Job 42 · a question people ask
Job says he "uttered that which I didn’t understand" (42:3), and the LORD says Job spoke "the thing that is right" (42:7). How do these fit together?
The book sets them a few verses apart and doesn't explain how they fit, so these notes quote both as they stand. When the LORD first answered out of the whirlwind he asked, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2). Job gives the question back and answers it: "therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know" (42:3). Then the LORD says to Eliphaz, "you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7), and says it again in 42:8. The book doesn't say which of his own words Job means in 42:3, or which of the friends' words 42:7 has in view. Elihu, who spoke from 32:6 to 37:24, isn't named in 42:7-9, or anywhere after 36:1. These notes don't settle any of it.
The verses
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”
“You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.”
“It was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.””
“Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old. Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my opinion.”