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Journey of a Passage

Job 42:7–8

"Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right"

God's verdict is stable in every version: the friends did not speak rightly "as my servant Job hath." They must offer sacrifice and Job must pray for them.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JobPoem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Job
Aramaic
    Greek and its daughters
    1. Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)Printed Septuagint; translated 1872Translated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen
    Latin
    1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 390s, from HebrewTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    Every witness, in order

    1. Poem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)

      Original Job

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. Small Hebrew fragments of Job are known from Qumran (2Q15, 4Q99–101).

    2. c. AD 390s, from Hebrew

      Jerome's Vulgate

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Postquam autem locutus est Dominus verba hæc ad Job, dixit ad Eliphaz Themanitem: Iratus est furor meus in te, et in duos amicos tuos, quoniam non estis locuti coram me rectum, sicut servus meus Job.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Job

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      וַיְהִ֗י אַחַ֨ר דִּבֶּ֧ר יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה אֶל־אִיּ֑וֹב וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־אֱלִיפַ֣ז הַתֵּֽימָנִ֗י חָרָ֨ה אַפִּ֤י בְךָ֙ וּבִשְׁנֵ֣י רֵעֶ֔יךָ כִּ֠י לֹ֣א דִבַּרְתֶּ֥ם אֵלַ֛י נְכוֹנָ֖ה כְּעַבְדִּ֥י אִיּֽוֹב׃

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

    5. Printed Septuagint; translated 1872

      Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Or ceci advint: après que le Seigneur eut tenu à Job tout ce discours, le Seigneur dit à Éliphaz le Thémanite Tu as péché, toi et tes deux amis; car vous n’avez rien dit devant moi qui fût véritable, comme l’a fait Job, mon serviteur.

      Greek via Giguet's French (filled-out printed text); not checked against Ziegler's critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    'Elai can mean "of me" or "to me." Either way, God vindicates Job's honest protest over the friends' theology.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedGod declares that Job, not the friends, spoke rightly.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Now Mine Eye Seeth Thee →Job answers: God can do everything; Job spoke of things too wonderful for him. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes," a verse with several possible meanings. Then God tells Eliphaz his anger burns against the three friends, "for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." They must offer sacrifices and Job must pray for them. God restores Job twice over; his family comforts him; he has seven sons and three beautiful daughters, Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-happuch, who inherit with their brothers. Job lives 140 more years and dies "old and full of days." The Greek adds that he will rise again, and that he was Jobab, king of Edom.