Job 2:3

2:3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly¹ to his integrity,² so that³ you stirred me up to destroy him⁴ without reason.”⁵

Job 42:7

VII. The Epilogue (42:7-17)

42:7 After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he⁶ said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up⁷ against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right,⁸ as my servant Job has.

Job 42:11

42:11 So they came to him, all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they dined⁹ with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him for all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver¹⁰ and a gold ring.¹¹

¹tn The form is the Hiphil participle, “make strong, seize, hold fast.” It is the verbal use here; joined with עֹדֶנּוּ (’odennu, “yet he”) it emphasizes that “he is still holding firmly.” The testing has simply strengthened Job in his integrity.

²tn This is the same word used to describe Job as “blameless, pure.” Here it carries the idea of “integrity”; Job remained blameless, perfect.

³tn The vav (ו) with the preterite is used here to express the logical conclusion or consequence of what was stated previously. God is saying that Job has maintained his integrity, so that now it is clear that Satan moved against him groundlessly (GKC 328 §111.l).

⁴tn The verb literally means “to swallow”; it forms an implied comparison in the line, indicating the desire of Satan to ruin him completely. See A Guillaume, “A Note on the Root bala`,” JTS 13 (1962): 320-23; and N. M. Sarna, “Epic Substratum in the Prose of Job,”JBL 76 (1957): 13-25, for a discussion of the Ugaritic deity Mot swallowing up the enemy.

⁵sn Once again the adverb חִנָּם (khinnam, “gratis”) is used. It means “graciously, gratis, free, without cause, for no reason.” Here the sense has to be gratuitously, for no reason.” The point of the verb חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”) and its derivatives is that the action is undeserved. In fact, they would deserve the opposite. Sinners seeking grace deserve punishment. Here, Job deserves reward, not suffering.

⁶tn Heb “the Lord.” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷tn Heb “is kindled.”

⁸tn The form נְכוֹנָה (nÿkhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian word kenu (from כּוּן, kun) connotes justice and truth.

⁹tn Heb “ate bread.”

¹⁰tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qÿsitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown.

sn The Hebrew word refers to a piece of silver, yet uncoined. It is the kind used in Gen 33:19 and Josh 24:32. It is what would be expected of a story set in the patriarchal age.

¹¹sn This gold ring was worn by women in the nose, or men and women in the ear.