The Friends Conclude and Elihu Begins 

Excurses:  Had the third cycle of dialogue between Job and his three friends been complete, we would expect to find Zophar’s concluding speech in response to Job at this point. However, at least in the canonical form of the book, Bildad’s truncated final speech (25:1–6), Job’s expanded concluding speech (chs. 26–31), the complete absence of any final speech by Zophar, and the opening comments in the following Elihu section, press the reader to understand this collapse of the last dialogue cycle in another way. Contrary to those commentators who reallocate portions of Job’s long speech in order to create a balanced and complete third cycle of dialogues, it is my opinion that the text makes sense—even more sense—in its present state.

The fact that Bildad’…