1) Job, a great and blameless man from the land of Uz, is
subjected to a test due to a disagreement between the satan and the Lord as to
whether he is blameless due to his good fortune or good character. God allows the satan to destroy all of Job’s
property and children in order to check the source of Job’s character. Job mourns, but acknowledges that all he had
had come from the Lord, and chooses not to blame God.
2) The satan challenges God again, asking him to allow him to afflict his body, and then he will surely curse God. God allows it. Job is covered in sores and in great suffering, and even his wife encourages him to curse God, but he refuses and says he will accept the bad with the good. Job’s three friends come to comfort and console him and sit with him in his suffering.
3) Job curses the day he was born, wishing that he had never lived his life so that he had never met his suffering.
4) Eliphaz answers Job by suggesting that because he is personally affected, he is being weak where he had counseled for strength in others. He states that the innocent does not perish, but the wicked, and that no one can be pure and righteous before God.
5) Eliphaz goes on to emphasize that fools lose everything. God saves the lowly, the mourning, and the needy, while the crafty are frustrated. He points out that one should be happy to meet God’s correction, because God will bind him up and redeem him.
6) Job emphasizes the severity of the distress of the situation, and wishes that he were dead. He says that he has not denied God, but he laments the actions of his companions, who he believes are confounded and at a loss to comfort him in his predicament.
7) Job again emphasizes the misery of his life. He speaks of the brevity of life and pleads with God to relent, or at least to explain to him why he has become a target for such suffering, to forgive him from whatever he has done wrong.
8) Bildad states that Job should stop complaining, and affirms that God punishes the deserving and restores the upright. He claims from common experience that the godless are cut down and destroyed, but that the blameless person will not be rejected by God.
9) Job states that God is so much greater than mortals that there is no point in contending with him. Even if Job is innocent, which he feels that he is, God is not going to listen to his complaint.
10) Job says he hates his life so much he might as well fully voice his complaint to God. He states that God has made him, only do destroy him, despite knowing Job’s innocence. He accuses God of hunting and attacking him, and asks that God may simply leave him alone.
11) Zophar tells Job that he obviously deserves all that has been done to him and more, but that divine punishment is beyond human understanding and should just be accepted. If Job turns towards righteousness, all this misery will go away.
12) Job sarcastically critiques his friends for their negative attitude towards him. He then goes into a biting hymn of God’s power, pointing out the ways that God has power over all, even the power to bring shame upon the just and destroy the wise among the people.
13) Job admonishes his friends for deeming to know more than he does. He then makes a plea for being able to plead his case directly before God’s face, where he believes he will be vindicated.
14) Job speaks of mortal life as short and full of trouble, and thus pleads that he may enjoy the few days that he has. However, he then turns negative on this point, assuming that God will not grant his petition.
15) Eliphaz condemns Job’s words and declares them unwise, out of line with the received wisdom of those around them. He states that no human is innocent, implying Job is deceived about his own state. He then talks about the great suffering of the wicked in this life, both due to the punishment God holds in store for them and their secure knowledge that destruction is always coming.
16) Job critiques his supposed “comforters” and declares them useless. He declares that God has destroyed him, and he is now nothing. All he wishes for is for a witness (perhaps a heavenly witness) who will affirm that he is in the right.
17) Job is broken, but he will not give in to the words of those around him. He demonstrates a mix of hopelessness and perhaps faint hope that there is some possibility for vindication.
18) Bildad questions whether Job is giving their words appropriate weight, then gives a discourse on how the wicked are tormented all their lives, and beyond.
19) Job criticizes his friends for speaking against him, then blames God for all that has been done to him. He states that all friends, family, and acquaintances have abandoned him. Job calls out for his words to be permanently remembered, and states that he believes in a Redeemer who will vindicate him in the end.
20) Zophar speaks of an unknown force compelling him to respond to Job’s insulting words. He says that the glory of the wicked is short and will soon turn against them, and that the wicked are forgotten forever. Their greed and abuse of the poor will be their ruin, their inequity revealed, and their punishment from God assured.
21) Job contrasts Zophar, stating in fact that the wicked often lead peaceful, apparently blessed lives, of which there is no sign of God’s punishment. He questions why he is the one being confronted, and not the wicked who are getting off scot-free.
