Job 42

KJV · Chapter 42/42

¹Then Job answered the Lord, and said,

²I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

³Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

⁴Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

⁵I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

⁶Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

⁷And 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.

⁸Therefore 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.

⁹So 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹Then 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.

¹²So 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.

¹³He had also seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren–happuch.

¹⁵And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

¹⁶After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.

¹⁷So Job died, being old and full of days.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Job finally answers God with complete humility, acknowledging that he spoke of things he did not understand, and repents in dust and ashes. God then rebukes the three friends for not having spoken rightly about him, restores Job's health and wealth twofold, and gives him new children, closing the book with Job living a hundred and forty years in peace.

Explanation

Job's final reply ("I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee") signals a profound transformation: he moves from theoretical knowledge about God to a transformative, personal encounter with him, which brings genuine peace even without a full explanation for the cause of his suffering. Surprisingly, God declares that the three friends, despite theologically defending divine justice and sovereignty, "have not spoken of me the thing that is right," as Job had, showing that Job's honesty in questioning and lamenting before God was more acceptable than the theologically correct explanations his friends applied with cruelty and presumption. Application for today: an honest, genuine relationship with God — even one that includes sincere doubts and laments — is more valuable than theologically correct answers offered without compassion or true understanding of another's pain.

Fun facts

Job's restoration is not a simple replacement but an exact doubling of his lost possessions (detailed in chapter 1), while his children are restored to the same original number — seven sons and three daughters — reflecting a belief that the children who had died were not "lost," but awaiting a future reunion.
Job's three daughters are given specific names and, unusually for the time, receive an inheritance alongside their brothers (verse 15) — a notable detail of equal treatment in a culture where normally only sons inherited property.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Job 42:1The phrase “Then Job answered the Lord” introduces Job’s final response, following God’s two speeches about creation and the wild animals.
Job 42:2Job acknowledges that God can do all things and that none of His purposes can be thwarted — his first direct reaction to the display of power in chapters 38 through 41.
Job 42:3Job quotes back the very question God asked in 38:2 — “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?” — and admits it applied to him: he confesses to speaking of things too great for him to understand.
Job 42:4Job also repeats the words God used to challenge him — “Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.” — acknowledging the complete reversal of roles that took place in their dialogue.
Job 42:5The line about hearing of God by the hearing of the ear, but now seeing Him with his own eyes, marks Job’s turning point: it comes not from a logical explanation for suffering but from a direct encounter. He moves from hearing about God to experiencing God, and that changes everything even though he never gets an answer about the reason for his pain.
Job 42:6The phrase “repent in dust and ashes” is debated among scholars — it isn’t clear whether Job repents of some specific sin or simply of having demanded explanations that were not his to demand. The Hebrew verb behind it can also just mean changing his mind or dropping his protest.
Job 42:7The book’s most shocking reversal: God says the friends, who spent the whole time defending divine justice, did not speak of Him what was right — while Job, who complained through the entire book, spoke correctly. The defense of orthodoxy loses; the protest wins.
Job 42:8Continuing God’s rebuke of the friends from the previous verse: He orders them to offer sacrifices and asks Job to pray for them — a remarkable turnaround, since Job, accused throughout the entire book, now acts as intercessor for his own accusers.
Job 42:9Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar do exactly what God commanded, and God accepts Job’s prayer — Job’s complete vindication before the three friends who had condemned him.
Job 42:10Job’s restoration is only mentioned after he prays for his own friends — this is not simply the passage of time; the text links the two events in the same sentence.
Job 42:11Continuing the restoration from the previous verse: brothers, sisters, and acquaintances finally come to comfort Job and eat with him in his house, each one bringing a gift — the support that was missing throughout his suffering arrives, at last, after it has all already passed.
Job 42:12God blesses the end of Job’s life more than the beginning: he receives exactly double what he had before — 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys, compared with the numbers in chapter 1.
Job 42:13Unlike the animals, which doubled in number, Job’s children go back to being seven sons and three daughters — the same number as before, not double, as though the children he lost still somehow counted.
Job 42:14For the first time in the book, daughters receive their own names: Jemima, Kezia, and Keren-happuch — names tied to beauty and fragrance, an unusual spotlight in an age when generally only sons were named.
Job 42:15Job’s three daughters receive an inheritance alongside their brothers — an unusual detail for the ancient world, where normally only sons inherited.
Job 42:16Job lives another 140 years after this, seeing his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren down to the fourth generation — a long life that contrasts sharply with the death wish he expressed several times during his suffering.
Job 42:17The book ends with the most traditional phrase for a blessed life’s end: “So Job died, being old, and full of days.” — the exact opposite of the early death he begged for in chapters 3, 6, 7, 10, and 14.