Job 42 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 42
Job’s final reply, restoration and the Greek epilogue
Source chapters: [BHS42] Hebrew; [LXX42] Greek.
Seventeen Hebrew verses and twenty-two Greek units. Greek 42:17a–e are preserved as five additional rows, including the resurrection statement and the text’s claimed Syriac-source genealogy.
Verse 42:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:1 Job answered YHWH and said:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:1 Then Job replied to the Lord:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce Job’s final reply.
Verse 42:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:2 “I know that You can do everything,
and no purpose can be withheld from You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:2 “I know that You can do all things,
and nothing is impossible for You.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both acknowledge unlimited divine ability.
Verse 42:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:3 ‘Who is this who conceals counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I declared what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:3 For who is the one hiding counsel from You,
who withholds words and thinks he hides them from You?
Who will announce to me what I did not know,
great and wonderful things I did not understand?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek questions who can announce unknown wonders; Hebrew explicitly admits having spoken without understanding. Quotation marks in Hebrew identify a probable recalled divine question, not marked speech in the ancient typography.
Verse 42:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:4 ‘Hear now, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to Me.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:4 But hear me, Lord, so that I too may speak;
I will question You, and You teach me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew is provisionally Job quoting God’s challenge; Greek explicitly addresses the Lord and asks Him to teach. The Hebrew can alternatively be Job’s own address and requires interpretive judgment.
Verse 42:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:5 By the hearing of the ear I heard You,
but now my eye has seen You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:5 Formerly I heard a hearing of the ear concerning You,
but now my eye has seen You;
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both contrast prior hearing with present sight.
Verse 42:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:6 Therefore I reject it,
and relent concerning dust and ashes.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:6 therefore I despised myself and wasted away,
and I regard myself as earth and ashes.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew maas leaves its object unexpressed; it is supplied minimally, not myself. Nihamti can express repentance, change of mind or being comforted, and al can mean upon or concerning; the rendering is provisional. Greek explicitly names self-disdain, wasting and self-identification with earth and ashes. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 42:6 [RJ42], supplies my life as what Job despises and understands consolation in returning to the dust of the grave after seeing God’s presence. Saints: Gregory the Great, Moralia 35.6–7 [GM35], reads self-reproach and penitence as recognizing human frailty before divine greatness. Neither interpretation is silently imposed on the Hebrew.
Verse 42:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:7 After YHWH had spoken these words to Job, YHWH said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken rightly to Me as My servant Job has.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:7 After the Lord had spoken all these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “You and your two friends sinned, for you spoke nothing true before Me as My servant Job did.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly accuses sin and lack of truth, whereas Hebrew names divine anger and not speaking rightly. Hebrew to Me can also be understood about Me. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 42:7 [RJ42], distinguishes Job’s speech under severe pain from the friends’ blame and failure to console him. Saints: Gregory the Great, Moralia 35.9–10 [GM35], treats the judgment as vindicating Job’s humble defense against the friends, while preserving God’s ability to correct him.
Verse 42:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams for yourselves, and go to My servant Job. Offer a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept his person, so that I do not deal with you in folly, because you have not spoken rightly to Me as My servant Job has.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:8 Now take seven calves and seven rams and go to My servant Job, and he will make an offering on your behalf. My servant Job will pray for you, for I will surely accept his person. Were it not for him, I would have destroyed you; for you did not speak truth against My servant Job.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek makes Job offer the sacrifice, explicitly threatens destruction without his mediation, and ends with false speech against Job; Hebrew tells the friends to offer and repeats speech to or about God. Hebrew in folly is a compressed judgment expression, often understood as punishment for their foolishness. Saints: Gregory the Great, Moralia 35.11–14 [GM35], interprets Job as the Church and the friends as erring teachers returning through her intercession. This ecclesial typology exceeds the immediate narrative and is attributed to Gregory.
Verse 42:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:9 Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as YHWH told them, and YHWH accepted Job’s person.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:9 Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Minaean went and did as the Lord commanded them, and He released their sin through Job.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly describes forgiveness through Job where Hebrew describes accepting Job; Zophar’s designation differs.
Verse 42:10 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:10 YHWH restored Job’s fortunes when he prayed for his friend, and YHWH added to everything Job had, doubling it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:10 The Lord increased Job. When he also prayed for his friends, He forgave their sin. The Lord gave double what Job had formerly, for a doubling.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek again explicitly forgives the friends and repeats doubling; Hebrew restores fortunes, literally turns captivity, and displays friend singular collectively. Saints: Gregory the Great, Moralia 35.21 [GM35], draws an ethical lesson: prayer for others, including enemies, strengthens one’s own petition through love of neighbor. This is a spiritual application of Job’s intercession.
