He told her, “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?” Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.

Job’s Three Friends

Three of Job’s friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. Each traveled from his own country—Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, Zophar from Naamath—and went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, they couldn’t believe what they saw—they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.

Job Cries Out

What’s the Point of Life?

Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:

Don’t Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong

“Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer! To which of the holy angels will you turn? The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him, the jealous anger of an idiot does her in. I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots, and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed. Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited, with no one to stick up for them. Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests, cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all, insatiable for everything they have. Don’t blame fate when things go wrong— trouble doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble, as certainly as sparks fly upward.

Job Replies to Eliphaz

God Has Dumped the Works on Me

Job answered: “If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales, It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea! Is it any wonder that I’m howling like a caged cat? The arrows of God Almighty are in me, poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through! God has dumped the whole works on me. Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture— so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this. Do you see what God has dished out for me? It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach! Everything in me is repulsed by it— it makes me sick.

Job Continues

How Can Mere Mortals Get Right with God?

Job continued by saying: “So what’s new? I know all this. The question is, ‘How can mere mortals get right with God?’ If we wanted to bring our case before him, what chance would we have? Not one in a thousand! God’s wisdom is so deep, God’s power so immense, who could take him on and come out in one piece? He moves mountains before they know what’s happened, flips them on their heads on a whim. He gives the earth a good shaking up, rocks it down to its very foundations. He tells the sun, ‘Don’t shine,’ and it doesn’t; he pulls the blinds on the stars. All by himself he stretches out the heavens and strides on the waves of the sea. He designed the Big Dipper and Orion, the Pleiades and Alpha Centauri. We’ll never comprehend all the great things he does; his miracle-surprises can’t be counted. Somehow, though he moves right in front of me, I don’t see him; quietly but surely he’s active, and I miss it. If he steals you blind, who can stop him? Who’s going to say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ God doesn’t hold back on his anger; even dragon-bred monsters cringe before him.

Job prayed: “Here’s what I want to say: Don’t, God, bring in a verdict of guilty without letting me know the charges you’re bringing. How does this fit into what you once called ‘good’— giving me a hard time, spurning me, a life you shaped by your very own hands, and then blessing the plots of the wicked? You don’t look at things the way we mortals do. You’re not taken in by appearances, are you? Unlike us, you’re not working against a deadline. You have all eternity to work things out. So what’s this all about, anyway—this compulsion to dig up some dirt, to find some skeleton in my closet? You know good and well I’m not guilty. You also know no one can help me.

Zophar’s Counsel

How Wisdom Looks from the Inside

Now it was the turn of Zophar from Naamath: “What a flood of words! Shouldn’t we put a stop to it? Should this kind of loose talk be permitted? Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we’ll say nothing? That we’ll let you rail and mock and not step in? You claim, ‘My doctrine is sound and my conduct impeccable.’ How I wish God would give you a piece of his mind, tell you what’s what! I wish he’d show you how wisdom looks from the inside, for true wisdom is mostly ‘inside.’ But you can be sure of this, you haven’t gotten half of what you deserve.

Job Answers Zophar

Put Your Ear to the Earth

Job answered: “I’m sure you speak for all the experts, and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live. But don’t forget that I also have a brain— I don’t intend to play second fiddle to you. It doesn’t take an expert to know these things.

From God We Learn How to Live

“True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for. If he tears something down, it’s down for good; if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good. If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought; if he lets it loose, there’s a flood. Strength and success belong to God; both deceived and deceiver must answer to him. He strips experts of their vaunted credentials, exposes judges as witless fools. He divests kings of their royal garments, then ties a rag around their waists. He strips priests of their robes, and fires high officials from their jobs. He forces trusted sages to keep silence, deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom. He dumps contempt on famous people, disarms the strong and mighty. He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness, hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun. He makes nations rise and then fall, builds up some and abandons others. He robs world leaders of their reason, and sends them off into no-man’s-land. They grope in the dark without a clue, lurching and staggering like drunks.”

Job Defends Himself

If You Were in My Shoes

Then Job defended himself: “I’ve had all I can take of your talk. What a bunch of miserable comforters! Is there no end to your windbag speeches? What’s your problem that you go on and on like this? If you were in my shoes, I could talk just like you. I could put together a terrific tirade and really let you have it. But I’d never do that. I’d console and comfort, make things better, not worse!

Job Answers Bildad

I Call for Help and No One Bothers

Job answered: “How long are you going to keep battering away at me, pounding me with these harangues? Time after time after time you jump all over me. Do you have no conscience, abusing me like this? Even if I have, somehow or other, gotten off the track, what business is that of yours? Why do you insist on putting me down, using my troubles as a stick to beat me? Tell it to God—he’s the one behind all this, he’s the one who dragged me into this mess.

