How to Read the Bible
If we consider the Prologue and Epilogue of the book separately from the main text, then Bildad turns out to be right. However, from the conversation it turns out that this promise and explanation is not enough for Job. He knows other examples when a righteous man on earth does not receive a reward.
4. Job's answer: a cry to God for justice; rebukes addressed to Him (Job 9-10)
1 And Job answered and said, 2 It is true! I know that it is so; but how will man be justified before God? 3 If he will enter into dispute with him, he will not answer him one of a thousand. 4 Wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who rebelled against Him and remained at rest? 5 He moveth mountains, and they shall not know them: he maketh them in his wrath; 6 He hath moved the earth out of its place, and its pillars trembled; 7 He will speak to the sun, and he will not rise, and he will put a seal on the stars. 8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and walketh on the heights of the sea; 9 He made As, Keshil, and Hima,109 and the hiding places of the south; 10 doeth the great, the unsearchable, and the wondrous without number! 11 Behold, he shall pass before me, and I shall not see him; he will pass by, and I will not notice Him. 12 He will take, and who will forbid Him? who will say to Him, What are you doing? 13 God will not turn away his wrath; before Him the champions of pride will fall. 14 How much more can I answer him, and seek words for myself before him? 15 Though I be right, I will not answer, but will beseech my Judge. 16 If I had called, and he answered me, I would not have believed that he had heard my voice, 17 Who in a whirlwind smites me, and multiplies my wounds without guilt, 18 does not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with sorrows. 19 If He works by force, He is mighty; if by judgment, who shall bring me to Him? 20 If I make excuses, my own mouth will accuse me; if I am innocent, then He will find me guilty. 21 I am innocent; I do not want to know my soul, I despise my life. 22 All are one; therefore I said that He destroys both the blameless and the guilty. 23 If he smites him with a whip suddenly, he laughs at the torture of the innocent. 24 The land is given into the hands of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If not He, then who? 25 My days are faster than a messenger, they run, they see no good, 26 They rush like light boats, like an eagle rushing after prey. 27 If you say to me, 'I will forget my complaints, I will put off my gloomy countenance, and I will be of good cheer; 28 then I tremble at all my afflictions, knowing that thou wilt not declare me innocent. 29 But if I am guilty, why do I languish in vain? 30 Though I be washed with the water of the snow, and cleanse my hands perfectly, 31 then also Thou shalt plunge me into the mud, and my garments shall abhor me. 32 For he is not a man like me, that I may answer him, and go with him to judgment. 33 There is no mediator between us, who would lay his hand on both of us. 34 Let him take away his rod from me, and let not his fear terrify me, 35 and then I will speak, and will not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
1 My life is abhorrent to my soul; I will give myself over to my sorrow; I will speak in the sorrow of my soul. 2 I will say to God, Do not accuse me; tell me why you are fighting with me? 3 Is it good for thee that thou oppressest, that thou despise the work of thy hands, and that thou dost send light upon the counsel of the wicked? 4 Hast thou the eyes of flesh, and lookest as man looketh? 5 Are your days like the days of a man, or your years like the days of a man, 6 that you seek iniquity in me, and search for sin in me, 7 though you know that I am not a lawless man, and that there is no one to deliver me out of your hand? 8 Thy hands have laboured over me, and have formed me all round about, and thou hast destroyed me? 9 Remember that thou hast worked me as clay, and hast turned me to dust? 10 Hast thou not poured me out like milk, and thickened me like curd, 11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, Thou hast bound me together with bones and sinews, 12 Thou hast bestowed upon me life and mercy, and thy care hath preserved my spirit? 13 But even these things thou hast hid in thy heart, I know that it was with thee, 14 that if I sin, thou shalt take heed, and wilt not let my sin go unpunished. 15 If I am guilty, woe is me! if I am right, I will not dare to lift up my head. I am satiated with humiliation; Look at my affliction: 16 it increases. Thou hast pursued me like a lion, and hast come upon me again, and hast appeared wondrous in me. 17 Thou hast brought forth new Thy witnesses against me; Thou hast increased Thy wrath against me; and troubles, one after another, are arrayed against me. 18 And why hast thou brought me out of the womb? let me die when no eye had seen me; 19 That I might be carried from the womb to the tomb as one who had not been! 20 Are not my days short? Leave, depart from me, that I may be of a little cheer, 21 before I depart, and return no more, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, 22 to the land of darkness, such as is the darkness of the shadow of death, where there is no order, where it is dark as darkness itself.