22) Eliphaz mocks the idea that Job could be innocent, and assumes all manner of sins he must have engaged in – primarily the economic abuse of the weak. He states that the wicked are surely punished, and that Job must accept God’s rebuke and return to Him, and all will be well.
23) Job desires to lay a case before God and believes that then he would find the truth, and be acquitted, but laments that God is nowhere to be found. He insists that he has never departed from God’s ways, yet God still does what God wants. Thus, he is terrified of God.
24) Job complains that the wicked do many unjust things, especially to the poor and needy. He states that they live in the dark and all its ways, but God does nothing either to punish their wickedness nor to answer the poor’s call for help. Job then says that God prolongs the life of the mighty and by Sheol snatches away the life of those who have sinned, in a short excerpt that sounds somewhat like it should have been in the mouth of one of Job’s friends.
25) Bildad briefly responds that God is too great, that no mortal can pretend to be righteous before him. The very short speech may be artificially truncated by the next chapter.
26) Job mocks Bildad’s “wisdom”, then speaks on God’s greatness and superiority much as Bildad had been (perhaps this was the completion of Bildad’s truncated speech).
27) Job states that his integrity makes it impossible for him to speak anything other than the truth which he sees. He curses his enemy, whom he hopes will be like the godless who God cuts off, though who his enemy is in unclear and the passage is a bit out of touch with previous ones where Job questions whether the wicked are punished. He then goes into a discourse about the punishment the wicked will receive which sounds much like earlier speeches of his opponents…possibly this is Zophar’s missing 3rd speech as it sounds much like chapter 20.
28) A poem about the source of wisdom, which is eventually credited to God and the fear of the Lord. The speaker of the poem is unclear.
29) Job laments the loss of his younger days, when he acted in great charity and righteousness and all people looked up to him.
30) Unlike his previous days, now even the most wretched of the youth mock him. God has afflicted Job with great violence and cruelty, and now Job is hopeless because only evil comes for him.
31) Job makes another plea proclaiming his righteousness and degree to which he does not deserve this affliction. He states that if he has had committed any iniquity, any at all, then he deserves any and all punishment…but implies that he has not.
32) All of the opponents to Job stop speaking because Job sees himself as righteous and there is no convincing him. Elihu, a younger man who has waited his turn, now enters the dialogue, and states that while the aged have apparently not found the answers, God can give wisdom to any man, and thus now he, full of words, must speak.
33) Elihu notes that Job has claimed purity, but says that God does all things to turn men away from their sins and bring their souls back from the pit. He states that Job must listen to him, that God has intended Job to be a witness to others in repentance.
34) Elihu critiques Job’s claims of righteousness and his claims against God’s justice, and states rather that God is perfectly just and only punishes the evildoer. He then criticizes Job for not offering repentance.
35) Elihu tells Job that his righteousness does not help God, nor does his sin hurt God, so why is he complaining that he is no better off than if he had sinned? His sins hurt others, and his righteousness helps others. God does not answer him because he complains against God.
36) Elihu repeats that the obedient are blessed by God and the transgressors will perish. He tells Job not to envy the wicked and to remember to praise God’s good work.
37) Elihu expresses his awe of God. He reminds Job how small he is before Him.
38) God finally answers Job, and challenges him with the fact that He, God, has created and controls all the storms and the sea, the day and the night and the stars, and no one else knows anything of it. There is a suggestion that the challenge is in fact intended to be against Job’s friends, though that is not stated in the passage.
39) God then challenges them that they do not know of the animal world and all that goes on within it, but God supports all.
40) God demands that Job respond, and Job demurs. God asks for a response again, and once again declares his majesty through his power, with a special focus on his creation of behemoth.
41) God continues to demonstrate his superior power by pointing out the power of leviathan, which is simply a creation of God.
42) Job answers God with an interesting statement that admits that God can do everything, while appearing to state that God hides his intentions, states that he will question God, and rejects the fate he has been subjected to. (Or repents, according to translation debate). God states that Job has spoken right and demands that Eliphaz and his friends repent. God returns to Job twice as much as he had before, with seven new sons and three daughters.
