Job 2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 2
Have You Paid Any Notice to My Servant Job?[a] 1 On another occasion the sons of God came forward to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan accompanied them. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “I have been roaming the earth and going back and forth in it.”
3 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you paid any notice to my servant Job? You will not find anyone like him on the entire earth. He is a good and righteous man who fears God and shuns evil. He still maintains his integrity, even though you incited me to ruin him without the slightest justification.”
4 Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin![b] A man will surrender everything he has to save his own life. 5 But now if you stretch forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, he will curse you to your face.” 6 The Lord said to Satan, “He is in your power, but you must spare his life.”
Job Did Not Utter a Single Sinful Word.[c] 7 Therefore, when Satan left the Lord’s presence, he afflicted Job with malignant sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Job took a potsherd to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.[d]
9 Then his wife said to him, “When will you give up persisting in your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. If we accept good things from God, should we not be willing to accept sorrows as well?” In all this, Job did not utter a single sinful word.
11 The Three Friends.[e] When three of Job’s friends heard of all the misfortunes that he had endured, each of them set out from his own home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. After they gathered together, they went forth to console and comfort him.[f]
12 However, when they first saw Job from a distance, they could hardly recognize him, and they wept aloud, tore their cloaks, and threw dust into the air over their heads. 13 Then they sat there with him upon the ground for seven days and seven nights. None of them spoke a word to him, for they could clearly see how greatly he was suffering.
Footnotes
- Job 2:1 Human beings are great before God when they patiently accept trials, but it is when suffering touches their very lives that they give the final proof of their fidelity.
- Job 2:4 Skin for skin: a proverbial expression that probably originated in the willingness to barter one animal skin for another. Here it means that Job is bearing his suffering with patience solely to avoid more severe suffering and to gain more favors from God.
- Job 2:7 Afflicted with a kind of leprosy, the sick man goes to live away from inhabited places atop a pile of dusty refuse that had accumulated over the years at the entrance to the city. The intervention of his wife in the guise of a temptress (see Gen 3:6-12; Jdg 16:4ff; Tob 2:14) puts the finishing touch to the trial of Job. His faith becomes even more heroic.
- Job 2:8 Sitting among ashes was a sign of mourning.
- Job 2:11 In the presence of Job, disfigured by suffering, his friends make use of rites of penitence and sorrow in common use: loud weeping, tearing of cloaks, throwing dirt over one’s head, and long silent prostration (see Gen 50:10; Jos 7:6; 2 Sam 1:2, 11; 3:31).
- Job 2:11 Teman, Shuh, and Naamath were in Arabia, a land noted at that time for its wise men (see Prov 30:1; Jer 49:7; Ob 8-9; Bar 3:22f).
约伯记 2
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
約伯第二次受試煉
2 又有一天， 神的眾子都來侍立在耶和華面前，撒但也來到他們中間，侍立在耶和華面前。 2 耶和華問撒但：“你從哪裡來？”撒但回答說：“我在地上徘徊，走來走去。” 3 耶和華問撒但：“你有沒有注意到我的僕人約伯？世上再也沒有一個人像他那樣完全、正直，敬畏 神，遠離罪惡。雖然你挑撥我與他作對，無緣無故使他傾家蕩產，他還是堅守自己的純全。” 4 撒但回答耶和華說：“人以皮換皮，寧可付出他所有的一切去保命。 5 只要你伸手傷害他的骨和肉，他一定當面褻瀆你。” 6 耶和華對撒但說：“好吧，他在你手中，不過，要留存他的命。” 7 於是撒但從耶和華面前退去，擊打約伯，使他從腳掌到頭頂都生了毒瘡。 8 約伯坐在灰燼中，拿瓦片刮自己。 9 他妻子對他說：“難道你還要堅守自己的純全嗎？你不如放棄 神，死掉算了。” 10 可是約伯對她說：“你說話像個愚妄的女人。難道我們從 神得福，也不應當受禍嗎？”在這一切事上，約伯並沒有用口犯罪。
三友的慰問
11 約伯的三個朋友，提幔人以利法、書亞人比勒達、拿瑪人瑣法，聽到這一切降在他身上的災禍，就各從自己的地方出發，相約而來對他表同情，安慰他。 12 他們從遠處舉目觀望，竟認不出他來，就放聲大哭，各自撕裂外袍，向天揚起塵土，落在自己頭上。 13 他們就七天七夜與他一起坐在地上，沒有人向他說一句話，因為他們看出他極其痛苦。
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
