Job 42 Contemporary English Version

Job's Reply to the Lord

No One Can Oppose You

42 Job said:
²No one can oppose you,
because you have the power
    to do what you want.
³^(A) You asked why I talk so much
    when I know so little.
I have talked about things
that are far beyond
    my understanding.
⁴^(B) You told me to listen
    and answer your questions.^[a]
⁵I heard about you from others;
now I have seen you
    with my own eyes.
⁶That's why I hate myself
and sit here in dust and ashes
    to show my sorrow.

The Lord Corrects Job's Friends

⁷The Lord said to Eliphaz:

What my servant Job has said about me is true, but I am angry with you and your two friends for not telling the truth. ⁸So I want you to go over to Job and offer seven bulls and seven goats on an altar as a sacrifice to please me.^[b] After this, Job will pray, and I will agree not to punish you for your foolishness.

⁹Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar obeyed the Lord, and he answered Job's prayer.

A Happy Ending

¹⁰^(C) After Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made Job twice as rich as he had been before. ¹¹Then Job gave a feast for his brothers and sisters and for his old friends. They expressed their sorrow for the suffering the Lord had brought on him, and they each gave Job some silver and a gold ring.

¹²The Lord now blessed Job more than ever; he gave him 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pair of oxen, and 1,000 donkeys.

¹³In addition to seven sons, Job had three daughters, ¹⁴whose names were Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren Happuch. ¹⁵They were the most beautiful women in that part of the world, and Job gave them shares of his property, along with their brothers.

¹⁶Job lived for another 140 years—long enough to see his great-grandchildren have children of their own— ¹⁷and when he finally died, he was very old.

Footnotes

42.4 questions: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 4.
42.8 sacrifice to please me: These sacrifices have traditionally been called “whole burnt offerings” because the whole animal was burned on the altar. A main purpose of such sacrifices was to please the Lord with the smell of the sacrifice, and so in the CEV they are often called “sacrifices to please the Lord.”