Job
King James Version · 42 chapters · 1070 verses · Old Testament
Why do the innocent suffer?
Job is upright and prosperous, and in the space of a day loses his livestock, his servants, his ten children and then his health. Three friends come, sit with him seven days in silence, and then ruin it by explaining. Their argument is simple and wrong: suffering is punishment, so confess. Job will not confess to what he has not done, and will not stop asking God why. A younger man, Elihu, has his say. Then God answers out of a whirlwind, and He never explains. He asks questions instead, about wild goats and the sea and the morning stars, and it is enough.