What does Job Chapter 42 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Job acknowledges unwise speech and does penance in dust and ashes. The Lord rebukes the three friends, commands sacrifice and Job’s prayer, and records their obedience. Job receives doubled goods, family gifts, children and long life; inheritance shares are not quantified.

Chapter breakdown

Job answered the Lord by confessing that the Almighty can accomplish all things and that no human thought remains concealed from Him. Recalling the divine inquiry about who obscures counsel without knowledge, Job admitted speaking unwisely about things exceeding his knowledge and asks to be heard, to speak, to ask and to be told. Acknowledging that his earlier relationship with God resembled hearing by the ear whereas he now saw God directly with his own eyes, Job reprehended his former complaints and performed penance in dust and ashes.

Following His address to Job, the Lord turned in indignation toward Eliphaz the Themanite, declaring that divine anger was kindled against him and his two companions, Baldad the Suhite and Sophar the Naamathite. God stated that the three friends had failed to speak what was right concerning Him, unlike His servant Job. So that folly would not be imputed to them, the Lord commanded them to take seven bullocks and seven rams, bring them to Job, and present a burnt offering for themselves. God promised that Job would pray on their behalf and that He would accept Job's prayer so their foolishness would not be held against them. Eliphaz, Baldad, and Sophar obeyed the command, and the Lord accepted the face of Job.

When Job offered prayer for his former adversaries, the Lord was turned at his penance, granting him double the wealth he had previously owned. All of Job's brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances gathered at his house to eat bread, console him, and offer comfort concerning the afflictions the Lord had brought upon him, with each visitor presenting him one ewe and one earring of gold. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's days even more abundantly than his beginning, so that his livestock grew to fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female asses. In addition, Job fathered seven sons and three daughters, naming the women Dies, Cassia, and Cornustibii. These daughters were described as unsurpassed in beauty in all the earth, and Job granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers. Job survived for an additional one hundred and forty years, seeing four generations of his descendants before dying in advanced age and fulfillment.

The story inside

Opening: Job acknowledges unwise speech and does penance in dust and ashes. Development: The Lord rebukes the three friends, commands sacrifice and Job’s prayer, and records their obedience. Conclusion: Job receives doubled goods, family gifts, children and long life; inheritance shares are not quantified.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Job acknowledges unwise speech and does penance in dust and ashes.
2
The Lord rebukes the three friends, commands sacrifice and Job’s prayer, and records their obedience.
3
Job receives doubled goods, family gifts, children and long life; inheritance shares are not quantified.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 57753–57755
42:3. Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge.
Lines 57759–57762
42:5. With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee. 42:6. Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.
Lines 57769–57773
42:8. Take unto you therefore seven oxen and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a holocaust, and my servant Job shall pray for you: his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you: for you have not spoken right things before me, as my servant Job hath.
Lines 57787–57789
42:12. And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.