Job 42:1–42:6, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 42:1–42:6
Job Responds after Hearing and Seeing
Job answers after hearing, and then after seeing
Job answered the LORD and said, I know that you can do everything, and that no thought can be withheld from you. Who is he that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
Hear, I beseech you, and I will speak. I will demand of you, and declare you to me. Job repeats the whirlwind's own challenge back, not as a counterattack but as a man who has been in it. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
The last line is famous because it will not sit still
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes, says the KJV. The Hebrew can be heard as self-loathing, as recanting a case, as changing one's mind, or as taking comfort concerning dust and ashes. Responsible teaching states those alternatives. It does not pretend the English is a simple altar call.
Whatever Job does in the dust, verse 7 will say that Job has spoken of God what is right, unlike the friends. The seeing does not prove Eliphaz was correct. It does not require later sufferers to despise themselves. It is Job's response to an encounter that never published the heavenly wager.
How this should shape us
Let wonder and recantation, if they come, come from seeing, not from coerced shame. Do not flatten Job 42:6 into self-hatred, and do not use it to say the friends had the true account after all.
Teach it back
Explain Job 42:1–42:6 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: Job 42:6 can be read as self-abasement, recantation, changed mind, or consolation concerning mortal dust; God's approval of Job in verse 7 prevents effortless certainty.
How certain? strongResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Job 42:1–42:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 42:1–42:6
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 42:1–42:6.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 42:1–42:6
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Summary, Theological Themes, and passage studies: Job's response and epilogue; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Supports: A fully inspected critical alternative on the framework, litigation, human condition, divine speeches, and moral evaluation.
Harvey, 'Questions on the Book of Job,' Religious Studies 59.S1 (2023), pp. S7-S16, God Questions Job Further, A God of Love?, and Conclusion; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Supports: Lament, undeserved suffering, creation's wild freedom, nonhuman value, chaos imagery, encounter, and ending, used as one responsible pastoral-scholarly reading.
Schifferdecker, Working Preacher Job series, commentary headed for Job 42:1-17; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, Job 42:1-8 and open ending; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Supports: Ancient Greek textual and translation evidence where the Masoretic and Greek forms, wording, length, or attribution materially differ.
NETS Iob, introduction on the shorter Old Greek and exact Greek translation and notes for Iob 42:1–42:6
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 42:1–42:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 42:1–42:6
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 42:1–42:6.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 42:1–42:6
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Summary, Theological Themes, and passage studies: Job's response and epilogue; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗open access philosophical and literary article
Questions on the Book of Job
Warren Zev Harvey
Religious Studies 59, Special Issue S1, 2023
Supports: A fully inspected critical alternative on the framework, litigation, human condition, divine speeches, and moral evaluation.
Exact location: Harvey, 'Questions on the Book of Job,' Religious Studies 59.S1 (2023), pp. S7-S16, God Questions Job Further, A God of Love?, and Conclusion; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Open the Cambridge Job article ↗modern scholarly pastoral commentary collection
Job preaching series and creation commentaries
Kathryn M. Schifferdecker
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2012-2016
Supports: Lament, undeserved suffering, creation's wild freedom, nonhuman value, chaos imagery, encounter, and ending, used as one responsible pastoral-scholarly reading.
Exact location: Schifferdecker, Working Preacher Job series, commentary headed for Job 42:1-17; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Open Schifferdecker on Job 38-42 ↗peer reviewed open access literary and theological article
A Matter of Justice: The Openness of the Book of Job
Hans Ausloos
Old Testament Essays 36.1, 2023
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Exact location: Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, Job 42:1-8 and open ending; applied to Job 42:1–42:6
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Iob
Claude E. Cox
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek textual and translation evidence where the Masoretic and Greek forms, wording, length, or attribution materially differ.
Exact location: NETS Iob, introduction on the shorter Old Greek and exact Greek translation and notes for Iob 42:1–42:6
Open NETS Iob ↗