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Prologue
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
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and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
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When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
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Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
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The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
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Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
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“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.
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Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
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Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
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Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.
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‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
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His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
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Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
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You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
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“What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention,
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When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
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Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man,
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You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.
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In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
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How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.
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“So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.
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But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
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If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.
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“Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
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All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.