Overview of the following three texts: 11:1–20; 20:1–29; 27:13–23 · Zophar’s words:All three friends share a core assumption about Job: he is guilty of sin. But beyond that, they do differ. In the first cycle, Eliphaz grants Job’s suffering as but a hiccup in a near perfect life. Bildad would have Job focus on the moral lesson of Job’s children: they are dead; Job is not. Job is therefore more pious than they but still has within him impurity, which he must address (Job 18). Zophar is straight to the point: sin—so much sin, in fact, that God has even forgotten some of it (11:6). Job must repent of his sin; he then will be restored (Job 11). The wicked have no profit in their endeavors and suffer an inescapable end (Job 20), which Zophar explores further in his third speech (27:13–23).

11:1–…