How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
The verse stands in the debate between Job and his three friends on the subject of his afflictions in chapters 4 to 31, made up of three circles of speeches on the part of each, which is the second of the four parts of the book, distinct from the prose prologue in chapters 1 and 2, the prose epilogue in chapter 42:7-17, the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37, and the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. Within that debate it belongs to Job 8-10 and to the section Job 8-27 in which Job gives his replies to the constant accusations, implied and otherwise, of his friends, a section that ends with his friends ceasing to trouble him and stops in the middle of Job's last reply. The book presents the great problems of overruling providence and of sin and suffering, in which God is disciplining Job through the fire of affliction while his three friends charge him with sin and declare his sufferings are because of sin, teaching not to misjudge fellow sufferers in the same way.
The verse belongs to the arguments about the cause and purpose of human suffering. It is part of Job's struggle to understand God's dealings with him while knowing his own integrity. It expresses Job's sense that he could not answer God or choose out words to reason his case before Him, because God's greatness made such a defense seem beyond him.
The verse stands in the debate between Job and his three friends on the subject of his afflictions in chapters 4 to 31, made up of three circles of speeches on the part of each, which is the second of the four parts of the book, distinct from the prose prologue in chapters 1 and 2, the prose epilogue in chapter 42:7-17, the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37, and the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. Within that debate it belongs to Job 8-10 and to the section Job 8-27 in which Job gives his replies to the constant accusations, implied and otherwise, of his friends, a section that ends with his friends ceasing to trouble him and stops in the middle of Job's last reply. The book presents the great problems of overruling providence and of sin and suffering, in which God is disciplining Job through the fire of affliction while his three friends charge him with sin and declare his sufferings are because of sin, teaching not to misjudge fellow sufferers in the same way.
The verse belongs to the arguments about the cause and purpose of human suffering. It is part of Job's struggle to understand God's dealings with him while knowing his own integrity. It expresses Job's sense that he could not answer God or choose out words to reason his case before Him, because God's greatness made such a defense seem beyond him.