Job 2

Satan’s Second Test of Job

¹One day the sons of God ^a came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord. ²The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from? ”

“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

³Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, ^b who fears God and turns away from evil. ^c He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin! ” Satan answered the Lord. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life. ⁵But stretch out your hand and strike ^d his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶“Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.” ⁷So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. ^{e 8}Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes. ^f

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die! ”

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

Job’s Three Friends

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends #— #Eliphaz the Temanite, ^h Bildad the Shuhite, ⁱ and Zophar the Naamathite #— #heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort ^j him. ¹²When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, ^k and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head. ^{l 13}Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, ^m but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering ⁿ was very intense.