In the Book of Job, Eliphaz begins the first discourse to Job. He is identified as Eliphaz the Temanite, one of the three friends who visit Job after his catastrophic losses and illness. His first speech occupies Job chapters 4 and 5, following Job’s opening lament in chapter 3.
Eliphaz speaks before Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. He also opens the second and third rounds of speeches, in chapters 15 and 22. His arguments reflect a traditional wisdom view: suffering is generally treated as evidence of wrongdoing, while the righteous are expected to receive protection or eventual restoration.
The story complicates Eliphaz’s confidence. Job insists that his suffering is not punishment for hidden sin, and the book’s ending says that Eliphaz and his companions did not speak rightly about God as Job did. Eliphaz is therefore important not because he gives the final explanation, but because his first speech launches the central debate about justice, suffering, and whether human beings can understand divine purposes.