִּשְׁכָּן־ עָלָ֣יו עֲנָנָ֑ה יְ֝בַעֲתֻ֗הוּ כִּֽמְרִ֥ירֵי יֽוֹם

יִגְאָלֻ֡הוּ  May  claim  it 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, third person masculine singular
Root: גְּאוּלִים 
Sense: to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman.
חֹ֣שֶׁךְ  darkness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֹשֶׁךְ  
Sense: darkness, obscurity.
וְ֭צַלְמָוֶת  and  the  shadow  of  death 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: צַלְמָוֶת  
Sense: death-shadow, deep shadow, deep darkness, shadow of death.
תִּשְׁכָּן־  May  settle 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: שָׁכַן  
Sense: to settle down, abide, dwell, tabernacle, reside.
עָלָ֣יו  on  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.
עֲנָנָ֑ה  a  cloud 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עֲנָנָה  
Sense: cloud, cloudy.
יְ֝בַעֲתֻ֗הוּ  May  terrify  it 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, third person masculine singular
Root: בָּעַת  
Sense: to terrify, startle, fall upon, dismay, be overtaken by sudden terror.
כִּֽמְרִ֥ירֵי  the  blackness 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: כַּמְרִיר  
Sense: blackness, gloominess, darkness.
יֽוֹם  of  the  day 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.