Names of the Book
| English: | Job |
| Hebrew: | איוֹב |
| Transliterated: | Yov |
| Other names: |
Who
| Wrote the book: | unknown, possibly Job, Moses, or Solomon. |
| Are the key people: | Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu the Buzite |
| Is it written to: | The people of Israel |
What
| Job tested (Job 1:1-2:13) |
| Job's three friends answer him (Job 3:1-31:40) |
| A young man answers Job (Job 32;1-37:24) |
| G-d answers Job (Job 38:1-41:34) |
| Job is restored (Job 42:1-17) |
When
| Was it written: | unknown < 200 BCE |
| Did the events occur: | c 2000-1800 BCE |
| Was it canonized: | c 499-100 BCE |
| (see the Timeline of the Tanakh) | |
Where
| Was it written: | unknown |
| Did the events occur: | The land of Uz |
Why
| Job was written to inform us that: |
| G-d allows suffering. |
| Satan must obtain permission to harm anyone. |
| G-d is good. |
| Pride blinds us to our errors. |
| G-d desires for us to trust Him. |
Introduction
The book of Job is a historical narrative that describes the events that unfolded when G-d allowed a good man (Job) to suffer. Job's test of faith, permitted by G-d in response to a challenge from Satan, reveals G-d's loving sovereignty and the supremacy of His divine wisdom over human wisdom (which is personified by Job's friends). Job believes that G-d is good in spite the apparent evidence to the contrary and, by faith, he trusts in G-d. Even in the midst of great emotional and physical agony Job proclaims, "I know that my Redeemer lives". The book concludes with G-d silencing all discussion and argument with the truth that He alone is wise. At the same time, G-d vindicates Job's faith in Him, proving that genuine faith cannot be destroyed.
Scripture- Book Selection
| Chapter | Description |
| 1 | Job is a blameless, upright, G-d fearing man who lives in Uz. Satan presents himself before the LORD who points out Job. G-d puts everything Job has in Satan's hands to prove Job's righteousness and fear of G-d. Satan destroys Job's property and kills his children. Job mourns but praises the LORD. |
| 2 | Satan and the LORD discuss Job's faithfulness and integrity. Satan gives Job sore boils all over his body. Job's wife discourages Job and tells him to "curse G-d and die" but Job remains faithful. Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar visit him. |
| 3 | Job speaks with his friends and he curses the day of his birth, regretting that he ever lived. Job describes his fear, dread, and turmoil. |
| 4 | Eliphaz speaks to Job: you have advised others but now you complain when you are in trouble? Eliphaz suggests Job may be weak and guilty. He speaks about a vision which showed him man's guilt and impurity before G-d. |
| 5 | Eliphaz speaks to Job and notes that people bring trouble on themselves. He encourages Job to turn to G-d because G-d is willing to reprove, relieve, and heal. |
| 6 | Job responds to Eliphaz and expresses his great grief, weakness, and his desire for death. Job affirms his faithfulness to G-d. Job compares his friends to wadis which dry up in tough times and disappoint those who trust in them. |
| 7 | Job speaks to friends and declares that life is difficult, purposeless, and miserable. Job cries to G-d about his hard life and wonders if G-d will ever turn His gaze away from constantly trying him. |
| 8 | Bildad speaks to Job and defends G-d as righteous: He does not bring calamity upon the righteous. Bildad says that Job's children must have sinned so G-d delivered them into the power of their transgression. Bildad tells Job to turn to G-d and learn from men of the past. He describes the path of those who forget G-d: destruction. |
| 9 | Job responds to Bildad and asks how can a man be right before G-d? G-d is awesomely powerfuland unfathomable. Job says that he is powerless to dispute with G-d. |
| 10 | Job loathes his very life and gives an account of his complaint before G-d. |
| 11 | Zophar speaks to Job and lashes out at him. Zophar says that Job is deceitful and that the calamity that has befallen him is merciful. |
| 12 | Job replies to Zophar with sarcasm saying "wisdom will die with you". Job maintains his innocence and tells his friends that they have completely misunderstood his suffering. Job extols G-d and His might. |
