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.
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 The Lord asked Satan, “What have you been doing?” “Traveling around on earth, going here and there,” Satan replied.
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 “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.”
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 everything to save 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 reach out and hurt his bones and his flesh, and he will definitely 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 So the Lord said to Satan, “Very well, you have the power to do whatever you want to him, but don't kill him.”
The LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only 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.
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 Job picked up a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself as he sat in ashes.
He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce 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.
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 didn’t 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.
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 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.
When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward 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.
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.
