Job 42:4-6

42:4 You said, ¹ 

‘Pay attention, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye has seen you. ² 

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ³ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

[42:4]  ¹ tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.

[42:5]  ² sn This statement does not imply there was a vision. He is simply saying that this experience of God was real and personal. In the past his knowledge of God was what he had heard – hearsay. This was real.

[42:6]  ³ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).