His three friends did not try to calm him, or to cheer him with the hope that his woes would soon be at an end, nor did they bid him trust in God and seek help and strength from him. But they told him that he must have done some great wrong, else God would not have sent all these ills up-on him.
This did not please Job, and he spoke to them in great wrath, and they spoke back in the same style.
When they had talked in this way for some time, and had each of them said things they ought not to have said, they heard a voice speak to them out of a whirl-wind that swept by the place. It was the voice of God.
And the voice spoke to Job and told him of the great works that God had done; that it was he who made the earth, the sea, and the sky. He sends the rain on the field to make the grass grow and the flow-ers to spring up. He sends the cold and the heat, the frost and the snow, and the ice that stops the flow of the streams. He sends the clouds, and the roar and the flash that come from them when the storms rage. He made the horse that is so swift and strong, and has no fear in time of war, but will rush in-to the fight at the sound of the trump.
All this and more the voice spoke from the whirl-wind. And when God had told Job of all these great works, he asked him if he could do these things, or if he thought he was so wise that he could teach God what it was best to do.
Then Job saw what a sin it was to find fault with God. And he was full of shame, and said: My guilt is great; I spoke of that of which I knew naught, and I bow down in the dust be-fore thee.
God said to Job's three friends, I am wroth with you, for you did not speak in the right way to Job. Now, lest I pun-ish you, take sev-en young bulls and sev-en rams and burn them on the al-tar, and ask Job to pray for you, for him will I hear. So they did as the Lord told them, and Job prayed for them, and God for-gave them their sins.
In a short time Job was well once more. His pains all left him; and then his friends and all his folks came to see him and they had a good feast. And each man brought him a rich gift, and the Lord blest him more than he had done be-fore, and gave him twice as much wealth. He had great herds of sheep, and cam-els, and ox-en and ass-es, and large fields for them to roam in, and a host of men to care for them. So that he was a great man once more.
And God gave him ten chil-dren: sev-en boys and three girls. And when these girls grew up, there were no maids in all the land so fair as they in face and form. And Job had great peace of mind, and dwelt at his ease for long, long years; and when he died he was an old, old man.