Clear morning after rain over the gray ash heap, wet and empty, a shallow puddle holding the sky, under a washed, calm, empty blue.

The Book of

Job 42

Job answers. He has just heard the LORD out of the storm. He never got an explanation. What he got, and how the book ends, nobody saw coming.

17 verses≈ 3 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer lives
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
42The endJob prays and is restoredChapter 42

Job Submits Himself to the LORD

Job

Morning after the storm over the land: the sky clearing, a man wrapped in a cloak standing at a distance, from behind, facing the open land.

Then Job replied to the LORD:

“I know that You can do all things

and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Job

You asked, ‘Who is this

who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.

You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak.

I will question you, and you shall inform Me.’

Job

Job 42:5

Job

Job

Therefore I despise myself,

and I repent in dust and ashes.”

Reflect

Heard, and seen

Job had heard of God all his life, and now he knew Him differently. What have you only heard about God? Write what it would mean to know it.

The LORD Rebukes Job’s Friends

God

The three friends standing very still together in morning light, each in his own colors, heads lowered, the gray ash heap behind them.

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends.

God

For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

God

God

So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

A wrapped man at a plain altar of uncut stones at a distance, smoke rising straight up into a clear sky, three men kneeling behind him, all seen from behind.

So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

The LORD Blesses Job

Job, restored, older and white-bearded in a clean wool robe and indigo mantle, among the first new sheep on a green-tinged hillside, a small walled town behind.

After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions.

All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

Question

Quick question

Watch the order.

What did Job do before the LORD restored him?

So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

A very old, white-bearded Job at a tent door at sunset with a small great-great-grandchild on his knee, family gathered near, under a calm, empty sky.

After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, old and full of years.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Ask to know God and not only to hear of Him. Pray for someone who has wronged you. Thank Him for what He gives freely, and ask His comfort for what has not been given back.

What Job never learned

Whiteboard

The reader has known since chapter 1. Job never hears it. He feared God with no reason given, and the Accuser is never mentioned again.

You’ve experienced

Job 42

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A verse to carry with you

My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You.

Job 42:5

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