The Book of Job
Chapter:Verse(s) |
Structure |
Action |
Notes |
1:1
- 2:13 |
Prose |
Prologue
(The Legend) |
Yahweh
and Satan wager; Satan inflicts (God allows) evil/suffering |
1:1
- 5 |
|
Narrative
Introduction to Job |
Yahweh
proclaims Job His most righteous man – God-fearing and free from sin –
essentially provoking Satan (the Accuser; the Adversary) |
1:6
- 12 |
|
First
Scene in Heaven |
Yahweh
and Satan (or Job’s adversary?) wager to prove Job’s righteousness – that is,
to discern whether Job is purely pious, uninterested in reward or blessing
(“Just don’t lay a hand on him.”) |
|
|
Job's
First Test and Its Outcome |
Job
suffers loss of prosperity/possessions (oxen, asses, herdsmen; sheep,
shepherds; camels, camel drivers) and children, but remains righteous |
2:1
- 7a |
|
Second
Scene in Heaven |
Yahweh
and Satan make a more pointed wager – to strike Job bodily (“Just don’t kill
him.”) |
2:7b
- 10 |
|
Job's
Second Test and Its Outcome |
Deepening
calamity – Job suffers loss of personal health (“skin for skin” – skin ulcers,
leprosy; skin is stripped away; ritualistically symbolic); wife speaks; Job
makes ambiguous response but remains patient |
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|
Narrative
Conclusion |
Narrator
introduces Job's friends and alludes to Job’s growing pain/suffering; Job and
friends wait seven days and nights in silence (meditating/reflecting?) |
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3
- 14 |
Poetry |
First
Round of Discourses |
Job,
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar |
3 |
|
Job's
Cry of Pain (or Job’s Lament) |
"To
Have Been or not to Have Been" – Job looks at the miseries of man’s life
and regrets the day he was born (Did seven days alter Job’s
consciousness/psyche?) |
4
- 5 |
|
Eliphaz's
First Speech |
"Remember
the Consolation You Have Given Others" – Eliphaz charges Job with
impatience and notes suffering results from sinfulness |
6
- 7 |
|
Job's
Response to Eliphaz |
Job
maintains his innocence, complains of his friends, declares the miseries of
man’s life, and addresses God |
8 |
|
Bildad's
First Speech |
"Trust
the Tradition of the Ancestors" – Bildad defends God’s justice, accuses
Job, and exhorts him to return to God |
9
- 10 |
|
Job's
Response to Bildad |
Job
seeks common ground with God in law and workshop, acknowledges God’s justice
(though He often afflicts the innocent), laments, and begs delivery |
11 |
|
Zophar's
First Speech |
On
the hidden depths of divine wisdom – Zophar reproves Job for justifying
himself and invites him to repent |
12
- 14 |
|
Job's
Response to Zophar |
Job
extols God’s power and wisdom, maintains his innocence, reproves his friends,
declares the days of man short, and talks of afterlife – does it exist? |
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15
- 21 |
Poetry |
Second
Round of Discourses |
Job,
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar |
15 |
|
Eliphaz's
Second Speech |
Response
to Job challenging his implied standpoint – Eliphaz returns to the charge of
sinfulness against Job and describes the wretched state of the wicked |
16
- 17 |
|
Job's
Response to Eliphaz II |
On
comfort, witness, and the energy of hope – Job appeals to the judgment of
God, again proclaims his innocence and hope in God, expects rest in death |
18 |
|
Bildad's
Second Speech |
The
place of the wicked in a moral universe – Bildad again reproves Job and
describes the miseries of the wicked |
19 |
|
Job's
Response to Bildad II |
A
sense of kinship beyond a sense of total abandonment – Job complains of his
friends’ cruelty, describes his sufferings, and looks to judgment and vindication
by God, but wants it in this life (“while still in my flesh”) |
20 |
|
Zophar's
Second Speech |
The
portion of the wicked in a moral universe – Zophar declares the shortness of
the prosperity of the wicked and their sudden downfall |
21 |
|
Job's
Response to Zophar II |
The
true horror of the fate of the wicked – Job shows that the wicked often
prosper in this world, even to the end, wants them – not their sons – judged! |
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22
- 27 |
Poetry |
Third
Round of Discourses |
Job,
Eliphaz, Bildad (possibly Zophar); dialogue begins to break down |
22 |
|
Eliphaz's
Third Speech |
Response
to Job, direct attack, and renewed appeal for submission – Eliphaz falsely
imputes many crimes to Job, but promises him prosperity if he repents |
23
- 24 |
|
Job's
Response to Eliphaz III |
A
search for Yahweh in space and time – Job wishes to be tried at God’s tribunal
and talks of God’s providence and the ways of the wicked; speaks again of
