Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Book of Job, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Suffering and Divine Justice
The Mystery of God
Human Wisdom vs. Divine Wisdom
Faith in Suffering
Summary
Analysis
Job answers and says that he’s heard all this before; his friends are “miserable comforters.” As for Job himself, whether he speaks or remains silent, his pain remains. God has mercilessly abandoned Job to the wicked and ungodly, even though Job’s hands and his prayers are innocent. Job calls out for a heavenly witness to vouch for him.
Job repeats the fact that his friends are really bad at this—he uses “comforters” sarcastically, since they’re actually deepening his distress, not relieving it. Job also attributes his undeserved sufferings to God’s doing—and yet, at the same time, he seems to hope that God will somehow vindicate him. The logic is that if God is the one with the power to make Job suffer, he also has the wisdom to see the truth about Job and the power to someday, somehow, set things right. After all, Job’s friends have failed him, so where else can he turn?
Themes
