Job 42
42
1Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2I know that you can do all things,#In his final speech, Job quotes God’s own words (see 38:2–3; 40:7).
and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
3“Who is this who obscures counsel with ignorance?”
I have spoken but did not understand;
things too marvelous for me, which I did not know.#Jb 34:35; 35:16; 38:2; Ps 131:1; Prv 30:18.
4“Listen, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you tell me the answers.”
5By hearsay I had heard of you,
but now my eye has seen you.#In 19:25–27 Job had affirmed a hope to “see” (three times) his vindicator. Now he has seen the Lord about whom he had heard so much.
6Therefore I disown what I have said,
and repent in dust and ashes.#A difficult verse. Some doubt, in view of God’s commendation in v. 7, that Job does in fact express repentance, and alternative translations are often given. Along with v. 5, it describes a change in Job, which the encounter with the Lord has brought about. Dust and ashes: an ambiguous phrase. It can refer to the human condition (cf. Gn 18:27; Jb 30:19) or to Job’s ash heap (2:8).
IX. EPILOGUE
Job’s Restoration. 7And after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger blazes against you and your two friends!#The three friends of Job (Elihu is ignored in the epilogue) are criticized by the Lord because they had “not spoken rightly” (vv. 7–8). You have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job. 8So now take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves, and let my servant Job pray for you.#An ironic touch: Job becomes the intercessor for his friends. To him I will show favor, and not punish your folly, for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.” 9Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the Lord had commanded them. The Lord showed favor to Job.
10The Lord also restored the prosperity of Job, after he had prayed for his friends; the Lord even gave to Job twice#Twice: this is the fine for damage inflicted upon another; cf. Ex 22:3. The Lord pays up! as much as he had before. 11Then all his brothers and sisters came to him, and all his former acquaintances, and they dined with him in his house. They consoled and comforted him for all the evil the Lord had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of money#A piece of money: lit., qesitah, value unknown; also used in Gn 33:19; Jos 24:32. Gold ring: for the nose or ear. and a gold ring.
12#Jb 1:3. Thus the Lord blessed the later days of Job more than his earlier ones. Now he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters: 14the first daughter he called Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.#Job’s daughters had names symbolic of their charms: Jemimah, dove; Keziah, precious perfume (cf. Ps 45:9); Keren-happuch, cosmetic jar—more precisely, a container for a black powder used like modern mascara. 15In all the land no other women were as beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance#Ordinarily daughters did not inherit property unless there were no sons; cf. Nm 27:1–11. among their brothers.
16After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren.#Jb 5:25–26. 17Then Job died, old and full of years.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Job 42
42
1 Then Job, responding to the Lord, said:
2 I know that you are able to do all things, and that no thoughts are hidden from you.
3 So, who is it that would disguise a lack of knowledge as counsel? Therefore, I have been speaking foolishly, about things whose measure exceeds my knowledge.
4 Listen, and I will speak. I will question you, and you may answer me.
5 By paying attention with the ear, I have heard you, but now my eye sees you.
6 Therefore, I find myself reprehensible, and I will do penance in embers and ashes.
7 But after the Lord had finished speaking these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Themanite: My wrath has been kindled against you, and against your two friends, because you have not been speaking correctly in my eyes, as my servant Job has done.
8 Therefore, have seven bulls and seven rams brought to you, and go to my servant Job, and offer these as a holocaust for yourselves. But also, my servant Job will pray for you; I will accept his face, so that foolishness will not be imputed to you. For you have not been speaking correctly about me, as my servant Job has done.
9 So Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Zophar the Naamathite departed, and they did just as the Lord had spoken to them, and the Lord accepted the face of Job.
10 Likewise, the Lord was moved by the repentance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave to Job twice as much as he had before.
11 Yet all his brethren came to him, and all his sisters, and everyone who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house. They also shook their heads over him and comforted him, because of all the bad things that God had inflicted on him. And each one of them gave him one female sheep, and one earring of gold.
12 And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job even more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand pairs of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys.
13 And he had seven sons and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of one, Daylight, and the name of the second, Cinnamon, and the name of the third, Horn of Cosmetics.
15 And, in the whole world, there were not found women so beautiful as the daughters of Job. And so their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.
16 But Job lived long after these events, for a hundred and forty years, and he saw his children, and his children's children, all the way to the fourth generation, and he died an old man and full of days.
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