Job 2

Satan tests Job again

1 The next time that the angels came to the LORD, Satan came with them. 2 The LORD asked Satan where he had been. Satan replied, ‘I have been going all over the earth.’

3 Then the LORD asked Satan, ‘You have seen Job, who is my servant. What do you think about him? There is no one on earth that is like him. He is a very good person. He is afraid to make me angry. He refuses to do things that are wrong. Job had not done anything wrong. But because of what you said I have been against him. And so he has lost everything for no reason. Even then, he did not change. He is still the same good man.’

4 Satan answered, ‘A man will only feel pain if he, himself, is hurting. A man will do anything to save his own life. 5 But if you cause Job to have great pain in his own body, it will be different. And then he will certainly let you know that he is cursing you.’

6 So the LORD agreed that Satan could cause Job pain. He could cause him as much pain as he wanted. But the LORD told Satan not to kill him. 7 So Satan left. And he caused Job to have very painful skin all over his body, from his head to his feet.

8 Then Job sat down among the ashes. He did this to show how sad he was. He sat there and removed bad bits of skin with a piece of a broken pot.

9 His wife said, ‘You cannot still believe that God is good. You should curse God and die.’ 10 Job replied, ‘Do not talk like a fool! We take the good things that God gives us. So we should not be surprised if he sends us trouble as well.’ Many bad things had happened to Job but he never said any wrong things about God.

Job’s friends come to try to help him

11 Three of Job’s friends heard about his troubles and so they decided to visit him. The first friend was called Eliphaz. He lived in a place called Teman. The second friend was called Bildad. He lived in a place called Shuah. The third friend was called Zophar. He lived in a place called Naamah. They came because they wanted to help Job. 12 When they came near enough to see Job, they did not recognise him. He looked so ill. They were so sad that they tore their clothes. Then they put ash on their heads and cried a lot. 13 For a whole week, they sat on the ground near Job. All that time, they knew how bad his pain was. So they did not say anything to him.