Job, the Good Man

1 A man named Job lived in the land of Uz [^Ceast of Israel in Edom (present-day Jordan); Lam. 4:21]. He was an ·honest [innocent; blameless; Prov. 2:7, 21] and ·innocent [virtuous; Prov. 1:3] man; he ·honored [feared; respected] God [28:28; Prov. 1:7] and stayed away from evil [^Cthese terms are used to describe the wise in Proverbs]. ² Job had seven sons and three daughters [^Cindicating a large and complete family]. ³ He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys. He also had a large number of servants. He was the ·greatest [or richest] man among all the people of the East [^Cthe expected reward of wisdom].

⁴ Job’s sons took turns holding feasts [^Lon their day; ^Cperhaps birthday celebrations] in their homes and invited their sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ After a feast was over, Job would send and have them ·made clean [consecrated; made holy]. Early in the morning Job would offer a burnt offering [^Can atonement offering; Lev. 1:1–17] for each of them, because he thought, “My children may have sinned and ·cursed [^Lblessed; ^Ca euphemism for “cursed”] God in their hearts.” Job did this every time.

Satan Appears Before the Lord

⁶ One day the ·angels [^Lsons of God] came to ·show themselves [stand] before the Lord, and ·Satan [^Lthe Satan; ^Cmeans “the Accuser” or “the Adversary”; either the Devil or a member of God’s heavenly court] was with them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan [1:6] answered the Lord, “I have been ·wandering around [roaming] the earth, ·going back and forth in [patrolling] it.”

⁸ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed [considered; ^Lset your heart on] my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest and innocent man, honoring God and staying away from evil [1:1].”

⁹ But Satan [1:6] answered the Lord, “·Job honors God for a good reason [^LDoes Job honor/fear/respect God for no good reason?]. ¹⁰ ·You have [^LDon’t you…?] put a ·wall [hedge; ^Cto protect from danger] around him, his family, and everything he owns. You have blessed ·the things he has done [^Lall the works of his hands]. His flocks and herds ·are so large they almost cover [^Lburst forth on] the land. ¹¹ But ·reach out [stretch forth] your hand and ·destroy [afflict] everything he has, and [^Lsee if] he will curse you to your face.”

¹² The Lord said to Satan [1:6], “All right, then. Everything Job has is in your ·power [^Lhand], but ·you must not touch Job himself [^Lbut don’t send your hand against him].” Then Satan [1:6] left the Lord’s presence.

¹³ One day Job’s sons and daughters were ·eating and drinking wine [feasting; celebrating] together at the ·oldest [^Lfirstborn] brother’s house. ¹⁴ A messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were eating grass nearby, ¹⁵ when the Sabeans [^Ca people from southern Arabia] attacked and carried them away. They killed the servants with swords, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶ The messenger was still speaking when another messenger arrived and said, “·Lightning [^LFire] from God fell from ·the sky [heaven]. It burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷ The second messenger was still speaking when another messenger arrived and said, “The ·Babylonians [^LChaldeans; ^Ca people located in present-day southern Iraq] sent three ·groups of attackers [raiding parties] that swept down and stole your camels and killed the servants [^Lwith the sword]. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸ The third messenger was still speaking when another messenger arrived and said, “Your sons and daughters were ·eating and drinking wine [feasting; celebrating] together at the ·oldest [^Lfirstborn] brother’s house. ¹⁹ Suddenly a ·great [strong; mighty] wind came from the desert, hitting all four corners of the house at once. The house fell in on the young people, and they are all dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

²⁰ When Job heard this, he got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [^Cancient mourning customs]. Then he bowed down to the ground to worship God. ²¹ He said:

²² In all this Job did not sin or blame God.

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].

⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord said, and the Lord ·listened to [accepted] Job’s prayer.

¹⁰ After Job had ·prayed [interceded] for his friends, the Lord ·gave him success again [restored his fortunes]. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had owned before. ¹¹ Job’s brothers and sisters came to his house, along with everyone who had known him before, and they all ate with him there. They ·comforted him and made him feel better about the trouble [commiserated with him concerning the trouble/evil] the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave Job a piece of silver and a gold ring.

¹² The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than the first part. Job had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand teams of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. ¹³ Job also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ He named the first daughter Jemimah [^C“turtledove”], the second daughter Keziah [^C“cassia,” a spice], and the third daughter Keren-Happuch [^C“a horn (jar) of eye paint”]. ¹⁵ There were no other women in all the ·land [or earth] as beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father Job gave them land to own along with their brothers.

¹⁶ After this, Job lived one hundred forty years. He lived to see his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. ¹⁷ Then Job died; he was old and ·had lived many years [^Lfull of days].