Job 42
1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.
10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.
12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.
15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.
17 So Job died, being old and full of days.
World Behind This Chapter
Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Job 42.
What does Job mean by 'I repent in dust and ashes'?
The Hebrew verb can mean relent, reconsider, or be comforted as well as repent depending on context, and the phrase's syntax is difficult. Scholars debate whether Job retracts claims, changes posture, or expresses a more complex response.
Explore the HebrewWhy are the three friends rebuked but Elihu is not mentioned?
The epilogue names Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar and condemns their speech about God; Elihu is simply absent. That silence is one reason his literary role and compositional history remain debated.
What Job manuscripts survive from Qumran?
Multiple Hebrew Job manuscripts and Aramaic Targum Job fragments survive from Qumran. 11Q10 is an especially substantial Aramaic translation witness from Cave 11.
WORTH A CLOSER LOOK
Open the 11Q10 Aramaic Targum of Job
11Q10 from Qumran Cave 11 preserves a substantial ancient Aramaic translation of Job. The Israel Antiquities Authority archive permits inspection of photographs of the surviving manuscript itself and see Job moving across languages in the Second Temple period.
Examine the manuscriptResearch PathsCurated links for exploring this chapter 3
History & Daily Life1
- Inheritance in the Hebrew BibleBible Odyssey
Explains inheritance, land, family continuity, and legal custom in biblical tradition. Useful for Job 42:15, where Job’s daughters receive an inheritance with their brothers, an unusual detail in the epilogue.
Language & Literature2
- Job 42 in STEP BibleSTEP Bible
Interactive Hebrew-study tools for Job’s final response, repentance/retraction language, God’s rebuke of the friends, intercession, restoration, daughters, inheritance, and the prose epilogue.
- Job Chapter 42: Hebrew and English TextMechon Mamre
Bilingual Hebrew-English text for Job’s final answer, God’s judgment of the friends, Job’s prayer for them, restoration of fortune, family, daughters, inheritance, and death notice.
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