< Job 2 >

1 On another day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him.
Again, on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
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.”
The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
3 Then 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.”
The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although 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.
Satan answered the LORD, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5 But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”
6 “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”
The LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
7 So 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.
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
8 And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.
He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
9 Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce 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.
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Now 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.
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
12 When 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.
When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
13 Then 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.
So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

< Job 2 >