Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
The verse belongs to the long poetic colloquies between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31, which take up the cause and object of human suffering. Within those colloquies it is uttered by Eliphaz in his second speech, which presses fresh accusations against Job. That speech is answered in turn by Job's reply in which he protests his innocence and longs for death. The inspiration of the book secures that such words were truly spoken, not that all that was spoken is true, for what the friends declared was in general true yet was misapplied to Job's case. The verse is therefore to be read as part of the whole book, holding Job to have been a real man whose trial and patience bring comfort and hope to those who suffer.
The verse belongs to the long poetic colloquies between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31, which take up the cause and object of human suffering. Within those colloquies it is uttered by Eliphaz in his second speech, which presses fresh accusations against Job. That speech is answered in turn by Job's reply in which he protests his innocence and longs for death. The inspiration of the book secures that such words were truly spoken, not that all that was spoken is true, for what the friends declared was in general true yet was misapplied to Job's case. The verse is therefore to be read as part of the whole book, holding Job to have been a real man whose trial and patience bring comfort and hope to those who suffer.