Answers That Remain Falsehood

Job asks, Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation. Allow me, and I also will speak. After I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint to man? He says that when he remembers, horror takes hold of him. Job is about to challenge the friends' central claim.

Job asks, Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their children dance, and they spend their days in prosperity. They tell God, Depart from us, for we don't want to know about your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Job is not praising them. He says, The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job questions the friends' claim that the lamp of the wicked is always put out. Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high? One dies in his full strength, wholly at ease, while another dies in bitterness of soul. They lie down alike in the dust. Job concludes, So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood? Life does not always follow the friends' simple rule, and God alone judges rightly.