Prologue

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state.

The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know.

Yet if there is an angel at their side, a messenger, one out of a thousand, sent to tell them how to be upright,