2) The satan challenges God again, asking him to allow him to afflict his body, and then he will surely curse God. God allows it. Job is covered in sores and in great suffering, and even his wife encourages him to curse God, but he refuses and says he will accept the bad with the good. Job’s three friends come to comfort and console him and sit with him in his suffering.
3) Job curses the day he was born, wishing that he had never lived his life so that he had never met his suffering.
4) Eliphaz answers Job by suggesting that because he is personally affected, he is being weak where he had counseled for strength in others. He states that the innocent does not perish, but the wicked, and that no one can be pure and righteous before God.
5) Eliphaz goes on to emphasize that fools lose everything. God saves the lowly, the mourning, and the needy, while the crafty are frustrated. He points out that one should be happy to meet God’s correction, because God will bind him up and redeem him.
6) Job emphasizes the severity of the distress of the situation, and wishes that he were dead. He says that he has not denied God, but he laments the actions of his companions, who he believes are confounded and at a loss to comfort him in his predicament.
7) Job again emphasizes the misery of his life. He speaks of the brevity of life and pleads with God to relent, or at least to explain to him why he has become a target for such suffering, to forgive him from whatever he has done wrong.
8) Bildad states that Job should stop complaining, and affirms that God punishes the deserving and restores the upright. He claims from common experience that the godless are cut down and destroyed, but that the blameless person will not be rejected by God.
9) Job states that God is so much greater than mortals that there is no point in contending with him. Even if Job is innocent, which he feels that he is, God is not going to listen to his complaint.
10) Job says he hates his life so much he might as well fully voice his complaint to God. He states that God has made him, only do destroy him, despite knowing Job’s innocence. He accuses God of hunting and attacking him, and asks that God may simply leave him alone.
11) Zophar tells Job that he obviously deserves all that has been done to him and more, but that divine punishment is beyond human understanding and should just be accepted. If Job turns towards righteousness, all this misery will go away.
12) Job sarcastically critiques his friends for their negative attitude towards him. He then goes into a biting hymn of God’s power, pointing out the ways that God has power over all, even the power to bring shame upon the just and destroy the wise among the people.
13) Job admonishes his friends for deeming to know more than he does. He then makes a plea for being able to plead his case directly before God’s face, where he believes he will be vindicated.
14) Job speaks of mortal life as short and full of trouble, and thus pleads that he may enjoy the few days that he has. However, he then turns negative on this point, assuming that God will not grant his petition.
15) Eliphaz condemns Job’s words and declares them unwise, out of line with the received wisdom of those around them. He states that no human is innocent, implying Job is deceived about his own state. He then talks about the great suffering of the wicked in this life, both due to the punishment God holds in store for them and their secure knowledge that destruction is always coming.
16) Job critiques his supposed “comforters” and declares them useless. He declares that God has destroyed him, and he is now nothing. All he wishes for is for a witness (perhaps a heavenly witness) who will affirm that he is in the right.
17) Job is broken, but he will not give in to the words of those around him. He demonstrates a mix of hopelessness and perhaps faint hope that there is some possibility for vindication.
18) Bildad questions whether Job is giving their words appropriate weight, then gives a discourse on how the wicked are tormented all their lives, and beyond.
19) Job criticizes his friends for speaking against him, then blames God for all that has been done to him. He states that all friends, family, and acquaintances have abandoned him. Job calls out for his words to be permanently remembered, and states that he believes in a Redeemer who will vindicate him in the end.
20) Zophar speaks of an unknown force compelling him to respond to Job’s insulting words. He says that the glory of the wicked is short and will soon turn against them, and that the wicked are forgotten forever. Their greed and abuse of the poor will be their ruin, their inequity revealed, and their punishment from God assured.
21) Job contrasts Zophar, stating in fact that the wicked often lead peaceful, apparently blessed lives, of which there is no sign of God’s punishment. He questions why he is the one being confronted, and not the wicked who are getting off scot-free.
22) Eliphaz mocks the idea that Job could be innocent, and assumes all manner of sins he must have engaged in – primarily the economic abuse of the weak. He states that the wicked are surely punished, and that Job must accept God’s rebuke and return to Him, and all will be well.