5. Zophar's Word: A Call to Humility Before God (Job 11)
1 And Zophar the Naamathite answered, and said, 2 Is it not possible to give an answer to many words, and is a man of many words right? 3 Shall thy idle talk cause men to be silent, that thou mayest mock, and there shall be no one to shame thee? 4 Thou hast said, My judgment is right, and I am pure in thy sight. 5 But if God had spoken, and opened his mouth to you, 6 and revealed to you the mysteries of wisdom, what would you have to bear twice as much? Therefore know that God has forgotten some of your iniquities for you. 7 Can You Find God by Searching? Can you fully comprehend the Almighty? 8 He is above the heavens, what can you do? deeper than hell, what can you know? 9 His measure is longer than the earth, and wider than the sea. 10 If he pass by, and put someone in chains, and bring him to judgment, who will reject him? 11 For he knoweth men that lie and sees iniquity, and will he leave it unattended? 12 But the empty man is wise, though man is born like a wild colt. 13 If thou shalt straighten thy heart, and stretch out thy hands unto him, 14 and if there be a blemish in thy hand, and thou wilt remove it, and let iniquity not dwell in thy tents, 15 thou shalt lift up thy unblemished face, and shalt be strong, and shalt not be afraid. 16 Then shalt thou forget the sorrow: thou shalt remember it as of water that has flowed. 17 And thy life shall go brighter than noonday; You'll brighten up like the morning. 18 And thou shalt be at rest, for there is hope; You are fenced off, and you can sleep safely. 19 Thou shalt lie down, and there shall be no one to be afraid, and many shall ingratiate themselves with thee. 20 The eyes of the wicked will fade, and their refuge will be lost, and their hope will be gone.
6. Job's response: he rejects all "godly" theories (Job 12-14)
1 And Job answered and said, 2 Indeed, you are only men, and wisdom will die with you! 3 And I have a heart like you; I am not inferior to you; and who does not know the same? 4 I have become a laughingstock to my friend, I who cried out to God, and to whom he answered, a laughing stock, a righteous man, blameless. 5 Thus despised is the torch prepared for those who stumble with their feet. 6 The tents of robbers are safe, and the tents of those who provoke God to anger, who bear God in their hands, as it were. 7 And verily, ask the cattle, and he will teach thee, the bird of the air, and shall tell thee; 8 Or talk to the earth, and he will instruct you, and the fish of the sea will tell you. 9 Who in all these things shall not know that the hand of the Lord hath wrought these things? 10 In his hand is the soul of all living things, and the spirit of all human flesh. 11 Does not the ear discern words, and does not the tongue discern the taste of food? 12 In the elders is wisdom, and in the long-lived is understanding. 13 He has wisdom and power; His counsel and reason. 14 Whatsoever he destroyeth shall not be built; whoever He imprisons will not be freed. 15 He will stop the waters, and all things will dry up; let them go, and they will turn the earth. 16 With him is power and wisdom, before him that errs and deceives. 17 He makes the counselors foolish, and makes the judges foolish. 18 And he looseth the bands of kings, and bindeth their loins with girdles; 19 princes deprive of dignity and overthrow the brave; 20 He takes away the tongue of the eloquent, and deprives the elders of their sense; 21 He covers the famous with shame, and weakens the strength of the mighty; 22 reveals the deep out of the midst of darkness, and brings forth the shadow of death; 23 He multiplies the nations, and destroys them; He scatters the nations and gathers them; 24 He takes away the minds of the leaders of the people of the earth, and leaves them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way: 25 They grope in darkness without light, and stagger about like drunken men.
