Job Loses His Health

2 ^(A)Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and ^[a]Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. ² The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” ³ The Lord said to Satan, “Have you ^[b]considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man ^[c]fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still ^(B)holds firm to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ^[d]ruin him without cause.” ⁴ Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life. ^5 (C)However, reach out with Your hand now, and ^(D)touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face!” ⁶ So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your ^[e]power, only spare his life.”

⁷ Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with ^(E)severe boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. ⁸ And Job took a piece of pottery to scrape himself while ^(F)he was sitting in the ashes.

⁹ Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die!” ¹⁰ But he said to her, “You are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. ^(G)Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” ^(H)Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

¹¹ Now when Job’s three friends heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, they came, each one from his own place—Eliphaz the ^(I)Temanite, Bildad the ^(J)Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to ^(K)sympathize with him and comfort him. ¹² When they ^[f]looked from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them ^(L)tore his robe, and they ^(M)threw dust over their heads toward the sky. ^13 (N)Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 ^(A)What shall we say then? Are we to ^(B)continue in sin so that grace may increase? ^2 [a](C)Far from it! How shall we who ^(D)died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been ^(E)baptized into ^(F)Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we have been ^(G)buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was ^(H)raised from the dead through the ^(I)glory of the Father, so we too may walk in ^(J)newness of life. ⁵ For ^(K)if we have become ^[b]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ^[c]in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our ^(L)old ^[d]self was ^(M)crucified with Him, in order that our ^(N)body of sin might be ^[e]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for ^(O)the one who has died is ^[f]freed from sin.

⁸ Now ^(P)if we have died with Christ, we believe that ^(Q)we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been ^(R)raised from the dead, ^[g]is never to die again; ^(S)death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For ^[h]the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but ^[i]the life that He lives, He lives to ^[j]God. ¹¹ So you too, consider yourselves to be ^(T)dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore sin is not to ^(U)reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on ^(V)presenting ^[k]the parts of your body to sin as ^[l]instruments of unrighteousness; but ^(W)present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and ^[m]your body’s parts as ^[n]instruments of righteousness for God. ¹⁴ For ^(X)sin shall not ^(Y)be master over you, for ^(Z)you are not under ^[o]the Law but ^(AA)under grace.

¹⁵ What then? ^(AB)Are we to sin because we are not under ^[p]the Law but under grace? ^[q](AC)Far from it! ¹⁶ Do you not ^(AD)know that the one to whom you present yourselves as ^(AE)slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of ^(AF)sin ^[r]resulting in death, or of obedience ^[s]resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(AG)thanks be to God that ^[t]though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that ^[u](AH)form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and after being ^(AI)freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. ^19 (AJ)I am speaking ^[v]in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^(AK)as you presented ^[w]the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ^[x]resulting in further lawlessness, so now present ^[y]your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, ^[z]resulting in sanctification.

²⁰ For ^(AL)when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what ^[aa](AM)benefit were you then ^[ab]deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is ^(AN)death. ²² But now having been ^(AO)freed from sin and ^(AP)enslaved to God, you ^[ac]derive your ^[ad](AQ)benefit, ^[ae]resulting in sanctification, and ^(AR)the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of ^(AS)sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is ^(AT)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.