Yet does he not stretch out his hand against a ruin? Or in his calamity, does he not cry out, expressing Job's complaint that God fails to extend compassion even to the utterly ruined, suggesting a moral norm—that even the most wretched should receive some mercy—that God violates. The stretching out of hand symbolizes assistance and compassion. The cry out in calamity suggests the ultimate plea. The question form suggests that Job appeals to an assumed principle: even the ruined should receive divine response. The verse establishes a moral expectation that Job believes God should honor.

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