Job 27:13

13. In chapters 21 and 24 Job had, in glowing terms, portrayed the prosperity of the wicked; he now (Job 27:13-23) guards his statement by conceding that wickedness is punished, though not uniformly. His argument before seemed to deny punishment in this present life. Now that he has silenced his adversaries he desires to leave the argument in a condition more satisfactory, lest the wicked be emboldened to sin without restraint. He employs against the friends the very terms they had used, gathering them up like so many weapons, which in their disastrous defeat they had left on the field, Job 20:29. Delitzsch suggests “that Job holds up the end of the evildoer before the friends that they may infer from it that he is not an evildoer, whereas the friends held it up before Job that he might infer from it that he is an evildoer.” A.B. Davidson and others regard “the passage in question as a kind of summary by Job of the views of the friends on providence, which views he characterizes as הבל , (Job 27:12,) “utter vanity,” and quite insufficient to explain the facts. Having run over these views (Job 27:13-23) he proceeds to controvert them.” Such an estimate is, however, erroneous, since Job distinctly declares (Job 27:11-12) his determination to set forth his own views. The speech stands forth in its rugged grandeur, self-declaratory of its Jobesque origin, and is in itself a refutation of those who would sacrilegiously ascribe it to the feeblest of the three, the passionate, parrot-like Zophar.

Portion… heritage The passage is taken almost verbatim from Zophar; Job 20:29.