| 13 | Job responds to his friends that he has seen G-d's mighty hand at work and urges them not to speak wickedly on G-d's behalf. Job pleads with G-d to withdraw His hand and stop frightening him. |
| 14 | Job laments the lot of mankind: sickness, loneliness, disappointment, and death. |
| 15 | Eliphaz speaks again and stresses his points but he is more rude, intense, and threatening towards Job. |
| 16 | Job responds to Eliphaz by calling him and his other friends "miserable comforters". Job expresses fear that G-d had abandoned him but then appeals directly to G-d as his witness and advocate. |
| 17 | Job calls his friends "mockers" and bemoans his circumstances. Job asks all of his friends to try again to show him wisdom in the midst of his suffering. |
| 18 | Bildad speaks again to Job and again stresses his position that Job must have sinned to have suffered so greatly. |
| 19 | Job responds to Bildad and asks how long they will torment him. Job claims he has been wronged by G-d in his suffering and that G-d was treating him as an enemy. |
| 20 | Zophar speaks to Job and responds to Job's rebuke of his earlier counsel. Zophar reiterates that Job's sufferings prove his wickedness. |
| 21 | Job responds to Zophar and asks Zophar to "bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, mock on." Job refutes Zophar's idea that evil people never experience wealth and happiness. |
| 22 | Eliphaz begins the third round of discussion. Eliphaz pleads with Job to recognize his sin and turn from it. He promises that Job would receive peace and restoration if only he would repent. |
| 23 | Job responds to Eliphaz and his friends. Job says that he desires to find G-d and state his case before Him so that G-d can vindicate him. |
| 24 | Job lists some of the sins of mankind and bemoans the fact that G-d doesn't charge them with wrongdoing in a timely manner. G-d seems to snatch them away in an untimely fashion. |
| 25 | Bildad speaks for a third time and accuses Job of pride because he said he had not sinned. |
| 26 | Job responds with a lengthy discourse and begins by brushing off Bildad's latest reply. |
| 27 | Job forcefully reiterates his innocence. He describes the fate G-d allots to the wicked. |
| 28 | Job states that wisdom cannot be found among the living. He compares our efforts to mine gold, silver, and precious jewels to the quest for wisdom. |
| 29 | Job recounts the days when G-d blessed him: how he helped the poor, the weak, and the fatherless. |
| 30 | Job contrasts his current situation with his prior state: those he helped now mock and despise him. |
| 31 | Job declares that he is innocent of sin both outwardly and inwardly. He declares his innocent of sin against his neighbors and against G-d. |
| 32 | A young man, Elihu, becomes angry with Job for justifying himself instead of G-d. He is angry with Job's friends for finding no way to refute Job. |
| 33 | Elihu affirms that Job's suffering did not result from sin but he also states that Job was sinning because of his suffering. |
| 34 | Elihu states that G-d does not sin and that He would never pervert justice. Elihu charges Job with rebellion against G-d. |
| 35 | Elihu asks what we gain by not sinning. |
| 36 | Elihu defends and extols G-d. |
| 37 | Elihu describes G-d's greatness, mightiness, glory, and spendor. |
| 38 | G-d speaks to Job out of a storm and asks him a series of questions that reveal Job's finite understanding compared to G-d's infinite wisdom. |
| 39 | G-d asks Job questions about the animals of the world to further reveal Job's limited knowledge. |
| 40 | G-d concludes His questioning. Job responds that he is unworthy even to reply to G-d. G-d speaks to Job again and asks if he would discredit G-d's justice. G-d points out His power over the mighty animal, behemoth. |
| 41 | G-d points out His power over the mighty animal, leviathan. G-d uses Leviathan to illustrate humanity's powerlessness compared to G-d. |
| 42 | Job replies to the LORD and humbles himself. Rather than confessing any "secret sin" as his friends had asked, Job instead confesses his sin in questioning G-d's sovereignty and justice. G-d rebukes Eliphaz and his friends for not speaking rightly of G-d. Job prays for his three friends. G-d makes Job prosperous again and blesses him more greatly than before. |