Job 42:4
in Job 42You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall inform Me.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak; I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
KJV
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
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This verse in Job 42
Commentary
6 notes on this verseHear, and I will speak; I will question Thee, and answer Thou me. 4. To hear, is, with us, to adapt our ear which is in one place to a sound which comes from another. But with God, on the other hand, to Whom nothing is external, hearing is properly for Him to perceive our longings which are rising up beneath Him.
This site's exposition
Listen now, and I will speak
on Job 42:4-6
Job repeats God's summons, meeting in reverse his demand at 13:22. The phrase “dust and ashes” is given elsewhere only to Abraham at Genesis 18:27 and to Job at 30:19, and Delitzsch sees Abraham's posture. Gill notes the ashes Job sat in at 2:8 become the ashes he repents in.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Because, "I have spoken foolishly" in what remains I will speak wisely, and so he says, "Listen and I will speak," and confess my fault. Because "I have spoken about things which exceed my knowledge," from now on I do not dare to speak about …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Now he is brought to the prayer Elihu taught him, That which I see not teach thou me. He puts himself into the posture of a penitent, and therein goes upon a right principle. In true repentance there must be not only conviction of sin, but contrition and godly sorrow for it, sorrow according to God, 2 Cor. vii.
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak - This is the language of humble, docile submission. On former occasions he had spoken confidently and boldly of God; he had called in question the equity of his dealings with him; he had demanded that he might be permitted to carry his cause before him, and argue it there himself; Notes, Job 13:3, and notes Job 13:20-22. Now he is wholly changed.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְֽׁמַֽע־ | shema'- | listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| נָ֭א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| וְאָנֹכִ֣י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֲדַבֵּ֑ר | ʾadaber | I will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אֶ֝שְׁאָלְךָ֗ | ʾeshalkha | I will ask you | H7592 → | 171 times |
| וְהוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃ | vehodieni | and make known to me | H3045 → | 945 times |
שְֽׁמַֽע־listen
shema'-H8085 →1159 times
נָ֭אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
וְאָנֹכִ֣יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
אֲדַבֵּ֑רI will speak
ʾadaberH1696 →1141 times
אֶ֝שְׁאָלְךָ֗I will ask you
ʾeshalkhaH7592 →171 times
וְהוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃and make known to me
vehodieniH3045 →945 times
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
Job 40:7“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
it leads to
- Job 38:3
Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
- Job 38:3
Through
Job 38:3Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
it leads to
- Job 40:7
“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
- Exodus 12:11
This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it…
- Job 40:7
Through
Genesis 18:27Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:5
Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD…
- Luke 5:8
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- 1 Corinthians 15:47–48
The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.
- Isaiah 6:5
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.