5The book of Job is considered by many to be the crown jewel of biblical literature in its claim to speak about God. The word that defines the challenge for every reader of the book is ?struggle.? The struggle results from the fact that whatever Job's truth may be, he was neither the first nor the last to try to articulate it. In the midst of so many words in this world about God from writers within and outside the scriptural witness, this book offers a truly astonishing declaration about what it means to live in a world where order breaks down and chaos runs amok, where the innocent suffer and the wicked thrive, where cries for help go unanswered. This new commentary by biblical scholar Samuel Balentine leads readers on an in-depth and far-reaching look at the nature of the book of Jo & and the various attempts by the many who have sought to further explore Job's essential struggle.