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Chapter 19
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
Zophar speaks up again. He feels agitated and insulted, so he can’t help himself. He argues that ever since human beings first appeared on earth, the wicked and godless have had little joy. Their lives are short, and their children don’t prosper. Because of their wickedness to the poor, they don’t enjoy profit for long. Due to their greed, they will soon be poor and miserable themselves. They have nothing but violence and terror to look forward to. In the end, their wickedness will be revealed, as decreed by God.
In his second speech, Zophar is having none of Job’s claims of innocence. As in his first speech, he inflexibly maintains that wicked people always end up suffering for their misdeeds—with the implication that this is why Job suffers, too. Again, Zophar upholds a standard of human wisdom which he implies is the same as God’s standard.
Themes
