The wicked writhes in torment? Job Meets Macbeth

Job 15: 20

"But 'tis strange: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths; Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence."

Banquo, Macbeth (Act I, Scene III)

Shakespeare’s Macbeth meet Job today, as both texts offer ruminations on the wicked ways that power corrupts and injustice happens.

In this quote, right after the encounter with the three witches, Banquo warns that evil doesn’t always lie outright—it often deceives with partial truths, leading us toward destruction while we’re distracted by seemingly small, enticing gains.

This insight cuts to the heart of Shakespeare’s play: the seduction of ambition and the ease with which humans justify wrongdoing when guided by fear or desire.

This caution against the allure of evil parallels what’s happening in this chapter of Job, as Eliphaz’s argument confronts Job’s despair, with a stark vision of what it’s like to be a person who becomes wicked:

כׇּל־יְמֵי רָשָׁע הוּא מִתְחוֹלֵל וּמִסְפַּר שָׁנִים נִצְפְּנוּ לֶעָרִיץ׃

וַיִּשְׁכּוֹן  עָרִים נִכְחָדוֹת בָּתִּים לֹא־יֵשְׁבוּ לָמוֹ אֲשֶׁר הִתְעַתְּדוּ לְגַלִּים׃

The wicked people writhes in torment all their days;

Few years are reserved for the ruthless.

They dwell in cities doomed to ruin,

In houses that shall not be lived in,

That are destined to become heaps of rubble.

Job 15: 20, 28

Eliphaz’s claim is twofold: first, that the apparent success of the wicked is fleeting, destined to collapse under the weight of their moral corruption; and second, that even in their moments of triumph, such people live tortured lives, haunted by fear and paranoia. The parallels with Macbeth are striking. From the moment Macbeth succumbs to the witches’ temptation and murders King Duncan, he is plagued by guilt and paranoia, his victories turning into torment.

Yet, as both Banquo and Eliphaz suggest, the story of the wicked isn’t just about their downfall—it’s a warning to all of us. Evil often works through subtleties, tempting us with small, “honest trifles” that disguise their devastating consequences. Eliphaz’s vision and Banquo’s wisdom challenge us to examine our own lives: What compromises do we make in the name of ambition or fear? What justifications do we cling to for actions we know are wrong?

And yet, Eliphaz’s response, like Banquo’s warning, feels incomplete. Both grapple with the consequences of wickedness but leave unresolved the deeper question that haunts Job: why the good must suffer at all. The easy morality of the wicked being punished and the righteous rewarded doesn’t fully account for the complexities of human experience.

But the life lesson remains: evil corrodes from within, and we are called to resist its pull. As Macbeth himself reflects in his final moments:

"I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er."

This stark acknowledgment of how far one can fall warns us not to take even the first step into the “instruments of darkness.” If nothing else, it is a reminder of the profound consequences of every choice we make.

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