Verse 42:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:11 All his brothers, all his sisters and all his former acquaintances came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They showed him sympathy and comforted him concerning all the calamity YHWH had brought upon him. Each gave him one qesitah and one gold ring.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:11 All his brothers and sisters heard everything that had happened to him and came to him, along with all who had known him from the beginning. They ate and drank with him and consoled him, and marveled at all the Lord had brought upon him. Each gave him one ewe lamb and an unstamped gold piece of four drachmas.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek adds hearing, drinking and marveling, and gives a lamb and an unstamped gold weight or piece. Hebrew qesitah is an uncertain monetary unit, not silently changed into the Greek lamb; its gold ring differs from the Greek four-drachma piece.
Verse 42:12 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:12 YHWH blessed Job’s latter days more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of cattle and one thousand female donkeys.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:12 The Lord blessed Job’s latter things more than the former. His livestock were fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen and one thousand grazing female donkeys.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: All quantities agree; Greek explicitly calls the female donkeys grazing animals.
Verse 42:13 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:13 He had seven sons and three daughters.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:13 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The restored family numbers agree. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 42:13 [RJ42], reads the unusual shivanah as two sevens, yielding fourteen sons. Saints: Gregory the Great, Moralia 35.36 [GM35], reads seven new sons and three daughters, while counting the deceased children as still alive in the abode of souls. The running draft retains seven sons.
Verse 42:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-happuch.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:14 He called the first Hemera, the second Casia and the third Amalthea’s Horn.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek Hemera means Day, Casia is cassia, and Amalthea’s Horn is a culturally distinct name. Hebrew Keren-happuch is a horn of cosmetic pigment; no identity of the two horn images is assumed.
Verse 42:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:15 In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:15 None were found beneath heaven better than Job’s daughters, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek better is broader than Hebrew beautiful, and beneath heaven broader than the land; the daughters’ inheritance agrees.
Verse 42:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:16 After this, Job lived one hundred forty years and saw his sons and his sons’ sons, four generations.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:16 After the affliction, Job lived one hundred seventy years; in all, he lived two hundred forty-eight years. Job saw his sons and his sons’ sons, a fourth generation.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek adds a total lifespan and gives one hundred seventy years after affliction, against Hebrew one hundred forty. Both preserve four generations.
Verse 42:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
42:17 Job died old and full of days.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:17 Job died elderly and full of days.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both share this conclusion, after which the Greek continues.
Verse 42:17a Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No corresponding Hebrew source unit.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:17a It is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The Greek explicitly adds resurrection here. This statement belongs to the selected Greek main text, not an interpretation inserted into the Hebrew ending.
Verse 42:17b Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No corresponding Hebrew source unit.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:17b This is translated from the Syriac book: he lived in the land of Ausitis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia, and his former name was Jobab.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds a claimed Syriac source and geographical-name identification. The source’s claim is translated; no independent Syriac manuscript verification is claimed.
Verse 42:17c Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No corresponding Hebrew source unit.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:17c He took an Arabian wife and fathered a son named Ennon. His father was Zare, a son of the sons of Esau, and his mother was Bosorra, so that he was fifth from Abraham.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds wife, son and ancestry. The compressed son of the sons of Esau relationship is retained rather than rewritten as a fully verified genealogy.
Verse 42:17d Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No corresponding Hebrew source unit.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:17d These are the kings who reigned in Edom, the land he himself also ruled: first Balak son of Beor, whose city was called Dennaba; after Balak, Jobab, called Job; after him, Asom, a ruler from the land of Teman; after him, Adad son of Barad, who cut down Midian in the plain of Moab, whose city was called Geththaim.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds a royal list and identifies Jobab with Job. Its particular names and sequence are preserved as the text’s own account, without historical harmonization.
Verse 42:17e Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No corresponding Hebrew source unit.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
42:17e The friends who came to him were Eliphaz, from the sons of Esau, king of the Temanites; Bildad, ruler of the Shuhites; and Zophar, king of the Minaeans.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek closes by assigning royal or ruling status and ancestry to the three friends. Tyrannos here is rendered ruler without importing the modern pejorative tyrant.