Ch. 1: Job was a friend of God. God valued their friendship, helped Job, and protected him. Job loved and served God. Satan accused Job of being an opportunist. God agreed to put the sincerity of Job's relationship to the test. He allowed Satan to take Job's property and children. Job was extremely unhappy, but he did not sin against God. He said: Naked I came out from within my mother, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Ch. 2: Satan refused to recognize the test as sufficient, and the Lord allowed him to touch Job's health. He became gravely ill. Job's wife urged him to deny God, but he refused: You talk like a fool. Shall we receive good from God, and not receive evil? Three friends come to comfort Job. They are shocked and lose their speech for a week.
Ch. 3: Job takes the speech, Before this, I should never have been born. I don't want to live
Chapters 4 and 5: Eliphaz: You've been a crisis coach to others, and you're handling your own crisis poorly. Nothing happens without a cause - the good have it good and the bad have it bad. You must have done something wrong, or this couldn't have happened to you. God is rebuking and admonishing you in this way. Then confess it to God.
Chapters 6 and 7: Job: no. I want to die. I'm so sick, I don't want to go through this. God has betrayed me and wronged me.
Ch. 8: Bildad: seek God, confess to Him, and all will be well again.
Chapters 9 and 10: Job: God is great and sovereign. But he is not righteous; he does not distinguish between good and evil. He doesn't care. There is no justice in this world. What is it, God, that you're so cruel to me?
Ch. 11: Sófar: Yob, you're just talking. God is just and omniscient. Humble yourself and confess what you've done. You will be relieved and God will stop tormenting you.
Ch. 12, 13, 14: Job: ye are blabbers, and in my cause ye provoke God to anger. I am not a fool; I know, of course, that God is sovereign and not partial to anyone. Let him kill me, I will not cease to hope in him and to call upon him for justice. But so far God is only crushing me beyond comprehension, oblivious of my fragility and impermanence. He doesn't care that I'm close to death, that I can't take much more of this.
Ch. 15: Eliphaz: You're out of your mind. You contradict yourself. You think you've eaten all the wisdom in the world. You even attack God. Man is nothing against God, a wretch who cannot be right against God. These terrible things are the punishment for your rebellion.
Ch 16, 17: Job: you do not help me at all; instead of comforting me, you only aggravate me. God is beating me over the head. And yet I've done nothing to him. I'm a mess. Soon I'll pull on my slippers and the worms will eat me.
Ch. 18: Bildad: Job, do you take us for fools? Why don't you take us seriously? Admit what you've done or you'll be a disaster.
Ch. 19: Job: you are insolent, you exalt yourselves above me, you have no mercy. God is angry with me, and is destroying me, and you add to me. I'm at the bottom, I'm about to die. I am despised by all. I cry out to Him and He does not respond. But even if I should die here, I will not stop hoping in Him. (I know that my Redeemer lives and will eventually (stand above) the dust. And God will punish you
Ch. 20: Sófar: Job, it has always been true that no one grows to heaven. Insolence is always deservedly punished. Proud, greedy people like you leave only a stench. You have oppressed the poor, and now God will beat your arrogance out of you.
Ch. 21: Job: there is no righteousness in the world - those who despise God are like pigs in the rye, and the righteous suffer
Ch. 22: Eliphaz: What's your point, Job? What do you want to achieve? You're just an asshole. You've brazenly robbed the poor of their last bread. And now you want to provoke God? You'd better confess everything, humble yourself before Him and it will be all right again.
Job 23:24: But the Lord refuses to communicate with me - I would like to tell him everything, to pour out my heart, but there is no way. Although evil is rampant in the world, God is not blind and will one day judge everything. Even my cries to him will one day "break through."
Ch. 25: Bildad: we men are so wretched against God. Our imperfection disqualifies us from any discussion with God.
Chapters 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31: Job: You have helped me! I know how wonderful the Lord is. I can see it in the awesomeness of His creation. I will not blaspheme against Him under any circumstances, even if it costs me my life. I walk with God continually. I don't blaspheme Him, I just demand justice. The wicked - they will pass away and nothing will be left of them. To plumb the depths of God's knowledge is harder than the hardest work in this world. But no one wants it. Wisdom is priceless. Finding a right relationship with God is the wisest and most sensible thing a person can do in life.
There was a time when I was well, when I was somebody, and when I helped people where I could. I thought I'd live to see it that way - and now I'm worse off than the last loser of my former employees. I'm at rock bottom, I couldn't be worse off. And he put me in this state.
And yet I did not look at women, I was faithful to my wife, I was fair to my employees, I helped the handicapped, I did not attach myself to property, I had no idols, I did not harm or curse anyone, I was hospitable and always open to God.
