6
Thereforeעַל כֵּןI despise what I said,אֶמְאַסand I repentוְנִחַמְתִּיonעַלdustעָפָרand ashes.”וָאֵפֶר
Job 42:6
Study it in the app“Therefore I despise what I said, and I repent on dust and ashes.””
Job answers that now his own eye has seen GodSuffering and Trials
With the Hebrew beneath
Job 42:6, word by word
- I despise what I saidאֶמְאַסemas
reject
To regard something or someone as worthless and put it away.
Where else “emas” appears- and I repentנִחַמְתִּיnichamti
feel sorry
To grieve over something done, or to feel sorrow for someone.
Where else “nichamti” appears- dustעָפָרafar
dust
Dry, loose earth, fine as dust; God formed man from it.
Where else “afar” appears- and ashesאֵפֶרefer
ashes
Ashes. "Dust and ashes" is a way of saying one is of very little account.
Where else “efer” appears
Translation note
A brief and difficult verse. The Hebrew does not say what it is that Job “despises”: it may be his words or himself. The second verb means “to regret, to relent” and also “to be comforted”; it can be understood that Job takes back what he said. “On dust and ashes”: sitting in the dust and ashes (2:8), or acknowledging that he is dust and ashes (30:19).
The context
5By the hearing of the ear I had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you.
6 · This verse (above)
7And it happened, after YHWH had spoken these words to Job, that YHWH said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and against your two companions, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.