Job 2

The Adversary’s Attack on Job’s Person

1 ⌞And then⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “And it came to be,” or “and it happened”} one day the sons of God ^{▼▼Or “the heavenly beings,” or “the angels”} came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} also came into their midst to present himself before Yahweh. 2 So ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Yahweh ⌞asked⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “said to”} Satan, ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} “From where have you come?”

And Satan ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} answered Yahweh and said, “From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it.”

3 So ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Yahweh ⌞asked⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “said to”} Satan, ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} “Have you ⌞considered⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “set your heart”} my servant Job? Indeed, ^{▼▼Or “For” or “Because”} there is no one like him on the earth—a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. And still he persists in his blamelessness ⌞even though⌟ ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} you incited me against him to destroy him for nothing.”

4 Then ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Satan ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} answered him and said, “Skin for skin! All that ⌞that⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “the”} man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out ^{▼▼Or “please”} your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see ⌞whether⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “if not”} he will ⌞curse⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “bless”—negative meaning by context} you to your face.” ^{▼▼Hebrew “your faces”}

6 So ^{▼▼Literally “And it happened the/one day”} Yahweh said to Satan, ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} “⌞All right⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “Look”} he is in your ⌞power⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “hand”} Only spare his life.”

Job’s Blameless Behavior

7 So ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Satan ^{▼▼Hebrew “the accuser,” or “the adversary”} went out from ⌞Yahweh’s presence⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “the faces of Yahweh”} and he inflicted Job with loathsome skin sores from the sole of his foot up to the crown of his head. 8 ⌞So⌟ ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and he sat in the midst of the ashes.

9 Then ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} his wife said to him, “Are you still persisting in your blamelessness? ⌞Curse⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “Bless”—negative meaning by context} God and die.”

10 So ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} he said to her, “You speak like one of the foolish women speaks. Indeed, should we receive the good from God, but ^{▼▼Or “and”} not receive the evil?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

11 Thus ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Job’s three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} each set out from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met ^{▼▼Or “they agreed”} together to come to console him and to comfort him.

12 Thus ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} they lifted up their eyes ^{▼▼Or “they gazed”} from afar, but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} they did not recognize him, so ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment ^{▼▼Or “robe”} and threw dust on their heads ⌞toward the sky⌟. ^{▼▼Or “in the air”; literally “to the heavens”} 13 Then ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} no one spoke ^{▼▼Or “there was no speaking”} a word to him because they saw that ⌞his⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “the”} suffering was very great.