What happensPermalink
Eliphaz begins gently, recalling how Job once strengthened the weak, but he says Job is dismayed when suffering now reaches him. He argues, from experience, that the innocent do not perish, while those who sow trouble reap it. He describes a vision declaring that no mortal can be righteous before God, since even angels are not wholly pure before Him.
Why it mattersPermalink
Eliphaz introduces the central theology of Job’s friends’ arguments, which they believe is a universal explanation for suffering: you reap what you sow. Job’s suffering has been shown to be “without reason,” but Eliphaz cannot imagine innocent suffering, so his comfort becomes accusation.
Key versePermalink
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.