Job 1–3

1ST CHAPTER

Job’s Life

¹A man named Job lived in Uz. He was a man of integrity: He was decent, he feared God, and he stayed away from evil. ²He had seven sons and three daughters. ³He owned 7,000 sheep and goats, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants. He was the most influential person in the Middle East. 

⁴His sons used to go to each other’s homes, where they would have parties. (Each brother took his turn having a party.) They would send someone to invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 

⁵When they finished having their parties, Job would send for them in order to cleanse them from sin. He would get up early in the morning and sacrifice burnt offerings for each of them. Job thought, “My children may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job offered sacrifices for them all the time. 

Satan Challenges the Lord

⁶One day when the sons of God came to stand in front of the Lord, Satan the Accuser came along with them. 

⁷The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” 

Satan answered the Lord, “From wandering all over the earth.” 

⁸The Lord asked Satan, “Have you thought about my servant Job? No one in the world is like him! He is a man of integrity: He is decent, he fears God, and he stays away from evil.” 

⁹Satan answered the Lord, “Haven’t you given Job a reason to fear God? ¹⁰Haven’t you put a protective fence around him, his home, and everything he has? You have blessed everything he does. His cattle have spread out over the land. ¹¹But now stretch out your hand, and strike everything he has. I bet he’ll curse you to your face.” 

¹²The Lord told Satan, “Everything he has is in your power, but you must not lay a hand on him!” 

Then Satan left the Lord’s presence. 

Job’s First Crisis

¹³One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s home, ¹⁴a messenger came to Job. He said, “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, ¹⁵men from Sheba attacked. They took the livestock and massacred the servants. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.” 

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another ⸤messenger⸥ came and said, “A fire from God fell from heaven and completely burned your flocks and servants. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.” 

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another ⸤messenger⸥ came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid on the camels. They took the camels and massacred the servants. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.” 

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another ⸤messenger⸥ came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine at their oldest brother’s home ¹⁹when suddenly a great storm swept across the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on the young people, and they died. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.” 

²⁰Job stood up, tore his robe ⸤in grief⸥, and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped. ²¹He said, 

“Naked I came from my mother, 

and naked I will return. 

The Lord has given, 

and the Lord has taken away! 

May the name of the Lord be praised.” 

²²Through all this Job did not sin or blame God for doing anything wrong. 

2ND CHAPTER

Satan Challenges the Lord Again

¹One day when the sons of God came to stand in front of the Lord, Satan the Accuser came along with them. 

²The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” 

Satan answered the Lord, “From wandering all over the earth.” 

³The Lord asked Satan, “Have you thought about my servant Job? No one in the world is like him! He is a man of integrity: He is decent, he fears God, and he stays away from evil. And he still holds on to his principles. You’re trying to provoke me into ruining him for no reason.” 

⁴Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Certainly, a man will give everything he has for his life. ⁵But stretch out your hand, and strike his flesh and bones. I bet he’ll curse you to your face.” 

⁶The Lord told Satan, “He is in your power, but you must spare his life!” 

Job’s Second Crisis

⁷Satan left the Lord’s presence and struck Job with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. ⁸Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself as he sat in the ashes. 

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

¹⁰He said to her, “You’re talking like a godless fool. We accept the good that God gives us. Shouldn’t we also accept the bad?” 

Through all this Job’s lips did not utter one sinful word. 

¹¹When Job’s three friends heard about all the terrible things that had happened to him, each of them came from his home—Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, Zophar of Naama. They had agreed they would go together to sympathize with Job and comfort him. 

¹²When they saw him from a distance, they didn’t even recognize him. They cried out loud and wept, and each of them tore his own clothes in grief. They threw dust on their heads. ¹³Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw that he was in such great pain. 

3RD CHAPTER

Job Speaks:

Job Curses the Day He Was Born

¹After all this, Job ⸤finally⸥ opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. ²Job said, 

³“Scratch out the day I was born 

and the night that said, ‘A boy has been conceived!’ 

⁴“That day— 

let it be pitch-black. 

Let God above not ⸤even⸥ care about it. 

Let no light shine on it. 

⁵Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own. 

Let a dark cloud hang over it. 

Let the gloom terrify it. 

⁶“That night— 

let the blackness take it away. 

Let it not be included in the days of the year 

or be numbered among the months. 

⁷Let that night be empty. 

Let no joyful singing be heard in it. 

⁸Let those who curse the day^a

(those who know how to wake up Leviathan) 

curse that night. 

⁹Let its stars turn dark before dawn. 

Let it hope for light and receive none. 

Let it not see the first light of dawn 

¹⁰because it did not shut the doors of the womb ⸤from which I came⸥ 

or hide my eyes from trouble. 

Why Did I Survive at Birth?

¹¹“Why didn’t I die as soon as I was born 

and breathe my last breath when I came out of the womb? 

¹²Why did knees welcome me? 

Why did breasts let me nurse? 

¹³Instead of being alive, 

I would now be quietly lying down. 

I would now be sleeping peacefully. 

¹⁴I would be with the kings and the counselors of the world 

who built for themselves ⸤what are now⸥ ruins. 

¹⁵I would be with princes 

who had gold, 

who filled their homes with silver. 

¹⁶I would be buried like a stillborn baby. 

I would not exist. 

I would be like infants who never saw the light. 

¹⁷There the wicked stop their raging. 

There the weary are able to rest. 

¹⁸There the captives have no troubles at all. 

There they do not hear the shouting of the slave driver. 

¹⁹There ⸤you find⸥ both the unimportant and important people. 

There the slave is free from his master. 

Why Do I Go on Living?

²⁰“Why give light to one in misery 

and life to those who find it so bitter, 

²¹to those who long for death but it never comes— 

though they dig for it more than for buried treasure? 

²²They are ecstatic, 

delighted to find the grave. 

²³Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden, 

to those whom God has fenced in? 

²⁴“When my food is in front of me, I sigh. 

I pour out my groaning like water. 

²⁵What I fear most overtakes me. 

What I dread happens to me. 

²⁶I have no peace! 

I have no quiet! 

I have no rest! 

And trouble keeps coming!”