Verses 1-23

27:1-31:40 JOB'S SUMMARY

The traditional teaching (27:1-23)

According to the established pattern of the debate, Zophar should speak next, but when he does not, Job proceeds to summarize his own position. He restates that, in spite of his suffering and bitterness, he is innocent of the great wrongdoing of which they accuse him, and he assures them that he intends to remain innocent (27:1-6).

Job knows as well as his friends do that the ungodly will, in the end, be punished and no final cry for mercy will save them. Moreover, the friends' false accusations against Job put them in the class of the ungodly (7-10). They have been foolishly wasting their time in trying to teach Job the traditional doctrine concerning the punishment of the wicked. He knows all this so well that he could just as easily teach them (11-12). To prove his knowledge, Job quotes some of the traditional teaching for them to hear: the families of the wicked are wiped out (13-15), their wealth is plundered (16-17), their houses are destroyed (18-19), and their lives end in horror (20-23).