injustice and prays for “direct” justice for the wicked |
25 |
|
Bildad's
Third Speech |
The
dialogue begins breaking down – Bildad proclaims God’s justice before whom no
man can be justified (in five short verses) |
26
- 27 |
|
Job's
Response to Bildad III (possibly Zophar III around 27:8) |
Job
declares his view of the wisdom and power of God, asserts again his own
innocence; and notes that hypocrites will be punished in the end (or is this Zophar
III at 27 or 27:8?); talk is of eventual justice (on descendents, widows) |
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28
- 31 |
Poetry |
Soliloquy |
Job’s
monologue, dramatic reflections |
28 |
|
A
Meditation on Wisdom |
The
inaccessibility of Wisdom (is this Job?) – Man’s industry searches for many
answers, but true wisdom is taught by God alone |
29 |
|
Job
Begins His Summation |
For
the defense: Recollection of things
past; total harmony w/ Yahweh – Job relates his former happiness and the
respect that all men showed him |
30 |
|
More
Summation |
Recognition
of things present; total God-forsakenness – Job shows the wonderful change of
his temporal estate, from welfare to great calamity |
31 |
|
A
Final Oath |
Total
integrity – Job, to defend himself from the unjust judgments of his friends,
gives a sincere account of his own virtues, and brings his words to an end |
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32
– 37 |
Poetry |
A
Voice for Yahweh |
Elihu’s
Speech; some translations choose to leave it out (as if not original with
rest of story/drama) |
32:1
– 37:24 |
|
Elihu
Speaks as Prophet (Mediator?) – Perhaps moves emphasis from justice to
wisdom? Or to what? Prepares the way
for Yahweh’s appearance? |
The sudden appearance of Elihu as inspired
(brash?) young prophet – angry at Job for seeking (and questioning God’s) justice;
angry at friends for condemning Job; blames Job for asserting his own
innocence; reminds Job that God is greater than man; charges Job with
blasphemy; sets forth the power and justice of God; declares that the good or
evil done by man cannot reach God, but God will look into the causes of each;
shows God’s wisdom and power by His wonderful works; speaks of
representative/advocate for man to God at 33:23; notions of justice, wisdom,
irrationality/randomness of justice?
“wise of heart” cannot perceive God |
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|
38:1
- 42:6 |
Poetry |
Job
Gets His Trial |
Yahweh
makes his case and Job responds |
38:1
- 40:2 |
|
Yahweh's
First Speech or Interrogation |
The
voice from the Whirlwind – God interposes and shows from his creations
that man cannot comprehend his power (omnipotence) and wisdom (omniscience) |
40:3
– 5 |
|
Job's
Response to Yahweh |
Job
submits/accepts (or repents, a more Christian notion). N.B.: verses missing from the Latin
Vulgate, Aquinas’s translation for his exposition on Job |
40:6
- 41:26/34 (depends on translation) |
|
Yahweh's
Second Speech or Interrogation |
God (unsatisfied with Job’s first response?) initially confronts Job regarding assertions on divine justice, God’s apathy, and God’s non-involvement in the world; then God boasts of His power in (the) Behemoth and (the) Leviathan (hippopotamus and crocodile, perhaps) – his first creations, even before man |
42:1
– 6 |
|
Job's
Response to Yahweh II |
Job's second submission/acceptance (or again, repentance in most Christian translations); he speaks this time of understanding, knowing, seeing. Does he really understand? Has Job finally encountered/achieved wisdom? Has God? What does this “ending” suggest about Job’s consciousness? About God’s? |
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42:7
– 17 |
Prose |
Epilogue |
Order
and freedom in felicity |
42:7
- 10a |
|
Yahweh's
Response to the three (3) Friends (Where’s Elihu?) |
Job's
last test – God reprimands Eliphaz and his two friends (Bildad and Zophar),
telling them to sacrifice through Job so that God might accept Job’s prayer |
42:10b
- 17 |
|
Restoration
and more |
Happy
ever after? – God gives Job twice as much as before; (returns?) seven sons
and three daughters; daughters (not sons) are named and given status and inheritance equal to
sons (meaning?); Job lives a long, happy life |
Compiled from Alden, Aquinas: Exposition on Job; Saadiah ben Joseph: The Book of Theodicy; Janzen, Mitchell: The Book of Job; Sacks: Book of Job with Commentary; Lord Wharton: The Holy Bible (Douay Version); The Tanakh (JPS translation); St. John’s College: “C.G. Jung” preceptorial (Summer 2007); Philosophy and Theology seminars (Summers 2009 and 2011); Summer Classics seminar (2025).