Job 3:12
Why knees to receive me?
Why breast to nurse me?
Looking back at my notes, the highlight was where I pointed out to a word in the King James version simply being wrong. Instead of “Why knees to receive me”, the King James says, “Why did the knees prevent me”. Not only does this not make sense, but it is also completely opposite of the welcoming and greeting phrases used by others to carry the emotion of someone waiting happily for the child to be born and enter the family. “Receive” may lack a little of this sentiment but fit better with the expectation of a midwife in place to catch the baby and prepare it for life.
Upon reading the options, the next point was the term “suck” used in place of “nurse”. “Suck” of course has a negative connotation for those who use it in place of a cuss word, but beyond that, the technical term did not seem as applicable as the term that alludes to someone caring for the baby on purpose. Not just someone, but a mother.
The New International Version used “that I might be nursed” in place of “to nurse me” and delineates this chose of response to the child a bit further. No humane person would choose not to nurse a child in the politically correct world we supposedly live in. But again, Job had a mom, and we assume she nursed him, and he knew it was a good thing from God.
The version I do not use anymore had “let me nurse” and brings the image of a mother cat not letting a sick kitten nurse and take from the supply for the healthy kittens. It is cruel in the animal world and even worse when something similar happens in various human cultures.
Only ten words in this verse and not a lot to talk about in the translation side. The bigger concept is of course the emotional side of having children. In many parts of human history, children are not only mouths to feed, but sources of value. As I read the early Asimov novels, he characterized planets full of people as rich and without strife.
In a linked story by another author I read yesterday, every group of people has the haves and the have mores and strife drives the sinful nature to bring down such fantasies. God intended children to be blessings in our lives and not things to be discarded or subjects to be ruled over. In some way, Job is thanking God for his mom and family in these verses and giving us the example to be thankful for all those things we never thought about.