I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
- BSB My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You.
- NKJV “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.
- NASB “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You;
- NLT I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job says he had only heard of God by report, but now his eye sees Him. Encountering God personally transforms his whole understanding.
Overview
Job contrasts secondhand knowledge with direct, personal encounter with the living God. Though he had been a righteous man all along, this fresh sight of God's majesty deepens his faith beyond mere hearsay. It pictures the difference between knowing about God and truly knowing Him, a knowledge brought to fullness in Christ, who makes the unseen God known (John 1:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Eph 1:17–18That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
- Rom 10:17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- John 12:45And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
- Isa 6:5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
- John 12:41These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
- Isa 6:1In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
- Job 26:14Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
- Num 12:6–8And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
- Job 4:12Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
- John 1:18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
- Job 23:8–9Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
- Job 33:16Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
- Job 28:22Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
- Acts 7:55–56But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 42:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.