Job 2
1 On another day, the angels came again and gathered together in front of Yahweh, and Satan came too.
Then it was the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh. Satan also came with them to present himself before Yahweh.
2 Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan replied, “I have come from the earth, where I have been traveling back and forth, seeing what is happening.”
Yahweh said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, “From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it.”
3 Yahweh asked Satan, “Have you (noticed/thought about) my [faithful] servant Job? He is very godly/righteous [DOU], he greatly respects/reveres me, and he [always] avoids doing evil things. And he still acts in a very godly/righteous manner, even though you persuaded me to [let you] cause disastrous things to happen to him for no reason.”
Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, although you misled me against him, to destroy him without cause.”
4 Satan replied to Yahweh, “He praises you only because you bless him [IDM]. People will give up everything they have to save their own lives.
Satan answered Yahweh and said, “Skin for skin, indeed; a man will give all he has for his life.
5 But if you harm his body [MTY], he will surely curse you openly [IDM]!”
But stretch out your hand now and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he does not curse you to your face.”
6 Yahweh replied to Satan, “(All right/Okay), you may do to him whatever you want to do, but do not cause him to die.”
Yahweh said to Satan, “See, he is in your hand; it is only his life that you must spare.”
7 So Satan left, and he caused Job to be afflicted with very painful boils, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
Then Satan went away from the presence of Yahweh. He struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his feet to his head.
8 Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped the boils on his skin, and he sat in ashes [as people did when they were mourning for those who had died].
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat down in the middle of ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to (be loyal to/faithfully trust in) God? You should curse God, and then you will die.”
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die.”
10 But Job replied, “You talk like people who do not know God talk. (Should we accept only the good things that God [does for us]?/We should not accept only the good things that God [does for us].) [RHQ] We should also accept bad things.” So in spite of all these [things that happened to] Job, [he] did not say anything against God.
But he said to her, “You talk as a foolish woman talks. Should we receive the good from God and not receive the bad?” In all this matter, Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Among Job’s friends were Eliphaz from Teman [town], Bildad from Shuah [land] and Zophar from Naamah [land]. When they heard about all the terrible things that had happened to Job, they left their home areas and went together to Job to console/comfort him [DOU].
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, each of them came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They set a time to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
12 When they saw Job from a distance, they almost did not recognize him. They wailed loudly, they tore their robes, and they threw dust over their heads [to show how sorry they were because of what had happened to Job].
When they lifted up their eyes at a distance, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept; each tore his robe and threw dust into the air and upon his own head.
13 Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days. None of them said anything to Job, because they saw that he was suffering greatly, [and they did not think that anything that they said would lessen his pain].
Then they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
