Satan Appears Before the Lord Again

2 ·On another day [or One day] the ·angels [^Lthe sons of God] came to ·show themselves [^Lstand] before the Lord, and Satan [1:6] was with them again. ² The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “I have been ·wandering around [roaming] the earth, ·going back and forth in [patrolling] it.”

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job [1:8]? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest and innocent man, honoring God and staying away from evil [1:1]. You ·caused [or enticed] me to ·ruin [injure] him for no good reason, but he ·continues to be without blame [or maintains his innocence].”

⁴ “One skin for another [^LSkin for skin; ^Ca proverb meaning that people only react if they are affected directly]!” Satan [1:6] answered. “A man will give all he has to save his own life. ⁵ But reach out your hand and ·destroy [afflict; ^Ltouch] his bones and flesh, and he will ·curse [^Lbless; ^Ca euphemism for “curse”; 1:5] you to your face.”

⁶ The Lord said to Satan [1:6], “All right, then. Job is in your ·power [^Lhand], but you ·may not take [^Lmust preserve] his life.”

⁷ So Satan [1:6] left the Lord’s presence. He put ·painful sores [horrible boils] on Job’s body, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. ⁸ Job took a ·piece of broken [shard of] pottery to scrape himself, and he sat in ashes in misery.

⁹ Job’s wife said to him, “Why are you ·trying to stay innocent [maintaining your innocence]? Curse [2:5] God and die!”

¹⁰ Job answered, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Should we take only good things from God and not ·trouble [or evil]?” In spite of all this Job did not sin ·in what he said [^Lwith his lips].

Job’s Three Friends Come to Help

¹¹ Now Job had three friends: Eliphaz the Temanite [^Cfrom Tema, a town in Edom (1:1)], Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When these friends heard about Job’s troubles, they agreed to meet and visit him. They wanted to ·show their concern [mourn] and to comfort him. ¹² They ·saw Job [^Llifted their eyes] from far away, but he looked so different they almost didn’t recognize him. They began to cry loudly and tore their robes and put ·dirt [dust] on their heads [^Cancient mourning customs]. ¹³ Then they sat on the ground with Job seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw how much he was ·suffering [in pain].