2And then^a one day the sons of God^b came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan^c also came into their midst to present himself before Yahweh. ²So^d Yahweh asked^e Satan,^f “From where have you come?”

And Satan^g answered Yahweh and said, “From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it.”

³So^h Yahweh askedⁱ Satan,^j “Have you considered^k my servant Job? Indeed,^l there is no one like him on the earth—a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. And still he persists in his blamelessness even though^m you incited me against him to destroy him for nothing.”

⁴Thenⁿ Satan^o answered him and said, “Skin for skin! All that that^p man has he will give for his life. ⁵But stretch out^q your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see whether^r he will curse^s you to your face.”^t

⁶So^u Yahweh said to Satan,^v “All right,^w he is in your power.^x Only spare his life.”

Job’s Blameless Behavior

⁷So^y Satan^z went out from Yahweh’s presence,^a and he inflicted Job with loathsome skin sores from the sole of his foot up to the crown of his head. ⁸So^b he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and he sat in the midst of the ashes.

⁹Then^c his wife said to him, “Are you still persisting in your blamelessness? Curse^d God and die.”

¹⁰So^e he said to her, “You speak like one of the foolish women speaks. Indeed, should we receive the good from God, but^f not receive the evil?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

¹¹Thus^g Job’s three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So^h each set out from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they metⁱ together to come to console him and to comfort him.

¹²Thus^j they lifted up their eyes^k from afar, but^l they did not recognize him, so^m they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garmentⁿ and threw dust on their heads toward the sky.^o ¹³Then^p they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, but^q no one spoke^r a word to him because they saw that his^s suffering was very great.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

aLiterally “And it came to be,” or “and it happened”
bOr “the heavenly beings,” or “the angels”
cHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
dHebrew “And”
eLiterally “said to”
fHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
gHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
hHebrew “And”
iLiterally “said to”
jHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
kLiterally “set your heart”
lOr “For” or “Because”
mHebrew “and”
nHebrew “And”
oHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
pLiterally “the”
qOr “please”
rLiterally “if not”
sLiterally “bless”—negative meaning by context
tHebrew “your faces”
uLiterally “And it happened the/one day”
vHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
wLiterally “Look”
xLiterally “hand”
yHebrew “And”
zHebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”
aLiterally “the faces of Yahweh”
bHebrew “And”
cHebrew “And”
dLiterally “Bless”—negative meaning by context
eHebrew “And”
fOr “and”
gHebrew “And”
hHebrew “And”
iOr “they agreed”
jHebrew “And”
kOr “they gazed”
lHebrew “and”
mHebrew “and”
nOr “robe”
oOr “in the air”; literally “to the heavens”
pHebrew “And”
qHebrew “and”
rOr “there was no speaking”
sLiterally “the”