Zophar Attacks Job—The Second Round

Savoring Evil as a Delicacy

Zophar from Naamath again took his turn: “I can’t believe what I’m hearing! You’ve put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot. How dare you insult my intelligence like this! Well, here’s a piece of my mind!

Job’s Response

Why Do the Wicked Have It So Good?

Job replied: “Now listen to me carefully, please listen, at least do me the favor of listening. Put up with me while I have my say— then you can mock me later to your heart’s content.

Eliphaz Attacks Job—The Third Round

Come to Terms with God

Once again Eliphaz the Temanite took up his theme: “Are any of us strong enough to give God a hand, or smart enough to give him advice? So what if you were righteous—would God Almighty even notice? Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think he’d applaud? Do you think it’s because he cares about your purity that he’s disciplining you, putting you on the spot? Hardly! It’s because you’re a first-class moral failure, because there’s no end to your sins. When people came to you for help, you took the shirts off their backs, exploited their helplessness. You wouldn’t so much as give a drink to the thirsty, or food, not even a scrap, to the hungry. And there you sat, strong and honored by everyone, surrounded by immense wealth! You turned poor widows away from your door; heartless, you crushed orphans. Now you’re the one trapped in terror, paralyzed by fear. Suddenly the tables have turned! How do you like living in the dark, sightless, up to your neck in flood waters?

Job’s Defense

I’m Completely in the Dark

Job replied: “I’m not letting up—I’m standing my ground. My complaint is legitimate. God has no right to treat me like this— it isn’t fair! If I knew where on earth to find him, I’d go straight to him. I’d lay my case before him face-to-face, give him all my arguments firsthand. I’d find out exactly what he’s thinking, discover what’s going on in his head. Do you think he’d dismiss me or bully me? No, he’d take me seriously. He’d see a straight-living man standing before him; my Judge would acquit me for good of all charges.

Bildad’s Third Attack

Even the Stars Aren’t Perfect in God’s Eyes

Bildad the Shuhite again attacked Job: “God is sovereign, God is fearsome— everything in the cosmos fits and works in his plan. Can anyone count his angel armies? Is there any place where his light doesn’t shine? How can a mere mortal presume to stand up to God? How can an ordinary person pretend to be guiltless? Why, even the moon has its flaws, even the stars aren’t perfect in God’s eyes, So how much less, plain men and women— slugs and maggots by comparison!”

Job’s Defense

God Sets a Boundary Between Light and Darkness

Job answered: “Well, you’ve certainly been a great help to a helpless man! You came to the rescue just in the nick of time! What wonderful advice you’ve given to a mixed-up man! What amazing insights you’ve provided! Where in the world did you learn all this? How did you become so inspired?

No Place to Hide

Having waited for Zophar, Job now resumed his defense: “God-Alive! He’s denied me justice! God Almighty! He’s ruined my life! But for as long as I draw breath, and for as long as God breathes life into me, I refuse to say one word that isn’t true. I refuse to confess to any charge that’s false. There is no way I’ll ever agree to your accusations. I’ll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life. I’m holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip— and, believe me, I’ll never regret it.

When God Was Still by My Side

Job now resumed his response: “Oh, how I long for the good old days, when God took such very good care of me. He always held a lamp before me and I walked through the dark by its light. Oh, how I miss those golden years when God’s friendship graced my home, When the Mighty One was still by my side and my children were all around me, When everything was going my way, and nothing seemed too difficult.

“If the very ground that I farm accuses me, if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse, If I’ve ever raped the earth for my own profit or dispossessed its rightful owners, Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat, curse it with weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job to his three friends were finished.

Elihu Speaks

God’s Spirit Makes Wisdom Possible

Job’s three friends now fell silent. They were talked out, stymied because Job wouldn’t budge an inch—wouldn’t admit to an ounce of guilt. Then Elihu lost his temper. (Elihu was the son of Barakel the Buzite from the clan of Ram.) He blazed out in anger against Job for pitting his righteousness against God’s. He was also angry with the three friends because they had neither come up with an answer nor proved Job wrong. Elihu had waited with Job while they spoke because they were all older than he. But when he saw that the three other men had exhausted their arguments, he exploded with pent-up anger.

“I hung on your words while you spoke, listened carefully to your arguments. While you searched for the right words, I was all ears. And now what have you proved? Nothing. Nothing you say has even touched Job. And don’t excuse yourselves by saying, ‘We’ve done our best. Now it’s up to God to talk sense into him.’ Job has yet to contend with me. And rest assured, I won’t be using your arguments!

“So please, Job, hear me out, honor me by listening to me. What I’m about to say has been carefully thought out. I have no ulterior motives in this; I’m speaking honestly from my heart. The Spirit of God made me what I am, the breath of God Almighty gave me life!

“But let me tell you, Job, you’re wrong, dead wrong! God is far greater than any human. So how dare you haul him into court, and then complain that he won’t answer your charges? God always answers, one way or another, even when people don’t recognize his presence.