2100 BC – 1700 BC · 297 passages
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c. 2100 BC – Terah's family moves from Ur to Haran, shortly before Abram's call (traditional dating) Best estimate
Haran dies in Ur, and Abram marries Sarai, who is barren. Terah takes Abram, Lot, and Sarai toward Canaan but settles in Haran, where he dies.
From Abraham (c. 2100 BC) through Ishmael, Esau and Edom's chiefs and kings, before Israel's monarchy Best estimate
Abraham's sons Isaac and Ishmael are named, then Ishmael's sons and Keturah's sons, before Isaac's sons Esau and Israel. The chapter then lists Esau's descendants, the early kings of Edom and the chiefs of Edom.
Prologue: undated patriarchal-age setting in Uz (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job's flocks mark his wealth Best estimate
Job is introduced as an upright, very wealthy man of Uz with ten children. He offers sacrifices after his children's feasts in case they have sinned.
Prologue scene in heaven; earthly setting is the undated patriarchal age in Uz (c. 2100–1700 BC) Best estimate
In a scene in heaven, the LORD points to Job as a model of faithfulness. Satan argues that Job serves God only because he is blessed, and the LORD permits him to take Job's possessions but not harm Job himself.
Prologue: disasters strike Job in undated patriarchal-age Uz (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional) Best estimate
On the day his children feast together, four messengers arrive in quick succession. Raiders and lightning take his livestock and servants, and a windstorm kills all his children.
Prologue: undated patriarchal-age setting in Uz (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job's flocks mark his wealth Best estimate
Job mourns in the customary ways, then worships and blesses the LORD's name. The narrator says he did not sin or accuse God of wrongdoing.
Prologue: undated patriarchal-age setting in Uz; second heavenly test of Job Best estimate
The heavenly court meets again, and the LORD notes that Job has kept his integrity. Satan says Job would curse God if his own body were struck, and the LORD allows this but forbids taking his life.
Prologue: undated patriarchal-age setting in Uz; second heavenly test of Job Best estimate
Job is struck with painful sores and sits among the ashes scraping himself. His wife urges him to curse God and die, but he replies that people should accept adversity as well as good from God.
Friends from Teman, Shuhah and Naamah arrive; undated patriarchal-age setting (c. 2100–1700 BC) Best estimate
Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar hear of Job's trouble and come to comfort him. They barely recognize him, weep, mourn, and sit with him seven days without speaking.
Dialogue begins after seven days of silence; undated patriarchal-age setting (c. 2100–1700 BC) Best estimate
After the seven days of silence, Job speaks and wishes the day of his birth had never happened. He piles up images of darkness to erase that day and night.
Dialogue begins after seven days of silence; undated patriarchal-age setting (c. 2100–1700 BC) Best estimate
Job asks why he did not die at birth. He imagines death as a place of quiet rest where kings, the wicked, captives and slaves all lie at peace.
Dialogue begins after seven days of silence; undated patriarchal-age setting (c. 2100–1700 BC) Best estimate
Job asks why light and life are given to people in misery who long for death. He says the trouble he always dreaded has come, and he has no rest.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz gently notes that Job has comforted others but is now dismayed himself. He argues from experience that the innocent do not perish, while those who sow trouble reap it.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz describes a whispered message in a night vision: no mortal is more righteous than God. If God finds fault even with angels, frail humans are hardly beyond reproach.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz says that resentment destroys fools and that he has seen the fool's household cursed. Trouble, he says, does not arise from nowhere, yet people are born to it.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz says that in Job's place he would appeal to God, who does wonders, lifts up the lowly, frustrates the crafty, and rescues the needy.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz calls the person God corrects blessed and promises that God will heal and protect him from famine, war and loss. He closes by saying the friends have examined this and it is true.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job replies that his grief, if weighed, would be heavier than the sand of the seas, which explains his rash words. He feels pierced by God's arrows and finds his condition as distasteful as bland food.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job asks that God would crush him and end his life, and says his one comfort is that he has not denied God's words. He asks what strength he has to keep waiting.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says his friends are unreliable like seasonal streams that vanish in summer and disappoint thirsty caravans. He notes he never asked them for money or rescue, only for kindness.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job invites his friends to show him where he is wrong. He says their arguments prove nothing and asks them to look at him honestly, insisting his integrity is at stake.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job describes life as hard service, with months of futility and sleepless nights. His body is covered with sores, and he says life is a breath that ends in Sheol.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says he will not hold back his complaint. He asks why God guards him like a sea monster, and says nightmares terrify him until he would rather die.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job asks why God pays such constant, testing attention to humans. He asks God to look away and pardon him before he dies and is gone.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Bildad speaks Best estimate
Bildad calls Job's words a blustering wind and asks whether God would twist justice. He says Job's children died for their own sin and that Job should seek God, who would then restore him.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Bildad speaks Best estimate
Bildad appeals to earlier generations and uses images of papyrus without water and a spider's web to say that the hope of those who forget God withers.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Bildad speaks Best estimate
