Single lesson
Job 15: Comparing the Voices in the Debate
Job 15:1–35
In Job 15, Eliphaz answers Job again. He claims Job’s own speech shows guilt, says Job is pushing aside reverence for God, and then describes what he believes happens to wicked people.
Before you teach
This passage is wisdom and dialogue. Eliphaz the Temanite replies to Job with accusations about Job’s words, questions Job’s claim to understanding, and appeals to what he says wise men have handed down. The whole chapter presents Eliphaz’s argument in his own speech.
Explain the central teaching of Job 15: Comparing the Voices in the Debate, using two details from the reading. Job 15 presents Eliphaz arguing that Job’s words reveal guilt and that suffering belongs to the wicked, but these claims are part of Eliphaz’s speech within the dialogue.
Welcome: Job 15: Comparing the Voices in the Debate
5 minIntroduce “Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God” and locate Job 15:1–35. Job 15 presents Eliphaz arguing that Job’s words reveal guilt and that suffering belongs to the wicked, but these claims are part of Eliphaz’s speech within the dialogue. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Job 15:1, Job 15:18, Job 15:35
Read and explain the passage
12 minEliphaz opens with sharp questions about speech. He asks whether a wise man should answer with “vain knowledge” and fill himself with the east wind. He says such talk is unprofitable and does no good. He also claims Job’s words weaken fear and devotion before God, and that Job’s own lips testify against him.
Before making a broader claim, Eliphaz says Job has turned his spirit against God and let such words come from his mouth. Then he asks how any person could be clean or righteous. If God puts no trust in his holy ones and even the heavens are not clean in his sight, Eliphaz argues that human corruption is even greater.
Eliphaz says he will declare what wise men have told. He describes the wicked as living with pain, terrors, darkness, hunger, distress, and fear. He says this happens because the wicked act proudly against God. His pictures include failing wealth, dried branches, fruit falling early, barren company, tents consumed by fire, and hearts preparing deceit.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Job 15:2, Job 15:3, Job 15:4, Job 15:6, Job 15:13, Job 15:14, Job 15:15, Job 15:16, Job 15:17, Job 15:18, Job 15:20, Job 15:21, Job 15:23, Job 15:24, Job 15:25, Job 15:29, Job 15:30, Job 15:33, Job 15:34, Job 15:35
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What does Eliphaz think Job’s words are doing wrong?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. Job 15 presents Eliphaz arguing that Job’s words reveal guilt and that suffering belongs to the wicked, but these claims are part of Eliphaz’s speech within the dialogue. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Job 15:2, Job 15:3, Job 15:4, Job 15:7, Job 15:8, Job 15:10, Job 15:18, Job 15:21, Job 15:23, Job 15:30, Job 15:33, Job 15:34, Job 15:35
Make and respond: Wisdom comparison cards
12 minWork on “Job 15: Comparing the Voices in the Debate: Wisdom comparison cards”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Job 15:1, Job 15:18, Job 15:35
Closing: return to Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God
3 minRevisit Job 15:1–35. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Job 15:1, Job 15:18, Job 15:35
Questions to explore
What does Eliphaz think Job’s words are doing wrong?
Look for Eliphaz’s claims that Job’s speech is empty, unhelpful, and damaging to fear and devotion before God.
Job 15:2, Job 15:3, Job 15:4
How does Eliphaz challenge the idea that Job has special wisdom?
Notice the questions about being firstborn, hearing God’s counsel, and the appeal to older men and inherited teaching.
Job 15:7, Job 15:8, Job 15:10, Job 15:18
Which pictures does Eliphaz use to describe the end of the wicked?
List the images in the passage, such as terror, darkness, failing branches, fallen fruit, barrenness, fire, and deceit.
Job 15:21, Job 15:23, Job 15:30, Job 15:33, Job 15:34, Job 15:35
Make, think or respond
Job 15: Comparing the Voices in the Debate: Wisdom comparison cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage commends”, “What it warns against”, “The reason or outcome stated”.
- Read Job 15:1–35. Use “Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Write a proposed everyday example beside one teaching. Label it as your example and explain which words in the text guided it.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Job 15: Comparing the Voices in the Debate connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Eliphaz: Job Does Not Fear God” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Job 15:1–35. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Job 15:1–35. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2 “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7 “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we don’t know? What do you understand which is not in us?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
13 that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
17 “I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare
18 (which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
19 to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):
20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer will come on him.
22 He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
26 he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers,
27 because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
28 He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.
29 He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue, neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
30 He will not depart out of darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his reward.
32 It will be accomplished before his time. His branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and will cast off his flower as the olive tree.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.