John Gill Commentary Job 3:11

"Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?" — Job 3:11 (ASV)

Why did I not die from the womb ?
&c.] That is, as soon as he came out of the womb; or rather, as soon as he was in the womb, or from the time that he was in the womb; or however, while he was in the womb, that so he might not have come alive out of it; which sense seems best to agree both with what goes before and follows after; for since his conception in the womb was not hindered, he wishes he had died in it; and so some versions render it to this sense ^F14 :

[why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the belly ?
since he died not in the womb, which was desirable to him, he wishes that the moment he came out of the womb he had expired, and is displeased because it was not so, see (Jeremiah 20:17) (Hosea 9:11) ; thus what is the special favour of Providence, to be taken out of the womb alive, and preserved, he wishes not to have enjoyed, see (Psalms 22:9) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F14: (Mxrm) (en koilia) , Sept. "in vulva", V. L. "aut, in utero", Beza, Mercerus, Cocceius, Junius, Michaelis; so R. Abraham Peritzol, and Simeon Bar Tzemach.