Job42
New International Version
1Then Job replied to the Lord:
2“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
4“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’
5My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
6Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
7After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.
8So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”
9So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
10After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.
11All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
12The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.
13And he also had seven sons and three daughters.
14The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch.
15Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
16After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
17And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 42.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Job humbly submits unto God. (1–6). Job intercedes for his friends. (7–9). His renewed prosperity. (10–17).
vv1-6
Job was now sensible of his guilt; he would no longer speak in his own excuse; he abhorred himself as a sinner in heart and life, especially for murmuring against God, and took shame to himself. When the understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of grace, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as the sight of the eyes excels report and common fame. By the teachings of men, God reveals his Son to us; but by the teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us, Ga 1:16, and changes us into the same image, 2Co 3:18. It concerns us to be deeply humbled for the sins of which we are convinced. Self-loathing is ever the companion of true repentance. The Lord will bring those whom he loveth, to adore him in self-abasement; while true grace will always lead them to confess their sins without self-justifying.
vv7-9
After the Lord had convinced and humbled Job, and brought him to repentance, he owned him, comforted him, and put honour upon him. The devil had undertaken to prove Job a hypocrite, and his three friends had condemned him as a wicked man; but if God say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, it is of little consequence who says otherwise. Job's friends had wronged God, by making prosperity a mark of the true church, and affliction a certain proof of God's wrath. Job had referred things to the future judgment and the future state, more than his friends, therefore he spake of God that which was right, better than his friends had done. And as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those that had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed for his persecutors, and ever lives, making intercession for the transgressors. Job's friends were good men, and belonged to God, and He would not let them be in their mistake any more than Job; but having humbled him by a discourse out of the whirlwind, he takes another way to humble them. They are not to argue the matter again, but they must agree in a sacrifice and a prayer, and that must reconcile them, Those who differ in judgment about lesser things, yet are one in Christ the great Sacrifice, and ought therefore to love and bear with one another. When God was angry with Job's friends, he put them in a way to make peace with him. Our quarrels with God always begin on our part, but the making peace begins on his. Peace with God is to be had only in his own way, and upon his own terms. These will never seem hard to those who know how to value this blessing: they will be glad of it, like Job's friends, upon any terms, though ever so humbling. Job did not insult over his friends, but God being graciously reconciled to him, he was easily reconciled to them. In all our prayers and services we should aim to be accepted of the Lord; not to have praise of men, but to please God. (Job 42:10-17)
vv10-17
In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an example; here, for our encouragement to follow that example, we have his happy end. His troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. Mercy did not return when Job was disputing with his friends, but when he was praying for them. God is served and pleased with our warm devotions, not with our warm disputes. God doubled Job's possessions. We may lose much for the Lord, but we shall not lose any thing by him. Whether the Lord gives us health and temporal blessings or not, if we patiently suffer according to his will, in the end we shall be happy. Job's estate increased. The blessing of the Lord makes rich; it is he that gives us power to get wealth, and gives success in honest endeavours. The last days of a good man sometimes prove his best, his last works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his path, like that of the morning light, shines more and more unto the perfect day.
Key Words
אִיּוֹב: Ijob, the patriarch famous for his patience
עָנָה: properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
יָכֹל: to be able, literally (can, could) or morally (may, might)
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
מְזִמָּה: a plan, usually evil (machination), sometimes good (sagacity)
מִן: properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses
Cross References
Job 42Job quotes God's opening challenge verbatim as the groundwork of his deep repentance.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Job repeats God's demand back to Him in a spirit of absolute surrender.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Job's progressive self-abasement, building on his previous confession of being vile.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
New Testament summary of Job's patience and the ultimate merciful end provided by the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Abimelech's healing through Abraham's prayer foreshadows Job's intercessory role for his friends.
Supported by JFB
The restoration of captive fortunes is a well-known Hebrew idiom for total vindication.
Supported by JFB
Prophetic parallel of receiving double restoration for shame and confusion.
Supported by JFB
The return of Job's brethren contrasts sharply with their earlier painful estrangement.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jeremiah's similar confession of God's absolute omnipotence and sovereign power.
Supported by JFB
Isaiah's self-loathing upon seeing the holy presence of God matches Job's response.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Peter's realization of his own sinfulness when confronted directly by the divine.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfills Job's warning that God would surely reprove his friends for speaking falsely.
Supported by JFB
Eliphaz's own earlier words are fulfilled: the innocent Job delivers those who are not innocent.
Supported by JFB
The covenant blessing of seeing one's children and grand-children to multiple generations.
Supported by Matthew Henry