more than once (Job 6:9; 7:15–16; 14:13). At no time did Job speak of ending his own life. Job’s “birthday lament” is not a defense of suicide or so-called “mercy killing.” It is the declaration of a man whose suffering was so intense that he wished he had never been born. When you are hurting, you may say and do a lot of things that you later regret. Job’s suffering was so great that he forgot the blessings that he and his family had enjoyed for so many years. Had he never been born, he would never