God, they argued, will not `' pervert justice»; (Job 8:3) he never will «cast away a perfect man,» nor «uphold the evildoers»; (Job 8:20) the wicked man, therefore, «travaileth with pain all his days,» (Job 15:20) terrors «
chase him
at his heels,» (Job 18:11) and any triumph he may have «is short»; (Job 20:5) the just God allows trouble to fall
exclusively on evil men, so that all trouble reveals the precedent wickedness of the sufferer, and to an afflicted person like Job the proper message is, «God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.»