Job 1–3

JOB AND HIS FAMILY

1There was a man in the country of Uz^a named Job.^b He was a man of complete integrity,^c who feared God and turned away from evil.^{d 2}He had seven sons and three daughters.^{e 3}His estate included seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys,^f and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.^g

⁴His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for^A all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.”^h This was Job’s regular practice.

SATAN’S FIRST TEST OF JOB

⁶One day the sons of Godⁱ came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan^B also came with them. ⁷The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,”^j Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

⁸Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity,^k who fears God and turns away from evil.”^l

⁹Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰Haven’t you placed a hedge around^m him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹But stretch out your hand and strikeⁿ everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

¹²“Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, do not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

¹³One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴a messenger came to Job and reported, “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby, ¹⁵the Sabeans^o swooped down and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported, “God’s fire fell from heaven.^p It burned the sheep and the servants and devoured them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷That messenger was still speaking when yet another came and reported, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, made a raid on the camels, and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. ¹⁹Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

²⁰Then Job stood up, tore^q his robe, and shaved^r his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, ²¹saying:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,^s

and naked I will leave this life.^t

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.^u

²²Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.^Bv

SATAN’S SECOND TEST OF JOB

2One day the sons of God^w came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord. ²The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

³Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity,^a who fears God and turns away from evil.^b He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the Lord. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life. ⁵But stretch out your hand and strike^c his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶“Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.” ⁷So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.^{d 8}Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.^e

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.^C

JOB’S THREE FRIENDS

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite,^f Bildad the Shuhite,^g and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort^h him. ¹²When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud,ⁱ and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.^{j 13}Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights,^k but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering^l was very intense.

JOB’S OPENING SPEECH

3After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. ²He said:

³May the day I was born perish,

and the night that said,

“A boy is conceived.”^m

⁴If only that day had turned to darkness!

May God above not care about it,

or light shine on it.

⁵May darkness and gloomⁿ reclaim it,

and a cloud settle over it.

May what darkens the day terrify it.

⁶If only darkness had taken that night away!

May it not appear^A among the days of the year

or be listed in the calendar.^B

⁷Yes, may that night be barren;

may no joyful shout^o be heard in it.

⁸Let those who curse days

condemn^p it,

those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.^q

⁹May its morning stars grow dark.

May it wait for daylight but have none;

may it not see the breaking^C of dawn.

¹⁰For that night did not shut

the doors of my mother’s womb,

and hide sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹Why was I not stillborn;

why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?^r

¹²Why did the knees receive me,

and why were there breasts for me to nurse?^s

¹³Now I would certainly be lying down in peace;

I would be asleep.^t

Then I would be at rest^u

¹⁴with the kings and counselors^v of the earth,

who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold,

who filled their houses^w with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child,^x

like infants who never see daylight?

¹⁷There the wicked^y cease to make trouble,

and there the weary find rest.

¹⁸The captives are completely at rest;^z

they do not hear a taskmaster’s voice.^aa

¹⁹Both small and great are there,

and the slave is set free from his master.^ab

²⁰Why is light given to one burdened with grief,

and life to those whose existence is bitter,^ac

²¹who wait for death,^ad but it does not come,

and search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²²who are filled with much joy

and are glad when they reach the grave?^a

²³Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden,^b

whom God has hedged in?

²⁴I sigh when food^c is put before me,^A

and my groans pour out like water.^d

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me,

and what I dreaded has happened to me.^e

²⁶I cannot relax or be calm;

I have no rest,^f for turmoil has come.