Job 42 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Job 42

Job’s Confession and Repentance

42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:

2   “I know that you can do all things,
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3   ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
  Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4   ‘Hear, and I will speak;
    I 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 repent¹ in dust and ashes.”

The Lord Rebukes Job’s Friends

7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the 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 seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray 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 So 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 restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil² that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money³ and a ring of gold.

12 And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

Footnotes

[1] 42:6 Or and am comforted
[2] 42:11 Or disaster
[3] 42:11 Hebrew a qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value

Commentary

v1-2: Job's response, no further argument, only worship, a declaration of God's greatness.

v3: Job had strayed into things that were solely God's province; there are things about which we can never know enough to satisfy ourselves.

v4-6: Now Job has a first-hand vision of God; he had heard of God, now he met Him. True faith is not second hand. With this vision comes repentance.

God had not promised specific blessing on Job's repentance; we are commanded to repent, irrespective of future blessing. Even so, we are confident that God will bless true repentance. We repent for what we have done, and have failed to do, not because of what we may receive.

v7-9: God accepted Job, for he has spoken what was true, and he has repented at the revelation of God. Although he has spoken truth, he still needed to experience more of God in his life.

In contrast, Job's friends needed his intercession. They have not spoken what was right.

v10-11: Job was restored. Brothers and sisters and acquaintances came to comfort him. The words here indicate that the Lord God was the One who had brought trouble upon Job; He is truly in control of the circumstances of our lives.

v12-17: The details of his restoration, sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, and seven sons and three daughters. It seems that those killed originally were not raised to life, but more sons and daughters were born to Job.