Friday, January 23, 2026

What Words did Job Repent Of?


And the Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind, said Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me Wilt thou make void my judgment: and condemn me, that thou mayst be justified
[Job 40:1-3]

Then Job answered the Lord, and said I know that thou canst do all things, and no thought is hid from thee Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge Hear, and I will speak: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes
[Job 42:1-6]


I find only two possibilities.

a) The words Job regrets are things he said that aren't in the book of Job even if he said them. Because, as writer, he censored out his bad words. However, if so, this must be after this exchange:

And he said to her: Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women: if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? In all these things Job did not sin with his lips.
[Job 2:10]


or b) The words Job regrets were indeed spoken, but only in his heart, not across his lips. He said "no thought is hid from thee" and Job 2 kind of underlines he did not sin "with his lips".

Also, he calls his words basically foolish. However, Psalm 13 doesn't say the fool is an outspoken atheist, it says he has said in his heart "there is no God." God saw something in Job's heart that did not match his words. If God hadn't showed up in a whirlwind, Eliphaz and the rest would have never known that. Even if they may have guessed right, they had no right to guess.

I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices
[Jeremias (Jeremiah) 17:10]


Sounds like an echo of sth in Deuteronomy 32 which St. Paul cites:

Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord
[Romans 12:19]


It would seem, then, the same applies to analysis. But how do we know that Job didn't mean any of the actual words said to those around him?

Take unto you therefore seven oxen, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a holocaust: and my servant Job shall pray for you: his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you: for you have not spoken right things before me, as my servant Job hath
[Job 42:8]


Dear St. Job, pray for us!

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