Bible Strands
Job 42:6
Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job speaks these words in response to God’s direct address, immediately after declaring that he has transitioned from hearing about God to personally seeing Him. The declaration occurs between God’s rebuke of Job’s friends and His command to them to seek Job’s intercession.
The words — אֶמְאַס ('em.'As) literally means "I reject" or "I despise," while נִחַמְתִּי (ni.Cham.ti) translates to "I repent" or "I change my mind." The phrase עָפָר וָאֵפֶר (dust and ashes) denotes the posture of mourning and humility.
The thread — The posture of self-abasement before God echoes in Ezra 9:6, where the speaker refuses to lift his face due to iniquity, and aligns with the confessional tone of 1 Timothy 1:13. The call to submit and resist the devil in James 4:7 parallels the posture of yielding to divine authority.
Why it lands — The text records Job’s rejection of his former self-assessment and his voluntary return to a posture of mourning and humility after encountering God’s sovereignty. It requires the reader to acknowledge that true repentance follows direct revelation, not merely external correction.
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
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Cross-references
- Ezra 9:6 and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
- 1 Timothy 1:13 I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD:
- Job 30:19 He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
- Daniel 9:3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
- Esther 4:1 When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
- Job 2:8 And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.
- Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
- Jeremiah 31:19 After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’