Job, Day 2 Readings

Job Questions Why He Was Born and a Friend Concludes that Job Has Sinned  

Today's first reading provides Job's first speech, in which his despair leads him to curse the day he was born.  He wonders, if he was meant only to suffer so greatly, why God allowed him to live.  It is a speech that encapsulates what many people feel during their darkest days.

Read Job 3:1-26  (NIV)   (NRSV)   (CEB)

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The second reading offers the first speech of one of Job's friends, Eliphaz.  The three friends serve as conversation partners, challenging Job's arguments and questioning whether he is so innocent as he claims.  In this speech, Eliphaz offers the timeless explanation for human suffering -- it is deserved.  In religious terms, Job is facing his troubles because he has sinned against God and is being punished.

Read Job 4:1-21  (NIV)   (NRSV)   (CEB)

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Reading the Bible in Its Entirety

If you are planning to read the Bible in its entirety, you should read Job 9-17 today.