Job 2
1 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves to the Lord, and Satan came with them to present himself to the Lord.
But it happened that, on a certain day, when the sons of God had arrived and they stood before the Lord, Satan likewise arrived among them, and he stood in his sight.
2 The Lord asked Satan, “What have you been doing?” “Traveling around on earth, going here and there,” Satan replied.
So the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Answering, he said, “I have circled the land, and walked around in it.”
3 “Have you noticed my servant Job?” asked the Lord. “There's no one like him on earth, a man of integrity who does what is right, who respects God and avoids evil. And he has kept his integrity, even though you wanted me to harm him for no reason.”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you not considered my servant, Job, that there is no one like him in the land, a simple and honest man, fearing God and withdrawing from evil, and still retaining his innocence? Yet you have stirred me against him, so that I would afflict him to no purpose.”
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up everything to save his life.
Answering him, Satan said, “Skin for skin; and everything that a man has, he will give for his life.
5 But reach out and hurt his bones and his flesh, and he will definitely curse you to your face.”
Yet send your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and then you will see whether or not he blesses you to your face.”
6 So the Lord said to Satan, “Very well, you have the power to do whatever you want to him, but don't kill him.”
Therefore, the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but even so, spare his life.”
7 Then Satan left the Lord's presence and inflicted Job with horrible skin sores from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.
And so, Satan departed from the face of the Lord and he struck Job with a very serious ulcer from the sole of the foot all the way to the crown of his head.
8 Job picked up a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself as he sat in ashes.
So he took a shard of earthenware and scraped the discharge, while sitting on a heap of refuse.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
But his wife said to him, “Do you still continue in your simplicity? Bless God and die.”
10 But he told her, “You're talking just like any foolish woman would! Should we receive only good from God, and not evil?” Despite all this, Job said nothing sinful.
He said to her, “You have spoken like one of the foolish wives. If we accepted good things from the hand of God, why should we not accept bad things?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
11 When three of Job's friends heard of all the trouble that had happened to him, they each left their homes: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together and went to comfort and console him.
And so, three friends of Job, hearing about all the evil that had befallen him, arrived, each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had agreed to come together to visit and console him.
12 When they saw Job from a distance they hardly recognized him. They broke out into loud wailing, tore their robes, and threw dust into the air over their heads.
And when they had raised up their eyes from a distance, they did not recognize him, and, crying out, they wept, and, tearing their garments, they scattered dust over their heads into the sky.
13 They sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. None of them said anything to him because they saw how badly he was suffering.
And they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his sorrow was very great.
