Job 42
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 42
Job’s Final Response[a]
Now I Have Seen You with My Own Eyes. 1 Job then answered the Lord in these words:
2 “I know that you can do all things
and that no plan you conceive can be thwarted.
3 Because of my ignorance
I have spoken of things that I have not understood,
of things too wondrous for me to know.
4 “You had said, ‘Listen and let me speak.
I intend to put questions to you,
and you must give me your answers.’
5 I had heard of you only by hearsay,
but now that I have seen you with my own eyes,
6 I retract what I have said,
repenting in dust and ashes.”
Epilogue: Job’s Honor and Goods Are Restored[b]
You Have Not Spoken About Me As You Should Have Done.[c] 7 After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken about me as you should, as my servant Job has. 8 Therefore, now take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. Then my servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer not to punish you severely, for you have not spoken about me as you should, as my servant Job has.”
9 Therefore, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went forth and did what the Lord had commanded them. And the Lord accepted the intercession of Job.
10 God Restores the Prosperity of Job.[d] Thereupon the Lord restored the prosperity of Job after he had prayed for his friends, and he enriched him with twice as much as he had possessed before. 11 Then all his brothers and sisters came to him, as well as all his friends from former days. As they feasted with him in his house, they sympathized with him about his previous troubles, and they comforted him for all the misfortunes that the Lord had permitted to be inflicted upon him. Moreover, each of them gave him some money and a gold ring.
12 The Lord blessed the end of Job’s life more than the beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13 He also fathered seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the eldest daughter Jemimah,[e] the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In the entire land there were no women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.[f]
16 After this, Job lived for another one hundred and forty years, and he saw his children and his children’s children to the fourth generation. 17 Then Job died at a very great age.
Footnotes
- Job 42:1 Suffering is still mysterious, but Job humbles himself before God. He was wrong, posing as a judge in the name of too human an idea of God. He has now encountered God, i.e., he has had a new experience of God, a new perception of his mystery, and it has transformed him interiorly. Job can entrust himself with confidence to this God of infinite grandeur and unlimited power.
- Job 42:7 With Job’s reply (vv. 1-6), the drama has come to an end, but the author does not want to leave his readers in ignorance of what became of the principal players. Here is the Lord’s definitive judgment: the friends of Job are blameworthy, and Job, God’s impatient but faithful servant, has the greatest blessings heaped upon him.
- Job 42:7 God conducts the trial of the three friends. Job’s prayer will obtain pardon for them.
- Job 42:10 Job shows his greatness through his goodness, for he intercedes for those who have treated him harshly. Job recovers double what he previously had of honors, riches, posterity, length of life, and heaped-up possessions: all the rewards of the righteous, all the prosperity of the Patriarchs.
- Job 42:14 Jemimah: i.e., “dove.” Keziah: i.e., “cassia” or “cinnamon.” Keren-happuch: i.e., “eye cosmetic.”
- Job 42:15 Normally, daughters received an inheritance only when there were no sons (see Num 27:1-11).
Iyov 42
Orthodox Jewish Bible
42 Then Iyov answered Hashem, and said,
2 I have da’as that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted.
3 Who is this that hideth etzah (counsel) without da’as? Therefore have I judged without understanding things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Shema, I beseech Thee, and I will speak; I will ask of Thee, and declare Thou unto me.
5 I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ozen, but now mine eye hath seen Thee.
6 Therefore I abhor myself, and nichamti (I am sorry, I make teshuvah) in dust and ashes.
7 And it was so, that after Hashem had spoken these words unto Iyov, Hashem said to Eliphaz the Temani, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken in reference to Me the thing that is nekhonah (correct), like Avdi Iyov hath.
8 Therefore take unto you now seven bulls and seven rams, and go to Avdi Iyov, and offer up for yourselves olah (burnt offering); and Avdi Iyov shall pray for you; for him will I accept; lest I deal with you after your nevalah (folly), in that ye have not spoken in reference to Me the thing which is nekhonah (correct), like Avdi Iyov.
9 So Eliphaz the Temani and Bildad the Shuchi and Tzophar the Na’amati went, and did according as Hashem commanded them. Hashem also accepted Iyov.
10 And Hashem restored the fortunes of Iyov, when he prayed for his friends; also Hashem gave Iyov twice as much as he possessed 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 lechem with him in his bais; and they expressed sympathy with him, and comforted him over all the ra’ah that Hashem had brought upon him; every ish also gave him a kesitah, and every ish a ring of zahav.
12 So Hashem blessed the acharit (latter end) of Iyov more than his reshit; for he had fourteen thousand tzon, and six thousand gemalim, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys.
13 He had also seven banim and shalosh banot.
14 And he called the shem of the first, Yemima, and the shem of the second, Ketziah, and the shem of the third, Keren-hapuch.
15 And in kol ha’aretz were no nashim found so fair as the banot Iyov; and their av gave them nachalah with their achim.
16 After this lived Iyov an hundred and forty shanah, and saw his banim, and his banei banim, even arba’ah dorot.
17 So Iyov died, being zaken and full of yamim.
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