Job 40-42

Greetings!  This brings us to the end of Job, where God is speaking and Job responds.

40     The Lord said to Job:
2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!”

So many of us are quick to judge God using our man-made reasoning. 

3 Then Job answered [...]

Job 37-39

Greetings!  Elihu wraps up his speech, then God speaks!

37     “At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
4 After [...]

Job 34-36

Greetings!  The young man, Elihu, continues to speak. 

34     Then Elihu said:
2 “Hear my words, you wise men;
listen to me, you men of learning.
3 For the ear tests words
as the tongue tastes food.
4 Let us discern for ourselves what is right;
let us learn together what is good.
5 “Job says, ‘I [...]

Job 31-33

Greetings!

31     “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.

There’s a wealth of wisdom and practicality in verse 1 alone.  Job made a conscious effort not to sin.  We often get into habits and think we can’t control ourselves.  But we get to choose what we think about.  When temptations [...]

Job 28-30

Greetings!  Job is continuing his long speech.

28     “There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.
4 Far from where [...]

Job 25-27

Greetings!  Bildad replies, then Job has a six chapter response to them all. 

Bildad
25     Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 “Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
3 Can his forces be numbered?
Upon whom does his light not rise?
4 How then can a man be righteous before God? [...]

Job 22-24

Greetings!  I have to admit that at this stage of Job I struggle with the repetition.  Even study Bibles offer very few comments.  At the same time I trust that every verse is important and belongs here.  So why is that?  Is the repetition to drive the point home?  Perhaps I’m just not reading closely [...]

Job 19-21

Greetings!  The back-and-forth with Job and his not-so-supportive friends continues. 

Job
19     Then Job replied:
2 “How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.
5 If [...]

Job 16-18

Greetings! 

Job
16     Then Job replied:
2 “I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?

Job is angry at his friends for jumping to conclusions that his sin caused his misery.  Sometimes being silent with someone who is [...]

Job 13-15

Greetings!  Job is in the middle of his response to his friend Zophar.  He strongly defends himself and accuses his friends of false accusations. 

13     “My eyes have seen all this,
my ears have heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I desire to speak [...]

Job 10-12

Greetings!  Job is speaking again and responding to his friends.  He is deeply depressed and accusing God of toying with him for no reason.  He concedes that he has sins and faults and is properly mortified by them, but he doesn’t see where he has sinned in this case.

10     “I loathe my very life;
therefore I [...]

Job 7-9

Greetings!  Job shifts from responding to his friend, Eliphaz, and begins speaking to God.  He is clearly in anguish and very depressed.  He doesn’t understand the situation but doesn’t appear to accuse God outright.  It is challenging enough not to sin, but especially so when we are suffering.
Job correctly notes that God watches over us, [...]

Job 4-6

Greetings!  Job’s friends got off to a good start by sitting in silence with him for a week (chapter 2).  Then they opened their mouths and the troubles started.  Eliphaz spoke first and said Job was suffering because he sinned.  While our sins do lead to suffering for us and others, that is not always [...]

Job 1-3

Greetings!  We’re covering a lot of ground every other day with Job – 3 chapters at a time.  The middle chapters won’t have a lot of commentary.  This first set is chock full, though.

Job
Prologue
1     In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared [...]

Job introduction

Greetings!  The book of Job is challenging to read.  There are some heavy and timeless themes about why we suffer and how that relateds to God.  And personally I find some of the middle chapters to be long and repetitive, which means I’m probably not studying them hard enough.
Some people think the books of Job [...]