Bible Strands
Job 42:5
My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job speaks to Yahweh at the close of the book, immediately after God's address from the whirlwind (38:1–41:57) and God's challenge to answer (42:3).
The words — The verse pivots on the contrast between שָׁמַע (shama', "to hear") and רָאָה (ra'ah, "to see"), moving from secondhand report to direct perception.
The thread — Romans 10:17 grounds faith in hearing, while John 12:45 equates seeing the Son with seeing the Father; Ephesians 1:17 asks for a "spirit of wisdom and revelation" in knowledge of God.
Why it lands — The verse forces a distinction: how much of what you hold about God is inherited report versus what you have encountered yourself.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
- Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
- John 12:45 And whoever sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
- Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
- John 12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.
- Job 26:14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- Numbers 12:6 He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
- Job 4:12 Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.
- John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.