Job's Character and Wealth

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?

“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

“Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.

This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.

Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!

“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.

One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure,

The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them,

He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.