Job 2

2On another day the angels^az came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them^a to present himself before him. ²And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”^b

³Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.^c And he still maintains his integrity,^d though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”^e

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has^f for his own life. ⁵But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones,^g and he will surely curse you to your face.”^h

⁶The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands;ⁱ but you must spare his life.”^j

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.^{k 8}Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.^l

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity?^m Curse God and die!”ⁿ

¹⁰He replied, “You are talking like a foolish^b woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”^o

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.^p

¹¹When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite,^q Bildad the Shuhite^r and Zophar the Naamathite,^s heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.^{t 12}When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him;^u they began to weep aloud,^v and they tore their robes^w and sprinkled dust on their heads.^{x 13}Then they sat on the ground^y with him for seven days and seven nights.^z No one said a word to him,^a because they saw how great his suffering was.