Job 30 · a question people ask

"You have turned to be cruel to me" (30:21). Was Job right to say that to God?

In the text

These are Job's words, and the book doesn't answer them in this chapter. Before the speeches began, the book said, "In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing" (1:22). In chapter 30 Job says to God, "I cry to you, and you do not answer me" (30:20), and "You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me" (30:21). When the LORD answers Job, he asks, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2), and "Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?" (40:8). Job answers, "therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know" (42:3). And the LORD says to Eliphaz, "My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7). The book has these verses in different chapters and doesn't say how they fit together, or which words 38:2 and 42:7 have in view. These notes don't decide it either, and they offer no explanation of why Job suffered beyond what the book says.

The verses

“In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.”
Job 1:22 · World English Bible
“I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me. You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.”
Job 30:20-21 · World English Bible
““Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”
Job 38:2 · World English Bible
“Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?”
Job 40:8 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 30

Job 30: But now

In Hebrew, Job's "I smiled on them" (29:24) and "those who are younger than I have me in derision" (30:1) are the same verb: the man who smiled on others is now laughed at. And the "harp" and "pipe" that end the chapter in mourning (30:31) are the instruments of Job's words about the wicked: "They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe" (21:12).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions