Job 1

Job’s Character and Wealth

¹There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. ²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³He 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. ⁴His 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. ⁵And 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 burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.

Satan Allowed to Test Job

⁶Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. ⁷The 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." ⁸And the LORD said to Satan, "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?" ⁹Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? ¹⁰Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." ¹²And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

Satan Takes Job’s Property and Children

¹³Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴and there came a messenger to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you." ¹⁶While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." ¹⁷While 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." ¹⁸While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹and 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."

²⁰Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. ²¹And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

²² In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job 2

Satan Attacks Job’s Health

¹Again 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. ²And 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." ³And the LORD said to Satan, "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? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason." ⁴Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." ⁶And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

⁷So 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. ⁸And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

⁹Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." ¹⁰But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job’s Three Friends

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. ¹²And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. ¹³And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Job 3

Job Laments His Birth

¹After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²And Job said:
³ "Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
'A man is conceived.'
⁴Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
⁵Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶That 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.
⁷Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
⁸Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
⁹Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
¹⁰because 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?
¹²Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
¹³For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
¹⁵or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
¹⁶Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
¹⁹The 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 bitter in soul,
²¹who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
²²who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
²⁴For my sighing comes instead of 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.
²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes."

Job 4

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
²"If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
³Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
⁴Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
⁵But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
⁶ Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷"Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
⁸As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
⁹By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
¹⁰The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions are broken.
¹¹The 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.
¹³Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
¹⁴dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
¹⁵A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
¹⁶It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
¹⁷ 'Can mortal man be in the right before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
¹⁸Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
¹⁹how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth.
²⁰Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
²¹Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
do they not die, and that without wisdom?'