Job 42


Job 42 is the 42nd chapter of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is anonymous; most scholars believe it was written around 6th century BCE. The first part of this chapter belongs to the dialogue section of Job 32:1–42:6 and the second part is the epilogue of the book comprising Job 42:7–17.

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into [|17] verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Analysis

The structure of the book is as follows:
  • The Prologue
  • The Dialogue
  • The Verdicts
  • The Epilogue
Within the structure, chapters 42 consists of two sections that are grouped separately as in the following outline:
  • The Verdicts
  • *Elihu's Verdict
  • *God's Appearance and Job's Responses
  • **God's First Speech
  • **Job's First Reply – An Insufficient Response
  • **God's Second Speech
  • **Job's Second Reply
  • ***Job's Sufficient Response
  • ***Job's New Direction
  • The Epilogue
  • *Job Has Spoken Rightly about God
  • *Job Is Doubly Restored

    Job's second response (42:1–6)

After YHWH speaks to Job, Job gives a tentative response, so YHWH continues with a second speech, including detailed descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan, which evokes a more definite response from Job as noted in this passage. This time Job admits that he has gotten a 'more accurate understanding' about YHWH and about himself as a 'finite mortal under YHWH's authority'.
Verses 2–6 has the following structure:

Verse 3

  • Clause is Job's restatement of God's question before he answers it in clauses and. YHWH's questions in the speeches have changed Job's understanding that he realizes how much he does not know.
  • "Wonderful": translated from the Hebrew word פָלָא,, which refers to 'information in the divine realm that is beyond human understanding' or "supernatural". In the Hebrew Bible this word is used to describe knowledge of God's name and God's wondrous acts. In the Book of Job, this word occurs 6 times, in Job 5:9; 9:10; 10:16; 37:5, 14; 42:3, each instance of which helps to understand its meaning.

    Verse 5

Here Job distinguishes between the 'secondhand experience' and 'firsthand experience', which gives him a better understanding.

Verse 6

  • "Abhor": or "despise" translated from the Hebrew word מָאַס,, which has a core meaning of "reject" or "retract"; in this case, Job "rejects" or "retracts" his litigation against God.
  • "Repent": translated from the Hebrew word נָחַם,, "to be sorry, console oneself". It can refer to 'human repentance for wrongdoing', or 'change of attitude out of compassion', or 'moving from a right course of action to a wrong one'. God is said to be 'repenting' of the good he intended to do. Here the word implied "regret", that Job regrets his earlier statements: 'his characterization of God, his presumptuous belief in his own understanding and his arrogant challenges'. The verb should be distinguished from other Hebrew words that can also be translated as "repent", such as shub, which was used by Eliphaz to urge Job to "repent" from his presumptively 'great sin', because in [|42:6] Job does not suggest a behavior change, but suggest a wish to retract his previous statements.

    Narrative epilogue (42:7–17)

The prose epilogue consists of two conclusions: the first part contains YHWH's commendation of Job for speaking correctly and YHWH's rebuke of Job's three friends and second part describes the restoration of Job, a complete life with additional seven sons and three beautiful daughters along with plenty of possession, even enjoying two additional lifespans and seeing four generations of descendants until he dies 'old and full of days'.

Verse 7

Job's friends tried to protect YHWH's reputation by insisting that Job must have sinned, which is extrapolating the divine retribution principle, that reduced YHWH to a 'predictable deity' confined to a fixed formula. On the other hand, despite Job's complaints about God's justice and fairness, God knows completely what in Job's heart and has evaluated Job on the basis of that perfect understanding.

Verse 17