Job chapter 42
Job admits he knows very little. The LORD restores Job, and gives him twice as much as before. He lives to a ripe old age.
JOB REPLIES TO THE LORD
VERSE 1. Then Job answered the LORD,
VERSE 2. “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.
VERSE 3. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.
I have uttered that which I didn’t understand. We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and, yes, mind.
Loving God with our mind means we get to know him as much as we are able. We fill our mind with facts about God.
Yet however much we learn of God and his ways, what we know will amount to very little.
Who are we, a created thing, to know our creator?
Compared to the actual greatness of God, what we know is infinitely less. This need not deter us.
Any knowledge of God at all is heaven on earth!
VERSE 4. You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.’
VERSE 5. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
VERSE 6. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
VERSE 7. It was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.
you have not spoken of me the thing that is right. God is displeased with Eliphaz and his companions. They did not speak well of God.
Their major point was wrong. They insisted that people suffer because they had sinned.
as my servant Job has. Can you imagine the joy of having God call you his servant?
The Lord Jesus spoke of such a thing:
Matthew 25:21. His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
VERSE 8. Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls 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 I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”
VERSE 9. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did what the LORD commanded them, and the LORD accepted Job.
GOD RESTORES JOB
VERSE 10. The LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. The LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
when he prayed for his friends. After the way Job’s friends treated him, he probably saw them as enemies!
Yet the LORD God told Job to pray for them.
In our day, cultures are increasingly based on hatred and rage. But the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to love our enemies. And bless them. Read more »
The LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before:
Zechariah 9:12. Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
twice as much as … before. After he prayed for his enemies (“friends”), Job was blessed to the extreme.
VERSE 11. Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that the LORD had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.
VERSE 12. So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.
the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. A complete turnaround from the most desperate of situations is possible!
VERSE 13. He had also seven sons and three daughters.
VERSE 14. He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch.
VERSE 15. In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
VERSE 16. After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.
VERSE 17. So Job died, being old and full of days.
next chapter »
(Psalm 1)
JOB
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, Job’s Dark Night
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.