Job 42:6 (DRB)

Passage

Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.

Nearby Context

Job 42:4 Hear, and I will speak: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me.

Job 42:5 With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee.

Job 42:6 Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.

Job 42:7 And after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Themanite: My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends, because you have not spoken the thing that is right before me, as my servant Job hath.

Job 42:8 Take unto you therefore seven oxen and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a holocaust, and my servant Job shall pray for you: his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you: for you have not spoken right things before me, as my servant Job hath.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "reprehend", "myself", "penance", "dust", and "ashes". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "reprehend", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "With the hearing of the ear I..." into verse 7's "And after the Lord had spoken these...", so "therefore" and "reprehend" belong inside that flow. In Job context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "therefore" and "reprehend" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.