The Meaning of Job 42:8 Explained

Job 42:8

KJV: Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

YLT: And now, take to you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go ye unto My servant Job, and ye have caused a burnt-offering to ascend for you; and Job My servant doth pray for you, for surely his face I accept, so as not to do with you folly, because ye have not spoken concerning Me rightly, like My servant Job.

Darby: And now, take for yourselves seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, for ye have not spoken of me rightly, like my servant Job.

ASV: Now therefore, take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept, that I deal not with you after your folly; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Therefore take  unto you now seven  bullocks  and seven  rams,  and go  to my servant  Job,  and offer up  for yourselves a burnt offering;  and my servant  Job  shall pray  for you: for him  will I accept:  lest I deal  with you [after your] folly,  in that ye have not spoken  of me [the thing which is] right,  like my servant  Job. 

What does Job 42:8 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 42:1-17 - Restored To Right Relations With God
In complete surrender Job bowed before God, confessing his ignorance and owning that he had spoken glibly of things which he understood not. He had retorted to his friends that he was as good as they, but now he confessed, as did the Apostle after him, that he was of sinners the chief. It is one thing to hear of God, another to see and know Him close at hand. Well may we loathe our proud words and repent in dust and ashes, Job 42:6, r.v., margin.
When Job was right with God, the Almighty took his side against his accusers and silenced them. It was through Job's intercessions that they were forgiven. He himself was not fully forgiven till he could pray for them with loving forgiveness. But immediately he had done so God turned "the shadow of death into the morning" and gave him the double portion of the first-born. Thus men, when forgiven and restored, are heirs of riches greater than they had forfeited. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 42

1  Job submits himself unto God
7  God, preferring Job's cause, makes his friends submit themselves, and accepts him
10  He magnifies and blesses Job
16  Job's age and death

What do the individual words in Job 42:8 mean?

Therefore now take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams and go to My servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves and Job My servant shall pray for you - for him I will accept lest I deal with you [according to your] folly because not you have spoken of Me [what is] right as My servant Job [has]
וְעַתָּ֡ה קְחֽוּ־ לָכֶ֣ם שִׁבְעָֽה־ פָרִים֩ וְשִׁבְעָ֨ה אֵילִ֜ים וּלְכ֣וּ ׀ אֶל־ עַבְדִּ֣י אִיּ֗וֹב וְהַעֲלִיתֶ֤ם עוֹלָה֙ בַּֽעַדְכֶ֔ם וְאִיּ֣וֹב עַבְדִּ֔י יִתְפַּלֵּ֖ל עֲלֵיכֶ֑ם כִּ֧י אִם־ פָּנָ֣יו אֶשָּׂ֗א לְבִלְתִּ֞י עֲשׂ֤וֹת עִמָּכֶם֙ נְבָלָ֔ה כִּ֠י לֹ֣א דִבַּרְתֶּ֥ם אֵלַ֛י נְכוֹנָ֖ה כְּעַבְדִּ֥י אִיּֽוֹב

וְעַתָּ֡ה  Therefore  now 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: עַתָּה  
Sense: now.
קְחֽוּ־  take 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: יָקַח 
Sense: to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away.
לָכֶ֣ם  for  yourselves 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
שִׁבְעָֽה־  seven 
Parse: Number, masculine singular
Root: שֶׁבַע  
Sense: seven (cardinal number).
פָרִים֩  bulls 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: פַּר  
Sense: .
וְשִׁבְעָ֨ה  and  seven 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Number, masculine singular
Root: שֶׁבַע  
Sense: seven (cardinal number).
אֵילִ֜ים  rams 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: אַיִל 
Sense: ram.
וּלְכ֣וּ ׀  and  go 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: הָלַךְ  
Sense: to go, walk, come.
עַבְדִּ֣י  My  servant 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: עֶבֶד  
Sense: slave, servant.
אִיּ֗וֹב  Job 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִיּׄוב  
Sense: a patriarch, the subject of the book of Job.
וְהַעֲלִיתֶ֤ם  and  offer  up 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive perfect, second person masculine plural
Root: סָלַק 
Sense: to go up, ascend, climb.
עוֹלָה֙  a  burnt  offering 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עֹלָה  
Sense: whole burnt offering.
בַּֽעַדְכֶ֔ם  for  yourselves 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: בַּעַד 
Sense: behind, through, round about, on behalf of, away from, about.
וְאִיּ֣וֹב  and  Job 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִיּׄוב  
Sense: a patriarch, the subject of the book of Job.
עַבְדִּ֔י  My  servant 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: עֶבֶד  
Sense: slave, servant.
יִתְפַּלֵּ֖ל  shall  pray 
Parse: Verb, Hitpael, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: פָּלַל 
Sense: to intervene, interpose, pray.
עֲלֵיכֶ֑ם  for  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
כִּ֧י  - 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
אֶשָּׂ֗א  I  will  accept 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: נָשָׂא  
Sense: to lift, bear up, carry, take.
לְבִלְתִּ֞י  lest 
Parse: Preposition-l
Root: בִּלְתִּי  
Sense: not, except adv.
עֲשׂ֤וֹת  I  deal 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
עִמָּכֶם֙  with  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: עִם  
Sense: with.
נְבָלָ֔ה  [according  to  your]  folly 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: נְבָלָה  
Sense: senselessness, folly.
כִּ֠י  because 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
דִבַּרְתֶּ֥ם  you  have  spoken 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, second person masculine plural
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
אֵלַ֛י  of  Me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
נְכוֹנָ֖ה  [what  is]  right 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Participle, feminine singular
Root: כּוּן 
Sense: to be firm, be stable, be established.
כְּעַבְדִּ֥י  as  My  servant 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: עֶבֶד  
Sense: slave, servant.
אִיּֽוֹב  Job  [has] 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִיּׄוב  
Sense: a patriarch, the subject of the book of Job.