Job 42:1-11

Job's Confession and Repentance

1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:

2 "I know that you can ¹do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

3 ²'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things ³too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

4 'Hear, and I will speak; ⁴I will question you, and you make it known to me.'

5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

6 therefore I despise myself, and repent^[a] in ⁵dust and ashes."

The Lord Rebukes Job's Friends

7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz ⁶the Temanite: "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

8 Now therefore take ⁷seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and ⁸offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall ⁹pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."

9 ¹⁰So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

The Lord Restores Job's Fortunes

10 And the LORD ¹¹restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job ¹²twice as much as he had before.

11 Then came to him all his ¹³brothers and sisters and all who had ¹⁴known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they ¹⁵showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil^[b] that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him ¹⁶a piece of money^[c] and ¹⁷a ring of gold.

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Job 42:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 42

This chapter contains Job's answer to the last speech of the Lord's, in which he acknowledges his omnipotence, and his certain performance of his purposes and pleasure; owns his own folly and ignorance, and confesses his sins; for which he abhorred himself, and of which he repented, Job 42:1-6; it also gives an account of the Lord's decision of the controversy between Job and his friends, blaming them and commending him above them; and ordered them to take sacrifices and go to Job and offer them, who should pray for them and be accepted, which was done, Job 42:7-9; and it closes with a relation of the great prosperity Job was restored unto, in which he lived and died, Job 42:10-17.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 17

1. Genesis 18:14; Matthew 19:26
2. Job 38:2
3. Psalms 40:5; Psalms 131:1; Psalms 139:6
4. Job 38:3; Job 40:7
5. [Job 30:19; Genesis 18:27]; See Job 2:8
6. Job 2:11; 1 Chronicles 1:45
7. Numbers 23:1; 1 Chronicles 15:26
8. Job 1:5
9. Genesis 20:7; 1 Samuel 12:23; James 5:16; 1 John 5:16
10. Job 2:11
11. See Psalms 14:7
12. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7
13. Job 19:13
14. Job 19:13
15. Job 2:11
16. Genesis 33:19; Joshua 24:32
17. Genesis 24:22

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or and am comforted
[b]. Or disaster
[c]. Hebrew a qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.