Old/New Testament

Job, the Good Man

1 A man named Job lived in the land of Uz. He was an honest man and innocent of any wrong. He honored God and stayed away from evil. ² Job had seven sons and three daughters. ³ He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen and 500 female donkeys. And he had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

⁴ Job’s sons took turns holding feasts in their homes. And they invited their sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ After a feast was over, Job would send and have them made clean. Early in the morning Job would offer a burnt offering for each of them. He thought, “My children may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did this every time.

Satan Appears Before God

⁶ One day the angels came to show themselves before the Lord. Satan^[a] also came with them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “I have been wandering around the earth. I have been going back and forth in it.”

⁸ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest man and innocent of any wrong. He honors God and stays away from evil.”

⁹ But Satan answered God, “Job honors God for a good reason. ¹⁰ You have put a wall around him, his family and everything he owns. You have blessed the things he has done. So his flocks of sheep and herds of cattle are large. They almost cover the land. ¹¹ But reach out your hand and destroy everything he has. Then he will curse you to your face.”

¹² The Lord said to Satan, “All right, then. Everything Job has is in your power. But you must not touch Job himself.” Then Satan left the Lord’s presence.

¹³ One day Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine together. They were at the oldest brother’s house. ¹⁴ A messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing. And the donkeys were eating grass nearby. ¹⁵ And the Sabeans attacked and carried them away. They killed the servants with swords. And I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶ The messenger was still speaking when another messenger came in. He said, “Lightning from God fell from the sky. It burned up the sheep and the servants. And I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷ The second messenger was still speaking when another messenger came in. He said, “The Babylonians sent three groups of attackers. They swept down and stole your camels. They killed the servants. And I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸ The third messenger was still speaking when another messenger came in. He said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine together. They were at the oldest brother’s house. ¹⁹ Suddenly a great wind came in from the desert. It struck all four corners of the house at once. The house fell in on your sons and daughters. And they are all dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

²⁰ When Job heard this, he got up. To show how sad he was he tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he bowed down to the ground to worship God. ²¹ He said:

²² In all this Job did not sin. He did not blame God.

Satan Appears Before God Again

2 On another day the angels came to show themselves before the Lord. And Satan also came with them. ² The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “I have been wandering around the earth. I have been going back and forth in it.”

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest man, innocent of any wrong. He honors God and stays away from evil. You caused me to ruin him for no good reason. But he continues to be without blame.”

⁴ “One skin for another!” Satan answered. “A man will give all he has to save his own life. ⁵ But reach out your hand and destroy his own flesh and bones. Then he will curse you to your face.”

⁶ The Lord said to Satan, “All right, then. Job is in your power. But you must let him live.”

⁷ So Satan left the Lord’s presence. And he put painful sores all over Job’s body. They went from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. ⁸ Then Job took a piece of broken pottery. And he used it to scrape himself. He sat in ashes to show how upset he was.

⁹ Job’s wife said to him, “Are you still trying to stay innocent? You should just curse God and die!”

¹⁰ Job answered, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Should we take only good things from God and not trouble?” In all this Job did not sin in what he said.

Job’s Three Friends

¹¹ Now Job had three friends. They were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. These friends heard about the troubles that had happened to Job. So they agreed to meet and go see Job. They wanted to show him they were upset for him, too. And they wanted to comfort him. ¹² They saw Job from far away. But he looked so different they almost didn’t recognize him. They began to cry loudly. They tore their robes and put dirt on their heads to show how sad they were. ¹³ Then they sat on the ground with Job seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him. This was because they saw how much he was suffering.

²² The Egyptians taught Moses all the things they knew. He was a powerful man in the things he said and did.

²³ “When Moses was about 40 years old, he thought it would be good to visit his brothers, the people of Israel. ²⁴ Moses saw an Egyptian doing wrong to a Jew. So he defended the Jew and punished the Egyptian for hurting him. Moses killed the Egyptian. ²⁵ Moses thought that his fellow Jews would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand. ²⁶ The next day, Moses saw two Jewish men fighting. He tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why are you hurting each other?’ ²⁷ The man who was hurting the other man pushed Moses away. He said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? ²⁸ Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’^{[a] 29} When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt. He went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.

³⁰ “After 40 years Moses was in the desert near Mount Sinai. An angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw this, he was amazed. He went near to look closer at it. Moses heard the Lord’s voice. ³² The Lord said, ‘I am the God of your ancestors. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’^[b] Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look. ³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You are standing on holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries. I have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’^[c]

³⁵ “This Moses was the same man the Jews said they did not want. They had said to him, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’^[d] Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of an angel. This was the angel Moses saw in the burning bush. ³⁶ So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for 40 years. ³⁷ This is the same Moses that said to the Jewish people: ‘God will give you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people.’^{[e] 38} This is the same Moses who was with the gathering of the Jews in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.

³⁹ “But our fathers did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him. They wanted to go back to Egypt again. ⁴⁰ They said to Aaron, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.’^{[f] 41} So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it. The people were proud of what they had made with their own hands! ⁴² But God turned against them. He did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says,