1 Then Iob answered the Lord, and said,
2 I know that thou canst doe euery thing, and that no thought can bee withholden from thee.
3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore haue I vttered that I vnderstood not, things too wonderfull for me, which I knew not.
4 Heare, I beseech thee, and I will speake: I will demand of thee, and declare thou vnto me.
5 I haue heard of thee by the hearing of the eare: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhorre my selfe, and repent in dust and ashes.
7 ¶ And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words vnto Iob, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, & against thy two friends: for ye haue not spoken of mee the thing that is right, as my seruant Iob hath.
8 Therefore take vnto you now seuen bullocks, and seuen rammes, and goe to my seruant Iob, and offer vp for your selues a burnt offring, and my seruant Iob shal pray for you, for him wil I accept: lest I deale with you after your folly, in that ye haue not spoken of mee the thing which is right, like my seruant Iob.
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them: the Lord also accepted Iob.
10 And the Lord turned the captiuitie of Iob, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gaue Iob twice as much as he had before.
11 Then came there vnto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had bin of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoned him, and comforted him ouer all the euill that the Lord had brought vpon him: euery man also gaue him a piece of money, and euery one an eare-ring of gold.
12 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Iob, more then his beginning: for he had fourteene thousand sheepe, and sixe thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand shee asses.
13 He had also seuen sonnes, and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of the first, Iemima, and the name of the second, Kezia, and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.
15 And in all the land were no women found so faire as the daughters of Iob: and their father gaue them inheritance among their brethren.
16 After this liued Iob an hundred and fourtie yeeres, and saw his sonnes, and his sonnes sonnes, euen foure generations.
17 So Iob died being old, and full of dayes.
Job humbly submits unto God. (1-6) Job intercedes for his friends. (7-9) His renewed prosperity. (10-17)1-6 Job was now sensible of his guilt; he would no longer speak in his own excuse; he abhorred himself as a sinner in heart and life, especially for murmuring against God, and took shame to himself. When the understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of grace, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as the sight of the eyes excels report and common fame. By the teachings of men, God reveals his Son to us; but by the teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us, #Ga 1:16|, and changes us into the same image, #2Co 3:18|. It concerns us to be deeply humbled for the sins of which we are convinced. Self-loathing is ever the companion of true repentance. The Lord will bring those whom he loveth, to adore him in self-abasement; while true grace will always lead them to confess their sins without self-justifying.
7-9 After the Lord had convinced and humbled Job, and brought him to repentance, he owned him, comforted him, and put honour upon him. The devil had undertaken to prove Job a hypocrite, and his three friends had condemned him as a wicked man; but if God say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, it is of little consequence who says otherwise. Job's friends had wronged God, by making prosperity a mark of the true church, and affliction a certain proof of God's wrath. Job had referred things to the future judgment and the future state, more than his friends, therefore he spake of God that which was right, better than his friends had done. And as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those that had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed for his persecutors, and ever lives, making intercession for the transgressors. Job's friends were good men, and belonged to God, and He would not let them be in their mistake any more than Job; but having humbled him by a discourse out of the whirlwind, he takes another way to humble them. They are not to argue the matter again, but they must agree in a sacrifice and a prayer, and that must reconcile them, Those who differ in judgment about lesser things, yet are one in Christ the great Sacrifice, and ought therefore to love and bear with one another. When God was angry with Job's friends, he put them in a way to make peace with him. Our quarrels with God always begin on our part, but the making peace begins on his. Peace with God is to be had only in his own way, and upon his own terms. These will never seem hard to those who know how to value this blessing: they will be glad of it, like Job's friends, upon any terms, though ever so humbling. Job did not insult over his friends, but God being graciously reconciled to him, he was easily reconciled to them. In all our prayers and services we should aim to be accepted of the Lord; not to have praise of men, but to please God.
10-17 In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an example; here, for our encouragement to follow that example, we have his happy end. His troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. Mercy did not return when Job was disputing with his friends, but when he was praying for them. God is served and pleased with our warm devotions, not with our warm disputes. God doubled Job's possessions. We may lose much for the Lord, but we shall not lose any thing by him. Whether the Lord gives us health and temporal blessings or not, if we patiently suffer according to his will, in the end we shall be happy. Job's estate increased. The blessing of the Lord makes rich; it is he that gives us power to get wealth, and gives success in honest endeavours. The last days of a good man sometimes prove his best, his last works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his path, like that of the morning light, shines more and more unto the perfect day.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.