1 Behold, all these things my eye has seen, my ear has heard, and has taken note unto itself. 2 As much as you know, I also know, I am not inferior to you. 3 But I would speak to the Almighty, and I would contend with God. 4 But you are gossips of lies; All of you are useless doctors. 5 Oh, if only you were silent! this would be imputed to you for wisdom. 6 Hearken therefore to my reasoning, and heed the rebuttal of my mouth. 7 Ought you for God's sake to speak falsehood, and to speak falsehood for him? 8 Ought ye to have been partial to him, and thus contended for God? 9 Will it be good when He tests you? Will you deceive Him as a man is deceived? 10 He will punish you severely, though you are secretly hypocritical. 11 Does not his majesty terrify you, and his fear not attack you? 12 Your reminders are like ashes; your strongholds are strongholds of clay. 13 Be silent before me, and I will speak whatever befalls me. 14 Why should I tear my body with my teeth, and put my life in my hand? 15 Behold, he is killing me, but I will hope; I would only like to defend my ways before Him! 16 And this is for my justification, for the hypocrite will not go before him. 17 Listen attentively to my word and my explanation with your ears. E-18 Now, I've brought a lawsuit: I know I'll be right. 19 Who is able to challenge me? For I will soon be silent and give up my spirit. 20 Do not do two things to me, and then I will not hide myself from thy presence: 21 remove thy hand from me, and let not thy terror shake me. 22 Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you answer me. 23 How many vices and sins do I have? show me my iniquity and my sin. 24 Why dost thou hide thy face, and consider me thy enemy? 25 Do you not break a plucked leaf, and pursue a dry straw? 26 For you write bitter things against me, and impute to me the sins of my youth, 27 and put my feet in the stock, and lie in wait for all my paths, and chase after the footsteps of my feet. 28 And he, like rot, disintegrates, like a garment eaten by moths.
1 A man born of a woman is short of days, and is full of sorrows: 2 like a flower, he goes out and falls; runs away like a shadow and does not stop. 3 And against him dost thou open thy eyes, and bring me to judgment with thee? 4 Who shall be born clean of uncleanness? None. 5 If the days are fixed for him, and the number of his months is with you, if you have set a limit for him that he will not pass, 6 then turn away from him: let him rest until he finishes his day as a hireling. 7 There is hope for the tree, that if it be cut down, it will come to life again, and the branches will not cease from it: 8 Though its root be old in the ground, and its stump is frozen in the dust, 9 but when it smells the water, it sprouts and sprouts branches, as if it were planted anew. 10 But man dies and disintegrates; departed, and where is he? 11 The waters of the lake go away, and the river dries up and dries up: 12 so a man shall lie down, and shall not be; until the end of heaven he will not awake and will not rise from his sleep. 13 Oh, that Thou wouldst hide me in hell, and hid me until Thy wrath was past, set a time for me, and then remembered me! 14 When a man dies, will he live again? On all the days of the time allotted to me, I would wait for my replacement. 15 Thou wouldst call, and I would give thee an answer, and thou wouldst show favor to the work of thy hands; 16 for then thou wouldst have numbered my steps, and would not have waited for my sin; 17 In the scroll my iniquity would have been sealed, and thou wouldst have covered my guilt. 18 But the mountain falleth down, and the rock departs from its place; 19 The water weareth away the stones; its flood washes away the dust of the earth: so Thou destroyest the hope of man. 20 Thou shalt press him to the end, and he departs; you betray his face and send him away. 21 Whether his children are honored, he does not know, whether they are humiliated, he does not perceive; 22 But his flesh hurts him, and his soul suffers in him.
SECOND CONVERSATION