Job 1–3

1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.

2He had seven sons and three daughters,

3and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

4Job’s sons would take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

6One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.

7“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

8Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”

9Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

10Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

11But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

12“Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

13One day, while Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

14a messenger came and reported to Job: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,

15the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

16While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

17While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels, and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

18While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

19when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

20Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

21saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

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

1On another day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him.

2“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

3Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

4“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.

5But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

6“Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”

7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

8And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.

9Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

10“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

11Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.

12When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head.

13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

1After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2And this is what he said:

3“May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

4If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.

5May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

6If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year; may it never be entered in any of the months.

7Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.

8May it be cursed by those who curse the day — those prepared to rouse Leviathan.

9May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

10For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.

11Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?

12Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should be nursed?

13For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

14with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,

15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?

17There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.

18The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

19Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

20Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

21who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,

22who rejoice and greatly exult when they reach the grave?

23Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

24I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

25For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.

26I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”