Job 42:16
in Job 42After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.
KJV
After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.
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This verse in Job 42
Commentary
11 notes on this verseBut Job lived after these scourges a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even to the fourth generation, and he died an old man, and full of days. 47. In Holy Scripture a person is not easily recorded as 'full of days,' unless he is one whose conduct is praised in the same Scripture. For he is in truth void of days, who, even if he has lived ever so long, has wasted the time of his life in vanity.
This site's exposition
After this, Job lived 140 years
on Job 42:16-17
He died “old and full of years”, the formula Genesis 25:8 uses of Abraham, a death named as fullness. James 5:11 joins Job's endurance to the outcome the Lord gave him. Davidson reads that verse as the New Testament's judgment on the chapters of complaint before it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Scripture reports God increased by half all of Job's things, except for the children. It is evident, therefore, that the length of his life was also increased by a half. If he had lived 170 years when he was delivered from that calamity, it appears …
The Medieval Church2 voices
If it is true that Moses knew Job, why did he never mention him in any of his works? It is evident that [Job] lived before the law, because we know that in every time, in every place and in every person, the knowledge of …
Since Job also had been scourged in his own body, he is given length of days to increase his prosperity, and so the text goes on, "But Job lived after his trials one hundred and forty years." So that we may understand that he lived …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
As God appointed to Adam another seed instead of that which was slain ( Gen. iv. 25 ), so he did to Job with advantage. God has ways to repair the losses and balance the griefs of those who are written childless, as Job was when he had buried all his children.
After this lived Job an hundred and forty years,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Here he goes on with words to the same purport. Though his patience had not its perfect work, his repentance for his impatience had. He is here thoroughly humbled for his folly and unadvised speaking, and it was forgiven him.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
After this lived Job a hundred and forty years - How long he had lived before his afflictions, we cannot tell. If we could rely on the Septuagint, all would be plain, who add here, Τα δε παντα ετη εζησεν, διακοσια τεσσαρακοντα; “And all the years that Job lived were two hundred and forty.” This makes him one hundred years of age when his trial commenced. Coverdale has, After this lyved Job forty yeares, omitting the hundred. So also in Becke’s Bible, 15
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The Septuagint makes Job live a hundred seventy years after his calamity, and two hundred forty in all. This would make him seventy at the time of his calamity, which added to a hundred forty in Hebrew text makes up two hundred ten; a little more than the age (two hundred five) of Terah, father of Abraham, perhaps his contemporary.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
After this Job lived an hundred and forty years - As his age at the time his calamities commenced is not mentioned, it is of course impossible to determine how old he was when he died. The Septuagint, however, has undertaken to determine this, but on what authority is unknown. They render this verse, “And Job lived after this affliction an hundred and seventy years: so that all the years that he lived were two hundred and forty.” According to this, his age would have been seventy when his afflictions came upon him; but this is a mere conjecture. Why the authors of that version have added thirty years to the time which he lived after his calamities, making it an hundred and seventy instead of an hundred and forty as it is in the Hebrew text, is unknown. The supposition that he was about seventy years of age when his calamities came upon him, is not an unreasonable one. He had a family of ten children, and his sons were grown so as to have families of their own, Job 1:4. It should be remembered, also, that in the patriarchal times, when people lived to a great age, marriages did not occur at so early a period of life as they do now. In this book, also, though the age of Job is not mentioned, yet the uniform representation of him is that of a man of mature years; of large experience and extended observation; of one who had enjoyed high honor and a wide reputation as a sage and a magistrate; and when these circumstances are taken into the account, the supposition of the translators of the Septuagint, that he was seventy years old when his afflictions commenced, is not improbable. If so, his age at his death was two hundred and ten years. The age to which he lived is mentioned as remarkable, and was evidently somewhat extraordinary. […]
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְחִ֤י | vaychi | and he lived | H2421 → | 282 times |
| אִיּוֹב֙ | ʾiyov | Job | H347 → | 58 times |
| אַֽחֲרֵי־ | ʾacharei- | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| זֹ֔את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| מֵאָ֥ה | meah | one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים | vearbaim | and forty | H705 → | |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וַיִּרְאֶ֗ה | vaiyar | and he saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בָּנָיו֙ | banav | children his | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| בָנָ֔יו | vanav | children his | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אַרְבָּעָ֖ה | ʾarbaah | four | H702 → | 318 times |
| דֹּרֽוֹת׃ | dorot | generations | H1755 → |
וַיְחִ֤יand he lived
vaychiH2421 →282 times
אִיּוֹב֙Job
ʾiyovH347 →58 times
אַֽחֲרֵי־after
ʾacharei-H310 →715 times
זֹ֔אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
מֵאָ֥הone hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
וְאַרְבָּעִ֖יםand forty
vearbaimH705 →
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וַיִּרְאֶ֗הand he saw
vaiyarH7200 →1300 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בָּנָיו֙children his
banavH1121 →4930 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] children of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
בָנָ֔יוchildren his
vanavH1121 →4930 times
אַרְבָּעָ֖הfour
ʾarbaahH702 →318 times
דֹּרֽוֹת׃generations
dorotH1755 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 128:6that you may see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!
it leads to
- Genesis 50:23
He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
- Isaiah 66:12
For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm,…
- Psalms 125:5
But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
- Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.
- Galatians 1:16
to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,
- Genesis 50:23
Through
Proverbs 17:6Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.
it leads to
- Psalms 127:3–5
Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
- Proverbs 16:31
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
- Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Psalms 127:3–5
Where this verse is studied
About Job

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 42:16; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXV; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 42:16; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.
