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Job 42
Young's Literal Translation
Job 42
Young's Literal Translation
42 And Job answereth Jehovah and saith: --
2 Thou hast known that [for] all things Thou art able, And not withheld from Thee is [any] device:
3 `Who [is] this, hiding counsel without knowledge?' Therefore, I have declared, and understand not, Too wonderful for me, and I know not.
4 `Hear, I pray thee, and I -- I do speak, I ask thee, and cause thou me to know.'
5 By the hearing of the ear I heard Thee, And now mine eye hath seen Thee.
6 Therefore do I loathe [it], And I have repented on dust and ashes.
7 And it cometh to pass after Jehovah's speaking these words unto Job, that Jehovah saith unto Eliphaz the Temanite, `Burned hath Mine anger against thee, and against thy two friends, because ye have not spoken concerning Me rightly, like My servant Job.
8 And now, take to you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go ye unto My servant Job, and ye have caused a burnt-offering to ascend for you; and Job My servant doth pray for you, for surely his face I accept, so as not to do with you folly, because ye have not spoken concerning Me rightly, like My servant Job.
9 And they go -- Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite -- and do as Jehovah hath spoken unto them; and Jehovah doth accept the face of Job.
10 And Jehovah hath turned [to] the captivity of Job in his praying for his friends, and Jehovah doth add [to] all that Job hath -- to double.
11 And come unto him do all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all his former acquaintances, and they eat bread with him in his house, and bemoan him, and comfort him concerning all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him, and they gave to him each one kesitah, and each one ring of gold.
12 And Jehovah hath blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, and he hath fourteen thousand of a flock, and six thousand camels, and a thousand pairs of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
13 And he hath seven sons and three daughters;
14 and he calleth the name of the one Jemima, and the name of the second Kezia, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.
15 And there have not been found women fair as the daughters of Job in all the land, and their father doth give to them an inheritance in the midst of their brethren.
16 And Job liveth after this a hundred and forty years, and seeth his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations;
17 and Job dieth, aged and satisfied [with] days.
Job 42
New English Translation
Job 42
New English Translation
Job’s Confession
42 Then Job answered the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted;
3 you asked,[a] ‘Who is this who darkens counsel without knowledge?’
But[b] I have declared without understanding[c]
things too wonderful for me to know.[d]
4 You said,[e] ‘Pay attention, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you will answer me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye has seen you.[f]
6 Therefore I despise myself,[g]
and I repent in dust and ashes!”
VII. The Epilogue (42:7-17)
Job’s Restoration
7 After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he[h] said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up[i] against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right,[j] as my servant Job has. 8 So now take[k] seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede[l] for you, and I will respect him,[m] so that I do not deal with you[n] according to your folly,[o] because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.”[p]
9 So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job.[q]
10 So the Lord[r] restored what Job had lost[s] after he prayed for his friends,[t] and the Lord doubled[u] all that had belonged to Job. 11 So they came to him, all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they dined[v] with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him for all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver[w] and a gold ring.[x]
12 So the Lord blessed the second part of Job’s life more than the first. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons[y] and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah,[z] the second Keziah,[aa] and the third Keren-Happuch.[ab] 15 Nowhere in all the land could women be found who were as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers.
16 After this Job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, old and full of days.
Footnotes
- Job 42:3 tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.
- Job 42:3 tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.
- Job 42:3 tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”
- Job 42:3 tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.
- Job 42:4 tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.
- Job 42:5 sn This statement does not imply there was a vision. He is simply saying that this experience of God was real and personal. In the past his knowledge of God was what he had heard—hearsay. This was real.
- Job 42:6 tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).
- Job 42:7 tn Heb “the Lord.” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Job 42:7 tn Heb “is kindled.”
- Job 42:7 tn The form נְכוֹנָה (nekhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian cognate kīnu means “true, just, honest, firm” (CAD K: 389).
- Job 42:8 tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.
- Job 42:8 tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”
- Job 42:8 tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”
- Job 42:8 tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.
- Job 42:8 tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.
- Job 42:8 sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.
- Job 42:9 tn The expression “had respect for Job” means God answered his prayer.
- Job 42:10 tn The paragraph begins with the disjunctive vav, “Now as for the Lord, he….”
- Job 42:10 sn The expression here is interesting: “he returned the captivity of Job,” a clause used elsewhere in the Bible of Israel (see e.g., Ps 126). Here it must mean “the fortunes of Job,” i.e., what he had lost. There is a good deal of literature on this; for example, see R. Borger, “Zu šub šb(ī)t,” ZAW 25 (1954): 315-16; and E. Baumann, ZAW 6 (1929): 17ff.
- Job 42:10 tn This is a temporal clause, using the infinitive construct with the subject genitive suffix. By this it seems that this act of Job was also something of a prerequisite for restoration—to pray for them.
- Job 42:10 tn The construction uses the verb “and he added” with the word “repeat” (or “twice”).
- Job 42:11 tn Heb “ate bread.”
- Job 42:11 tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qesitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown.sn The Hebrew word refers to a piece of silver, yet uncoined. It is the kind used in Gen 33:19 and Josh 24:32. It is what would be expected of a story set in the patriarchal age.
- Job 42:11 sn This gold ring was worn by women in the nose, or men and women in the ear.
- Job 42:13 tn The word for “seven” is spelled in an unusual way. From this some have thought it means “twice seven,” or fourteen sons. Several commentators take this view, but it is probably not warranted.
- Job 42:14 sn The Hebrew name Jemimah means “dove.”
- Job 42:14 sn The Hebrew name Keziah means “cassia.”
- Job 42:14 sn The Hebrew name Keren-Happuch means “horn of eye-paint.”
Job 42
New International Version
Job 42
New International Version
Job
42 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;(A)
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.(B)
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’(C)
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.(D)
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’(E)
5 My ears had heard of you(F)
but now my eyes have seen you.(G)
6 Therefore I despise myself(H)
and repent(I) in dust and ashes.”(J)
Epilogue
7 After the Lord had said these things to Job(K), he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends,(L) because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.(M) 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams(N) and go to my servant Job(O) and sacrifice a burnt offering(P) for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer(Q) and not deal with you according to your folly.(R) You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”(S) 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite(T) did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.(U)
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes(V) and gave him twice as much as he had before.(W) 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before(X) came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him,(Y) and each one gave him a piece of silver[a] and a gold ring.
12 The 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. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere 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.
16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.(Z)
Footnotes
- Job 42:11 Hebrew him a kesitah; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.
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