Single lesson
Job 5: Comparing the Voices in the Debate
Job 5:1–27
In Job 5, Eliphaz continues speaking to Job. He contrasts the fate of the foolish with his own advice to seek God, then describes God’s power, justice and correction, ending with a strong claim that his words should be accepted.
Before you teach
This passage is part of wisdom and dialogue. Eliphaz addresses Job directly, asking who could answer him and then offering his understanding about trouble, God’s actions, and the value of God’s correction. These are Eliphaz’s words in this conversation, not a separate story of events.
Explain the central teaching of Job 5: Comparing the Voices in the Debate, using two details from the reading. Job 5 presents Eliphaz’s argument that people should seek God, because God rules over human trouble, overturns the crafty, helps the lowly, and corrects those he blesses.
Welcome: Job 5: Comparing the Voices in the Debate
5 minIntroduce “Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him” and locate Job 5:1–27. Job 5 presents Eliphaz’s argument that people should seek God, because God rules over human trouble, overturns the crafty, helps the lowly, and corrects those he blesses. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Job 5:1, Job 5:14, Job 5:27
Read and explain the passage
12 minEliphaz begins by asking who would answer and which “holy ones” Job could turn to. He then warns that resentment and jealousy destroy the foolish and simple. His example describes a foolish person seeming established, yet his household and produce are not secure. The point is not comfort, but a sharp warning about the end of folly.
Eliphaz praises God as the one who does unfathomable and countless marvellous things, including sending rain. He says God lifts up the lowly and gives safety to mourners. At the same time, God frustrates the crafty, exposes their plans, and saves the needy, so that the poor have hope and injustice is silenced.
Eliphaz says the person corrected by God is “happy” and should not despise the Almighty’s chastening. He describes God as one who wounds and binds up, injures and makes whole. He then lists repeated forms of rescue and peace, ending by insisting that this teaching has been examined and should be heard for good.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Job 5:1, Job 5:2, Job 5:3, Job 5:4, Job 5:5, Job 5:9, Job 5:10, Job 5:11, Job 5:12, Job 5:13, Job 5:14, Job 5:15, Job 5:16, Job 5:17, Job 5:18, Job 5:19, Job 5:20, Job 5:21, Job 5:22, Job 5:23, Job 5:24, Job 5:25, Job 5:26, Job 5:27
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What reason does Eliphaz give for saying he would seek God?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. Job 5 presents Eliphaz’s argument that people should seek God, because God rules over human trouble, overturns the crafty, helps the lowly, and corrects those he blesses. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Job 5:6, Job 5:7, Job 5:8, Job 5:11, Job 5:12, Job 5:13, Job 5:15, Job 5:16, Job 5:17, Job 5:18, Job 5:19, Job 5:20, Job 5:21, Job 5:22
Make and respond: Wisdom comparison cards
12 minWork on “Job 5: Comparing the Voices in the Debate: Wisdom comparison cards”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him” 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 5:1, Job 5:14, Job 5:27
Closing: return to Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him
3 minRevisit Job 5:1–27. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him 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 5:1, Job 5:14, Job 5:27
Questions to explore
What reason does Eliphaz give for saying he would seek God?
Look at how he connects human trouble in Job 5:6-7 with his response in Job 5:8.
Job 5:6, Job 5:7, Job 5:8
Which kinds of people does Eliphaz say God helps, and which kinds does he oppose?
Compare the lowly, mourners, needy and poor with the crafty, wise in their own craftiness, and cunning.
Job 5:11, Job 5:12, Job 5:13, Job 5:15, Job 5:16
How does Eliphaz describe God’s correction in both painful and hopeful terms?
Notice the paired statements about wounding and healing, then the many examples of deliverance that follow.
Job 5:17, Job 5:18, Job 5:19, Job 5:20, Job 5:21, Job 5:22
Make, think or respond
Job 5: 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 5:1–27. Use “Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him” 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 5: 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 Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Job 5:1–27. 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 5:1–27. 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 5
1 “Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
5 whose harvest the hungry eat up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.
6 For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
7 but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8 “But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
9 who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;
10 who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
11 so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.
12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
17 “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole.
19 He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil will touch you.
20 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.
21 You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine, neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
23 For you will be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field will be at peace with you.
24 You will know that your tent is in peace. You will visit your fold, and will miss nothing.
25 You will know also that your offspring will be great, your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
27 Behold, we have researched it. It is so. Hear it, and know it for your good.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.