January 31: Job 40:6 – Job 42:17

The Lord Challenges Job – Job 40:6–41:34

• God speaks to Job out of the whirlwind, and confronts him with what he wrongly said in his speeches when he dared to annul God's justice. (Because Job believed that suffering is God's punishment for sin, he had to condemn God in order to maintain his innocence.)
• God suggests that since Job felt justified in condemning how He runs the universe, perhaps Job should be "king for a day." He also tells him to consider Behemoth (perhaps a hippopotamus?) and the strength of this animal God has created, as well as Leviathan (perhaps a crocodile?). He implies that King Leviathan is over all those who have pride, including Job, and that Job could never subdue him.

Job's Confession and Repentance – Job 42

• Job responds that he knows God can do all things and that none of His purposes can be thwarted. He claims that he has said things that he didn't understand, and asks God to speak and he will hear Him. Job despises himself.

The Lord Rebukes Job's Friends

• God now tells Eliphaz and his two friends that He burns with anger against them because they have not spoken of Him what is right, as Job has. He instructs them to take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and to offer burnt offerings for themselves, and tells them that Job will then pray for them and He will accept Job's prayer and not punish them.
• Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar do as God says, and God accepts Job's prayer on their behalf.

The Lord Restores Job's Fortunes

• God restores Job's fortunes, giving him twice what he had before. God doubles his livestock, and Job has seven sons and three daughters. Job lives 140 years and dies "an old man, full of days."

January 25: Job 22:1 – Job 25:6

Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great – Job 22

• Eliphaz continues to claim that Job is wicked, assuming that the righteous are always blessed and the wicked always receive God's judgment. He lists some (untrue) reasons for Job's situation: that he was greedy in business dealings, that he lacked charity, and that he lacked compassion toward people.
• Eliphaz calls on Job to repent and return to God, and implies that Job has been trusting in riches rather than God.

Job Replies: Where Is God? – Job 23 & 24

• Job claims he has not departed from God's ways. He says God has terrified him (with his power and sovereignty) and expresses his depression because of his losses and failure to understand God's purposes.
• Job continues to describe the ways of the wicked and points out that God prolongs their lives. He questions that if it is not so, who will call him a liar.

Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous – Job 25

• Bildad asks how men can be right before God and claims man is a maggot before God's eyes.

January 23: Job 15:1 – Job 18:21

Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God – Job 15

• Eliphaz argues that Job's arguments are destructive and without substance. He states that Job has turned his spirit against God in the words he speaks. Ultimately, he claims that Job doesn't fear God.

Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You – Job 16

• Job claims that all three of his friends are miserable comforters and that he could also speak as they did if he were in their place. He claims God has torn him in his wrath, hated him, and given him up to the ungodly.

Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope? – Job 17

• Job's spirit is broken, and he questions where his hope is. He counters the false assurances of his friends with a statement that he waits for the grave as one who desires to go home to his long-lost relatives.

Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked – Job 18

• Bildad gives a speech about the wicked and how they are punished by God, implying that Job, since he is being punished, is wicked.

January 21: Job 8:1 – Job 11:20

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent – Job 8

• Bildad argues that God does not pervert justice, so therefore Job and his children received what they, as sinners, deserved. He admonishes Job to seek God so He will restore Job's prosperity, and uses examples from nature to backup his idea that God punishes the wicked and rewards the just.

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter – Job 9

• Job seems to consider the idea of entering a legal case against God (who is his judge and legal adversary), deducing that the chance's of his answering God's interrogation are slim.
• Job accuses God of unjustly destroying both the blameless and the wicked, and desires to stand before Him not as sinless, but innocent of any sin comparable to his suffering. Job desires a mediator between him and God.

Job Continues: A Plea to God – Job 10

• Though Job thinks God is unjust in oppressing him, he also realizes that no one can deliver him from God's hand. He believes he is innocent and feels like a criminal, then asks why he was even born and wishes to die.

Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse  – Job 11

• Zophar is even more brash than Bildad, claiming that Job deserves worse than what he has received. He tells Job to prepare his heart and lift up his hands (in praise).