Job 27

However, even though he feels God has treated him unfairly, Job does not abandon his faith in God. He swears that he will continue to speak honestly and oppose the false accusations of his three “friends.” “I will never admit you are in the right,” he tells them (verse 5); “I will never accuse myself falsely.”

One might wonder how Job could consider God unjust and yet keep hoping that God would justify him—vindicate him. It's easy to say that God is always “just”—that is, until something bad happens to us. Then we begin to think that either we are wrong or God is wrong. But Job knew that both those thoughts were incorrect: he knew that ultimately both he and God would be proven right. Job still didn't know the cause of his suffering—and on earth he never would—but he would continue to put his faith in God. Job, without realizing it, was looking forward to the day when God would come in the person of His Son and bear the punishment for man's sin; in doing this, God would show that He was both just and also the justifier—vindicator—of all who placed their faith in Him (see Romans 3:26).

7–10 Here Job refers to his three friends as enemies (verse 7). They have falsely accused him of being wicked, but in doing so they have proved themselves to be wicked. Therefore, they deserve to be punished like the wicked; they deserve to be cut off from God⁵⁶ (verse 8).

11–23 In these verses, Job vividly describes the fate of the wicked—something Job's friends had often talked about. Job, in a sense, is picturing the punishment his three friends deserve.⁵⁷