Job is struck by a mysterious and painful disease that is too vague to diagnose. The wisdom tradition of the Bible recognizes and praises the wise woman (Prov 31:10-31), but Job’s wife only offers unsuitable advice. Nevertheless, Job resists the temptation to speak foolishly: “Despite everything, Job did not sin with his lips” (10). Three friends hear of Job’s condition and, moved by compassion, travel from their distant lands—we cannot identify them exactly—and set out to comfort him. When they arrive and see Job’s suffering, they too cry out in lament and sit silently in the dust beside him. And so ends the prologue. The scene is set: Job sits in the dust, while God watches from heaven with focus. The stakes are high: What will Job say? The audience—God, his friends, and we, the readers—wait with bated breath.