Table of Contents
Job 42
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, Kerenhappuch.
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.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 2
<html><b>Job’s Reply</b><br><b>I knew that You can do everything</b> That You can do anything that pleases You. <b>and no design is restrained from You</b> He repeats his words, that no design or plan is restrained or withheld from You, that You can complete and fulfill Your plans, for strength and might are in Your hand, and You have the power to do all that pleases You. This verse is similar to (Gen. 11:6), “Now will nothing that they have planned to do be restrained (יבצר) from them?”</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>Who is this</b> who concealed and covered the counsel and the wonders of the Holy One, blessed be He, without knowledge? I knew that everything is in Your hand to do, and so I related some of Your mighty deeds as were in my heart; as I knew [them]. <b>but I did not understand</b> But I did not understand so much, as You informed me, for many wonders are hidden and concealed from me, which I do not know.</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear</b> Many many times I have heard of You. <b>and now, my eye has seen You</b> Your Shechinah.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>Therefore</b> Since I merited to see Your Shechinah. <b>I despise</b> I despise my life. <b>on dust and ashes</b> if I were resting in the grave, to return to dust and ashes whence I was taken.</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>and your two companions</b> Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. <b>because you did not speak</b> Because you did not speak to Me with a correct argument as did My servant Job, for he did not rebel against Me except for what he said (above 9:22), “He destroys both the innocent and the wicked,” and through the Adversary who denounces the world, as it is stated (ibid. verse 23): “If the scourge kills suddenly etc.” And if he continued to speak, he spoke because of the severity of the pains that burdened him and overwhelmed him; but you rebelled by condemning him, saying (4: 6), “Behold, your fear was your foolishness,” and you held him to be a wicked man, and at the end when you were silenced and defeated before him, you should have consoled him as Elihu did. Was it not enough for Job with his trouble and his sufferings, that you added rebellion to your sins to provoke him?</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves</b> So that you placate and appease Me, provided that My servant Job pray for you that I forgive your sins, and no longer remember your transgressions. <b>for I will favor him</b> Heb. כי אם, because I will favor him to accept his prayer (thus the word אִם is used for “that”), and likewise (Gen. 24:19), “until (עד אם) they have finished drinking”; (Ex. 21:30), “in which case (אם) an atonement is placed on him,” and many others. <b>for…not</b> Because…not.</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>and the Lord favored Job</b> Heb. וישא, [lit. and the Lord lifted His countenance] as in (Gen. 19: 21), “I have favored you (נשאתי) also in this respect,” that He accepted his prayer and showed him a bright countenance.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>Now the Lord returned Job’s captivity when he prayed</b> [The word] שָׁב is inappropriate in this matter, and it is as though it were written: “And He returned (נשאתי) Job’s captivity when he prayed.” <b>for his friend</b> In the merit that he prayed for each friend of his. <b>twice as much</b> Heb. למשנה, for one, two; and Scripture was not exact in its wording.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>previous</b> All who were his friends and acquaintances before the sufferings befell him. <b>and they bemoaned him</b> Complaindre in Old French, to complain. <b>one piece of money</b> a ma’ah. <b>and each one</b> and every one of them.</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>more than his beginning</b> More than his former wealth.</html>
Verse 13
<html><b>fourteen</b> Heb. שבענה. They were twice seven, two sevens, like (Lev. 12:5), שְׁבֻעַיִם which means two weeks.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b>And he named the first Jemimah</b> They were named according to their beauty. <b>Jemimah</b> Bright and white as the sun (יום). <b>Keziah</b> She had a fragrant and perfumed scent like the spice, cassia. <b>Keren-happuch</b> Because of the horn in which they put stibium and lixivium, as it is stated (Jer. 4: 30): “that you enlarge your eye with paint (בפוך).”</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>Nowhere…were women as beautiful as Job’s daughters to be found</b> An instance of beautiful women like the phenomenon of the beauty of Job’s daughters was not found. This verse is on the pattern of (Num. 9:6), “But there was [an incident of] men who were unclean.” <b>and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers</b> Because of (their esteem and) their beauty, he gave them an inheritance with their brothers.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>and sated with days</b> Heb. וּשְׂבַע.From וְשָׂבֵעַ he says וּשְׂבַע, in the construct state.</html>