Job's Confession and Repentance
Job 42:1-6
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Job.42.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 40:3-5 (verbal): Same formula and immediate verbal pattern—Job again begins to answer the LORD and expresses his inability to reply (confession of silence), linking the dialogic turn in the book.
- Isaiah 6:5 (thematic): Isaiah’s humble, terror-struck confession (“Woe is me… I am undone”) mirrors Job’s posture of awe, self-abasement and speech in the presence of God’s word.
- Psalm 51:4 (thematic): David’s confession to God (‘Against you, you only, have I sinned’) reflects the repentance and admission of human culpability that informs Job’s reply to the LORD.
- 2 Samuel 12:13 (thematic): David’s direct admission to Nathan/God (‘I have sinned against the LORD’) parallels Job’s eventual answer of submission and acknowledgement before God’s charge.
- Luke 18:13 (thematic): The tax collector’s humble plea and recognition of sin (‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’) echoes the posture of contrition and direct address to God exemplified by Job’s response.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then Job answered the LORD and said:
- Then Job answered the LORD and said:
Job.42.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ידעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- כי: CONJ
- כל: DET
- תוכל: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- יבצר: VERB,niphal,impf,3,m,sg
- ממך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- מזמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Jeremiah 32:17 (verbal): Both affirm God's incomparable power over creation and the conviction that nothing is too difficult for him ('Ah Lord GOD! it is you who have made the heavens and the earth... nothing too hard for you').
- Jeremiah 32:27 (verbal): A succinct parallel in language and idea: 'Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?'—echoing Job's claim that nothing can frustrate God's purpose.
- Genesis 18:14 (thematic): Contains the prophetic question 'Is anything too hard for the LORD?' which expresses the same confidence in God's limitless ability to accomplish his will.
- Isaiah 14:27 (allusion): Speaks of the Lord's irrevocable purpose—'For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?'—closely paralleling Job's assertion that no counsel of God can be thwarted.
- Psalm 115:3 (thematic): Declares God's sovereign freedom of action—'Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases'—echoing Job's recognition of God's unrestricted power and effective will.
Alternative generated candidates
- I know that you can do all things; and that no plan of yours can be thwarted.
- I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be frustrated.
Job.42.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- מעלים: VERB,piel,ptc,ms,sg
- עצה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בלי: PREP
- דעת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לכן: ADV
- הגדתי: VERB,hif,perf,1,_,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אבין: VERB,qal,imf,1,sg
- נפלאות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ממני: PREP,suff,1,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אדע: VERB,qal,imperfect,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 139:6 (verbal): Shares near-verbatim language and theme — 'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me' echoes Job's admission of things 'too wonderful for me, which I knew not.'
- Isaiah 40:13 (thematic): Rhetorical question about who can counsel or instruct God mirrors Job's recognition that divine counsel is hidden from human understanding.
- Romans 11:33 (thematic): Paul's praise of the depth and unsearchable nature of God's wisdom and judgments parallels Job's confession of human inability to comprehend God's ways.
- 1 Corinthians 2:11 (structural): Uses a similar argumentative pattern ('who knows the mind of man except the spirit of man') to show limits of human knowledge regarding divine counsels, resonating with Job's confession.
- Ecclesiastes 8:17 (thematic): Expresses the theme that humans cannot fully discover God's work from beginning to end, comparable to Job's statement of not knowing wondrous things.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who is this that conceals counsel without knowledge? Therefore I declared— I did not understand; wondrous things too marvelous for me, which I did not know.
- Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge? Therefore I spoke—things I did not understand—wondrous matters beyond me, which I did not know.
Job.42.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- שמע: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- נא: PART
- ואנכי: PRON,1,sg
- אדבר: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- אשאלך: VERB,qal,imprf,1,sg,obj:2ms
- והודיעני: VERB,hiph,impf,2,m,sg+OBJ,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:3 (verbal): God's challenge to Job: "I will demand of thee, and answer thou me" — the same demand-language that Job echoes in 42:4 (verb forms אשאל/הודיע).
- Job 40:7 (structural): A second divine exhortation: "Gird up thy loins... I will demand of thee, and answer thou me" — a parallel interrogation formula that 42:4 alludes to and inverts by Job's plea to question God.
- Job 13:3 (thematic): Earlier in the dialogue Job declares his desire to speak with the Almighty and reason with God — anticipating the same impulse in 42:4 to address and question God directly.
- Job 23:4-5 (thematic): Job expresses his wish to present his case before God and 'fill his mouth with arguments' — thematically parallel to 42:4's appeal to speak and receive an answer from God.
Alternative generated candidates
- Hear now, and I will speak; I will ask of you, and you instruct me.
- Hear now, and let me speak; I will question you, and you instruct me.
Job.42.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לשמע: INF,qal,infc
- אזן: NOUN,f,sg,cstr
- שמעתיך: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ועתה: CONJ
- עיני: NOUN,f,pl,cons+1s
- ראתך: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg,obj2m
Parallels
- Genesis 32:30 (verbal): Jacob declares, 'I have seen God face to face,' echoing Job’s contrast between having heard of God and then seeing Him—both use direct language of seeing God.
- Exodus 33:11 (verbal): Of Moses it says the LORD spoke 'face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,' paralleling Job’s emphasis on a direct, personal vision/encounter with God.
- Isaiah 6:5 (verbal): Isaiah’s confession 'mine eyes have seen the King' parallels Job’s language of sight and underscores the transformative effect of a vision of God.
- John 1:14 (thematic): 'We beheld his glory' (the incarnation narratives) resonates with Job’s shift from hearing about God to an immediate, visible revelation—an eyewitness encounter with the divine.
- Revelation 22:4 (thematic): The eschatological promise that the redeemed 'shall see his face' echoes Job’s culmination in sight of God, framing vision of God as ultimate restoration/communion.
Alternative generated candidates
- By the hearing of the ear I had heard of you; but now my eye has seen you.
- By the hearing of the ear I had heard of you, but now my eye sees you.
Job.42.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- על: PREP
- כן: ADV
- אמאס: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ונחמתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- על: PREP
- עפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Genesis 18:27 (verbal): Abraham uses the phrase 'I am dust and ashes' (or 'a dust and ashes man') to express humility before God—verbal and thematic parallel to Job's 'dust and ashes' repentance.
- Job 40:4-5 (quotation): Earlier in the same book Job declares 'Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee?' and puts his hand on his mouth—an immediate verbal/structural precursor to the fuller confession in 42:6.
- Daniel 9:3 (verbal): Daniel turns to the Lord 'with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes'—uses the same imagery of ashes and penitential practice as Job 42:6.
- Jonah 3:5-9 (thematic): The Ninevites (and Jonah) respond with fasting, sackcloth, and calls for mercy, expressing communal repentance—parallel theme of turning to God in repentance and humiliation.
- Esther 4:1-3 (thematic): Mordecai and the Jews mourn in sackcloth and ashes after hearing the edict—the motif of ashes as external sign of grief/repentance echoes Job's self-abasement.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
- Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
I know that you are able to do all things, and that no purpose is beyond your power.
Who is this that conceals counsel without knowledge? Therefore I spoke of what I did not understand—wondrous things beyond me, which I did not know.
Hear now, and let me speak; I will ask you, and you instruct me.
By hearsay my ear had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.