Bildad concludes that God does not reject the blameless or support evildoers. He says God will yet fill Job's mouth with laughter while the wicked are shamed.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job agrees that no mortal is righteous before God. He describes God's overwhelming power over mountains, sun, stars and sea, and says no one can question what God does.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says that even if he were right, he could not answer God or make Him listen. He concludes that God seems to destroy blameless and wicked alike and lets the wicked rule.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says his days flee quickly and that even washing himself would not clear him before God. He wishes for a mediator between himself and God so he could speak without fear.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says he loathes his life and speaks to God directly, asking not to be condemned and to be told the charge. He asks whether God's view is limited like human sight.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job recalls that God shaped him like clay and cared for him, but thinks God secretly planned to watch for his sin. Whether guilty or innocent, he feels hunted and overwhelmed.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job again asks why God brought him out of the womb and wishes he had died. He asks for a little relief before he goes to the dark land of death.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Zophar speaks Best estimate
Zophar says Job's stream of words should not go unanswered and that Job claims to be pure. He wishes God would speak and says God is exacting less than Job's sin deserves.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Zophar speaks Best estimate
Zophar says the deep things of God are higher than heaven and deeper than Sheol, and God sees all deceit. He insists a foolish person cannot become wise.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Zophar speaks Best estimate
Zophar tells Job to direct his heart to God and remove injustice, and then he will feel secure and forget his misery. The wicked, he says, will find no escape.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job sarcastically says his friends must be the only wise people and insists he understands as much as they do. He says the righteous are mocked while those who provoke God are secure.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says anyone, even animals, birds and the earth itself, could teach that the LORD's hand is behind all life. He notes that wisdom is thought to come with age.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job describes God's power to tear down and imprison, to humble counselors, judges, kings and nations, and to expose hidden things. God controls those who seem powerful.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says he knows all that they know and wants to argue his case with God. He calls his friends worthless physicians and warns that defending God with lies will not please Him.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says he will speak whatever the risk and will still hope in God and defend his ways to God's face. He believes he will be vindicated.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job asks God for two things, to remove His terror and to let him speak, and then he asks to be told his sin. He feels God treats him as an enemy and that he is wasting away.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says people are short-lived and full of trouble like a flower or a shadow. He asks God to look away and let them rest as hired workers.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job compares a felled tree, which can sprout again, with a person who dies and does not rise. Death is like water disappearing from a dried river.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job wishes God would hide him in Sheol until His anger passes and then call him back. He wonders whether a dead man will live again and imagines God covering his sin.
Dialogue, first round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC, traditional); Job replies Best estimate
Job says God erodes human hope as water wears away stone. The dead are unaware of their family and feel only their own pain.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
In the second round, Eliphaz accuses Job of empty, windy words that undermine reverence for God. He says Job's own lips condemn him.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz asks whether Job has heard God's counsel or knows more than the elders. He asks why Job resists God's comforts and says no human is pure before God.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz says what the wise have taught: the wicked live in pain and fear, expect disaster, and wander in want and terror.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Eliphaz speaks Best estimate
Eliphaz says the wicked stretch out a hand against God and rush at Him, but ruin comes and their wealth and family do not last. Their trust in emptiness is repaid with emptiness.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job says he has heard such arguments before and calls his friends miserable comforters. He says if roles were reversed he would encourage, not scold, them.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job describes God as an attacker who has seized, shattered and pierced him, while others mock him. He says he has mourned and prayed with clean hands.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job asks the earth not to cover his blood and says he has a witness and an advocate in heaven. He wishes that someone would plead for him with God.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job says his spirit is broken and the grave awaits, while mockers surround him. He asks God to be his guarantor, because no one else will, and says the upright are shocked but the righteous keep going.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job challenges his friends to try again but says he will find no wise person among them. He describes the grave as his home and asks where his hope lies.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Bildad speaks Best estimate
In the second round, Bildad asks how long Job will keep talking and complains that Job treats his friends as stupid. He asks whether the world should change for Job.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Bildad speaks Best estimate
Bildad describes the wicked as one whose lamp goes out, who is tripped by his own schemes, and who is caught in snares and terrors until death takes him.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Bildad speaks Best estimate
Bildad says the wicked lose home, name, and descendants and are driven into darkness. He concludes that this is the fate of those who do not know God.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job asks how long his friends will torment him and says that if he has gone wrong, it is his own concern. He states that it is God who has wronged him.
Dialogue, second round, undated patriarchal setting (c. 2100–1700 BC); Job replies Best estimate
Job says he cries for justice but gets no answer. He describes God as blocking his path, stripping his honor, and treating him as an enemy.