Job 2:11-13·~1 min

Job’s Three Friends

When Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar hear of Job's trouble, they come together to sympathize and comfort him. Seeing him from afar, they scarcely recognize him, weep aloud, tear their robes, throw dust over their heads, and sit with him on the ground for seven days and nights without speaking because his suffering is so great.

N¹¹ow when Job’s three friends— Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite— heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him. ¹²When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head. ¹³Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

Section summaryThe chapter closes not with argument but with arrival and silence. Job's three friends come intending to comfort him, but the sight of his suffering is so severe that they weep, mourn, and sit beside him wordlessly for seven days.

Role in the chapterThis closing section introduces the companions who will soon speak at length, but it first presents them in shared grief. Before the debates begin, the book lets silence be their truest response.