Job understands the deity to be exactly as he had feared: a purveyor of power who cares little for people. Parodying the divine discourse through mimicry, Job expresses disdain toward the deity and pity toward humankind (and not acquiescence, as has been generally thought; see the introduction).
[42:1] Up spoke Job to YHWH and he said:
[2] I have known you are able to do all;
That you cannot be blocked from any scheme.1
[3] “Who is this hiding2 counsel without knowledge?”3
Truly I’ve spoken without comprehending—
Wonders beyond me that I do not know.4
[4] “Hear now and I will speak!
I will ask you, and you help me know!”5
[5] As a hearing by the ear I have heard you,
And now my eye has seen you.6
[6] That is why I am fed up;7
I take pity8 on “dust and ashes!”9
1. Job speaks of the deity in the disdainful terms that God had spoken of the builders of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:6).
2. If a similar Arabic verb is evoked, there is a double entendre: “make known.”
3. Job mimics the deity in 38:2.
4. A mock concession.
5. Job mimics the deity in 38:3; 40:7.
6. A mock concession; Job has already said this (13:1).
7. For ma’as used intransitively in the sense of being “fed up,” see 7:16.
8. See for example 2 Samuel 13:39; Psalm 90:13.
9. “Dust and ashes” is a figure for wretched humanity; see its two other occurrences in Genesis 18:27 and Job 30:19.