Satan Attacks Job's Health

2 Again ^(A)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” ³ And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still ^(B)holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him ^(C)without reason.” ⁴ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵ But ^(D)stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will ^(E)curse you to your face.” ⁶ And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome ^(F)sores from ^(G)the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸ And he took ^(H)a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in ^(I)the ashes.

⁹ Then his wife said to him, “Do you still ^(J)hold fast your integrity? ^(K)Curse God and die.” ¹⁰ But he said to her, “You speak as one of the ^(L)foolish women would speak. ^(M)Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”^{[a] (N)}In all this Job did not ^(O)sin with his lips.

Job's Three Friends

¹¹ Now when Job's three ^(P)friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz ^(Q)the Temanite, Bildad ^(R)the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to ^(S)show him sympathy and comfort him. ¹² And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they ^(T)tore their robes and sprinkled ^(U)dust on their heads toward heaven. ¹³ And they sat with him on the ground ^(V)seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Job Laments His Birth

3 After this Job ^(W)opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ² And Job said:

The Testimony of John the Baptist

¹⁹ And this is the ^(A)testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ^(B)“Who are you?” ^20 (C)He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹ And they asked him, “What then? ^(D)Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you ^(E)the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said, “I am ^(F)the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight^[a] the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ They asked him, ^(G)“Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them, ^(H)“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷ even ^(I)he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Behold, the Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, ^(J)the Lamb of God, who ^(K)takes away the sin ^(L)of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ^(M)‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him, but ^(N)for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John ^(O)bore witness: ^(P)“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and ^(Q)it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but ^(R)he who sent me to baptize ^(S)with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, ^(T)this is he who baptizes ^(U)with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son^[b] of God.”