23) Job desires to lay a case before God and believes that then he would find the truth, and be acquitted, but laments that God is nowhere to be found. He insists that he has never departed from God’s ways, yet God still does what God wants. Thus, he is terrified of God.
24) Job complains that the wicked do many unjust things, especially to the poor and needy. He states that they live in the dark and all its ways, but God does nothing either to punish their wickedness nor to answer the poor’s call for help. Job then says that God prolongs the life of the mighty and by Sheol snatches away the life of those who have sinned, in a short excerpt that sounds somewhat like it should have been in the mouth of one of Job’s friends.
25) Bildad briefly responds that God is too great, that no mortal can pretend to be righteous before him. The very short speech may be artificially truncated by the next chapter.
26) Job mocks Bildad’s “wisdom”, then speaks on God’s greatness and superiority much as Bildad had been (perhaps this was the completion of Bildad’s truncated speech).
27) Job states that his integrity makes it impossible for him to speak anything other than the truth which he sees. He curses his enemy, whom he hopes will be like the godless who God cuts off, though who his enemy is in unclear and the passage is a bit out of touch with previous ones where Job questions whether the wicked are punished. He then goes into a discourse about the punishment the wicked will receive which sounds much like earlier speeches of his opponents…possibly this is Zophar’s missing 3rd speech as it sounds much like chapter 20.
28) A poem about the source of wisdom, which is eventually credited to God and the fear of the Lord. The speaker of the poem is unclear.
29) Job laments the loss of his younger days, when he acted in great charity and righteousness and all people looked up to him.
30) Unlike his previous days, now even the most wretched of the youth mock him. God has afflicted Job with great violence and cruelty, and now Job is hopeless because only evil comes for him.
31) Job makes another plea proclaiming his righteousness and degree to which he does not deserve this affliction. He states that if he has had committed any iniquity, any at all, then he deserves any and all punishment…but implies that he has not.
32) All of the opponents to Job stop speaking because Job sees himself as righteous and there is no convincing him. Elihu, a younger man who has waited his turn, now enters the dialogue, and states that while the aged have apparently not found the answers, God can give wisdom to any man, and thus now he, full of words, must speak.
33) Elihu notes that Job has claimed purity, but says that God does all things to turn men away from their sins and bring their souls back from the pit. He states that Job must listen to him, that God has intended Job to be a witness to others in repentance.
34) Elihu critiques Job’s claims of righteousness and his claims against God’s justice, and states rather that God is perfectly just and only punishes the evildoer. He then criticizes Job for not offering repentance.
35) Elihu tells Job that his righteousness does not help God, nor does his sin hurt God, so why is he complaining that he is no better off than if he had sinned? His sins hurt others, and his righteousness helps others. God does not answer him because he complains against God.
36) Elihu repeats that the obedient are blessed by God and the transgressors will perish. He tells Job not to envy the wicked and to remember to praise God’s good work.
37) Elihu expresses his awe of God. He reminds Job how small he is before Him.
38) God finally answers Job, and challenges him with the fact that He, God, has created and controls all the storms and the sea, the day and the night and the stars, and no one else knows anything of it. There is a suggestion that the challenge is in fact intended to be against Job’s friends, though that is not stated in the passage.
39) God then challenges them that they do not know of the animal world and all that goes on within it, but God supports all.
40) God demands that Job respond, and Job demurs. God asks for a response again, and once again declares his majesty through his power, with a special focus on his creation of behemoth.
41) God continues to demonstrate his superior power by pointing out the power of leviathan, which is simply a creation of God.
42) Job answers God with an interesting statement that admits that God can do everything, while appearing to state that God hides his intentions, states that he will question God, and rejects the fate he has been subjected to. (Or repents, according to translation debate). God states that Job has spoken right and demands that Eliphaz and his friends repent. God returns to Job twice as much as he had before, with seven new sons and three daughters.
Job: A divine bet between God and the satan leads to the extreme suffering of an innocent man. Job maintains his innocence and questions his suffering throughout the book, while Job’s friends insist that it is only the wicked who are punished. God comes in at the end to challenge them with the fact that only He knows all that goes on in creation, that He is far superior to all. In the end, the good things of Job’s life are restored to him.