Ch. 32, 33, 34, 35, 36: Three friends gave up the discussion. They saw that Job's self-righteousness (without the negative connotation) would not break.
The younger Elihu interjects: I can't stand listening to your chatter any longer, I have to speak. It's gonna be something, so pay attention. Yob, you are insufferably self-righteous and the rest of you are incapable of giving him any reasonable response.
Job, you keep invoking God's answer - but what if He speaks to you in dreams and you do not perceive it? You need a mediator to stand up for you before God. When you confess your sins you will be forgiven and the horrors will be over, so just do it. You, Job, are blaspheming terribly - only the greatest scoundrels dare to speak like that. You claim that God doesn't care. But he doesn't. He distinguishes them, and everyone will receive the retribution for his actions. So, Job, if you do not remember any sin, it may be that you are missing something. Then pray that God will reveal your sin to you. This way, not only do you have to commit something secretly, but you're hurting yourself by opening your mouth at God.
God will not be blackmailed, Job. The "if I don't get my way, I'll do worse" approach doesn't work.
You are not the only one in the world who suffers, but nobody dares to jump on God like that. For all your arrogant and arrogant talk against God, you haven't been through much. God's semi-ignored you so far, so you've gotten off pretty easy.
Your blabbering, the nonsense that you are spouting here, Job; the way you are going on about the fifth and the ninth will not help you in any way - God will not respond to that. In short, by suffering God is trying to bring you to repentance.
Yob, let's look at it from a different side: think about the majesty and greatness of nature - such storms are a force. And God did it, and we have no idea how it works. Or the water and its aggregates, the diverse animals and their instincts. God uses natural phenomena as He sees fit - for good, for evil, as a manifestation of Himself, or also "just because" for beauty.
So humble yourself before this greatness, resign your justifications, empty your mind. We can't touch God, he's too big for that.
Ch. 38, 39: The Lord from the whirlwind to Job: Who is babbling nonsense about things he does not understand? Come on, man, now you can talk. You've been jumping on me in my absence, so keep it up now that I'm coming in person.
Job, I created everything, including heaven and earth, and including human beings, free beings created in my image but with a propensity for evil. Believe me, it wasn't easy, and I've got it pretty well figured out.
You want to talk about justice, the meaning of life, truth? Freedom, love, betrayal, evil, the devil? These are not elementary topics - do you really have anything to say about them?
Consider that I also had to create the laws of physics, set constants, think about the micro- and macrocosm, particles, gravity. When I started creating the universe, Job, it was a "big event" - all the angels admired my work and were excited about it.
I created the sea, water in all its forms, the universe, the stars, the planets, the orbit of the sun, the rotation of the earth. You know so little about the earth, and that's the closest you get.
What about biological life? Isn't that beautiful? Chamois, birds, horses, ostriches, birds of prey. The autonomy, the variety, the interconnectedness.
What about hell, Job, what do you know about it? I've got that under control, too.
If I was able to create and maintain all this, it should go without saying that I know what I'm doing. So you can assume that your issue isn't a bug in the system either.
Ch. 40, 41: So what, you still want to criticize me and argue with me? Again I tell you: you can see from creation that I have things really well thought out. You also know that I am good, that I am not a traitor. If something incomprehensible is happening to you now, don't you think there is something behind it? Something I can't tell you yet?
The Book of Job is God's coded message to God's friends of all ages: there may be situations where incomprehensible things happen to you that I will not be able to keep explaining to you. Don't let that get you down - I have not forgotten you or betrayed you.
Job: All right, you've crossed me, I'll shut up now.
God: I see I haven't convinced you yet, so let's move on - have you ever seen a dinosaur or a whale?
Ch. 42: Job: well I give up - if you can do this, God, you can do anything. I really didn't understand, I'm shutting up.
God to friends: You tried to defend me, but you were wrong. You have understood nothing about your relationship to me, you have only theorized. Confess this as sin and ask my friend Job to pray for you. Then I will forgive you.
Job ignores everything his friends have put on his head and really prays for them.
Here Job's test ends. He has passed. In the end, the Lord healed Job and gave him back everything he had lost.
Job's relationship with the Lord was proven beyond any doubt to be not purposeful. Through all the hardships, Satan was unable to disrupt that relationship.
Job sat for days and weeks in a dark, windowless room. He was beaten and interrogated. Interrogators took turns "on him" and they tried all kinds of interrogation methods on him. All the time his every move was watched from behind semi-transparent mirrors and every word was written down. So how was your relationship with the General? Why did you do it? What was your point? You still insist you're friends? Now the door has opened and in walks the Supreme himself. He announces to his friend Job that everything was just a test. A test of his loyalty and sincerity. And you, my friend, have passed. All will now, of course, be returned to you.