Job
Job’s Character and Wealth
1 There was a man in the land of aUz whose name was Job, and that man was bblameless and cupright, one who dfeared God and eturned away from evil. 2 There were born to him fseven sons and three daughters. 3 gHe possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer hburnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and icursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
Satan Allowed to Test Job
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and jSatan2 also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, k“From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, l“Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? mYou have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But nstretch out your hand and otouch all that he has, and he will pcurse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” qSo Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Satan Takes Job’s Property and Children
13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the rSabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God sfell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, t“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose and utore his robe and vshaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, w“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; xblessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 yIn all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Satan Attacks Job’s Health
2 zAgain there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, aa blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his bintegrity, although you cincited me against him to destroy him dwithout reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! eAll that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But fstretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
7 gSo Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he hsat in the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? iCurse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the jfoolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 kIn all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job’s Three Friends
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, lEliphaz the Temanite, mBildad the Shuhite, and nZophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to oshow him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and pthey tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground qseven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Job Laments His Birth
3 After this Job opened his mouth and rcursed sthe day of his birth. 2 And Job said:
3 t“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
5 Let ugloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to vrouse up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it whope for light, but have none,
nor see the xeyelids of the morning,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 yFor then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not as a hidden zstillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the abitter in soul,
21 who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has bhedged in?
24 For my sighing comes cinstead of1 my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
dI have no rest, but trouble comes.”
Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, you have einstructed many,
and fyou have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 gIs not your fear of God1 your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember: hwho that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, ithose who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
jthe teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received the whisper of it.
13 kAmid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
14 dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17 l‘Can mortal man be in the right before2 God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants he mputs no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 nhow much more those who dwell in ohouses of clay,
whose foundation is in the pdust,
who are crushed like3 the moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they qperish forever without anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their rtent-cord plucked up within them,
do they not die, and that without wisdom?’
5 “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 sI have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
4 His children are tfar from safety;
they are ucrushed in the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat his harvest,
and he takes it even out of thorns,1
and the thirsty pant2 after his3 wealth.
6 For vaffliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
7 but man is wborn to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.
8 “As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
9 who does great things and xunsearchable,
marvelous things without number:
10 yhe gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11 zhe sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 aHe frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 bHe catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime
and cgrope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he dsaves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and einjustice shuts her mouth.
17 “Behold, fblessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore gdespise not the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For hhe wounds, but he binds up;
he shatters, but his hands heal.
19 He will deliver you from isix troubles;
in seven no evil4 shall touch you.
20 jIn famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and kshall not fear the beasts of the earth.
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 You shall know that your tent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25 You shall know also that your offspring shall be many,
and your descendants las the grass of the earth.
26 mYou shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
27 Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for your good.”5
