Job

Job is introduced as a blameless and prosperous man. Satan challenges God that Job only worships because of his blessings, and God permits Satan to test Job. Job loses his children and possessions but worships God.

Satan strikes Job with painful boils after God permits a second test. Job's wife tells him to curse God and die, but Job refuses. Three friends arrive to comfort him and sit in silence for seven days.

Job breaks his silence and curses the day of his birth. He longs for death and questions why life is given to those in misery. This raw lament opens the poetic dialogue section of the book.

Eliphaz begins his first speech, arguing that innocent people do not suffer and that Job should seek God. He recounts a mysterious vision in the night that reinforced his belief that no mortal is righteous before God.

Eliphaz continues his counsel, urging Job to accept God's discipline as a blessing. He describes God's power to humble the proud and exalt the lowly, assuring Job that restoration follows repentance.

Job responds to Eliphaz, defending the depth of his anguish. He compares his friends to unreliable seasonal streams and asks them to show him where he has sinned rather than offering empty comfort.

Job addresses God directly, describing life as hard service and his nights as filled with restlessness. He questions why God watches him so closely and asks to be left alone in his misery.

Bildad speaks, arguing that God does not pervert justice and that Job's children must have sinned. He urges Job to seek God and promises restoration if Job is truly pure and upright.

Job acknowledges God's power and wisdom but questions how a mortal can be righteous before God. He longs for a mediator between himself and God, feeling unable to present his case fairly.

Job pours out his complaint to God, questioning why God formed him only to destroy him. He asks God to remember that he was made from clay and pleads for a brief respite before death.

Zophar speaks harshly, accusing Job of empty talk and insisting that God is actually punishing him less than he deserves. He urges Job to repent and promises that life will become brighter than noonday.

Job responds with biting sarcasm, declaring that he is not inferior to his friends. He describes God's sovereign power over nations, rulers, and nature, showing that God's ways transcend simple retribution.

Job declares he will argue his case directly before God, willing to risk his life for vindication. He tells his friends to be silent and warns that their false defence of God is itself sinful.

Job reflects on the brevity and frailty of human life, comparing humanity to a flower that withers. He wonders whether there is hope beyond death and longs for God to remember him after he passes.

Eliphaz begins his second speech, growing harsher. He accuses Job of undermining piety and claims that Job's own mouth condemns him. He paints a vivid picture of the wicked person's fate as a warning.

Job calls his friends miserable comforters and describes God as an adversary who has shattered him. Yet he appeals to a witness in heaven who will vouch for him, expressing a glimmer of hope amid despair.

Job describes his broken spirit and fading hope. He challenges God to provide a pledge for him since no one else will stand as his guarantor. He sees only the grave ahead.

Bildad delivers his second speech, describing the terrors awaiting the wicked in graphic detail. He portrays their downfall as certain and complete, implicitly accusing Job of being among the wicked.

Job cries out against his friends' cruelty and his own isolation. In a stunning declaration of faith, he proclaims that his Redeemer lives and that he will see God in his own flesh, even after death.

Zophar's second speech describes the short-lived triumph of the wicked. He argues that ill-gotten gains will be vomited up and that God's wrath will rain down upon the unrighteous.

Job demolishes his friends' theology by pointing out that the wicked often prosper, live long lives, and die peacefully. He argues that experience contradicts their neat retribution framework.

Eliphaz's third speech makes specific false accusations against Job, claiming he oppressed the poor and denied bread to the hungry. He urges Job to return to God and be restored.

Job longs to find God and present his case, confident he would be acquitted. Yet God seems hidden and unreachable. Despite this, Job declares that God knows the way he takes and he will come forth as gold.

Job describes injustice in the world: the wicked move boundary stones, oppress orphans, and exploit the poor while seemingly escaping punishment. He questions why God does not set times of judgment.

Bildad's brief third speech emphasizes God's dominion and questions how any mortal can be righteous before God. He compares humanity to maggots and worms before divine majesty.

Job responds with awe-filled poetry about God's power over creation: stretching the north over empty space, hanging the earth on nothing, and controlling the waters. He declares these are but the outer fringe of God's works.

Job maintains his innocence with an oath, declaring he will never admit his friends are right. He then describes the ultimate fate of the wicked, showing he agrees with the principle but not its application to himself.

This wisdom poem asks where wisdom can be found. Humanity mines precious metals from the earth but cannot discover wisdom through effort or wealth. Only God understands wisdom, and the fear of the Lord is its beginning.

Job reminisces about his former life of honour and influence. He was respected at the city gate, helped the poor, and was like a king among his troops. This contrast with his current state deepens his grief.

Job describes his present humiliation. Those he once helped now mock him. His body is wracked with pain and God seems to have become cruel. He cries out but receives no answer.

Job delivers his final defence, a comprehensive oath of innocence covering sexual purity, honesty, generosity, idolatry, and treatment of servants. He challenges God to bring charges or vindicate him.

Young Elihu enters, angry at Job for justifying himself rather than God, and at the three friends for condemning Job without answering him. He claims to speak by the Spirit and prepares his case.

Elihu argues that God speaks through dreams and suffering to turn people from destruction. He describes a mediating angel who finds a ransom for the sufferer, offering a more nuanced view than the three friends.

Elihu defends God's justice, arguing that the Almighty cannot do wrong and governs with perfect equity. He accuses Job of adding rebellion to his sin by questioning God's fairness.

Elihu argues that human righteousness or wickedness does not affect God, who is far above the clouds. He suggests that the oppressed cry out but do not truly seek God as their Maker.

Elihu proclaims God's greatness and argues that suffering can be instructive. Those who listen to God are restored to prosperity, but those who refuse perish. He points to God's majestic works in nature.

Elihu marvels at God's power displayed in thunderstorms, ice, and weather. He urges Job to consider God's wondrous works and acknowledge that the Almighty is beyond human comprehension, setting the stage for God's speech.

God finally speaks from the whirlwind, asking Job where he was when the foundations of the earth were laid. Through a series of unanswerable questions about creation, God reveals Job's limited understanding of cosmic governance.

God continues his nature tour, describing the mountain goat, wild donkey, ox, ostrich, horse, and hawk. Each creature reveals divine wisdom and care in areas beyond human control or comprehension.

God challenges Job to answer, and Job humbly puts his hand over his mouth. God then describes Behemoth, a mighty creature that demonstrates divine power far beyond human ability to control.

God describes Leviathan, an untameable sea creature of terrifying power. The message is clear: if Job cannot control Leviathan, how can he contend with the God who made it? No one is fierce enough to rouse it.

Job repents in dust and ashes, saying he now sees God with his own eyes rather than by hearsay. God rebukes the three friends and vindicates Job. God restores Job's fortunes, giving him twice what he had before.