Old/New Testament
Job was a good man
1 There was a man who lived in a place called Uz. His name was Job. He was a good and honest man. He was afraid to make God angry. He refused to do evil things. 2 Job had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels. He had 500 pairs of oxen and 500 donkeys. He also had many servants. He was the richest person in the east part of the world.
4 Each of Job's sons would give parties for each other in their homes. They sent messages to their three sisters to come and eat the feast with them. 5 After each party, Job would ask his children to come and visit him. He wanted to make them clean again if they were guilty of bad things. He thought, ‘Perhaps they have done something that is bad. Perhaps they have thought bad things against God.’ So he would get up early in the morning. He would offer a burnt offering as a sacrifice for each of his children. Job always did this after each party that his children had.
Satan meets with God
6 One day, the angels came to meet with the Lord in heaven.[a] Satan also came and he stood there with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan replied, ‘I have been travelling all over the earth. I have been watching the things that happen there.’
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘You have seen Job, who is my servant. What do you think about him? There is no one on earth that is like him. He is a good and honest man. He is afraid to make me angry. He refuses to do evil things.’
9 Satan answered the Lord, ‘There is a very good reason why Job obeys you. 10 You do not let any bad things happen to him. You keep him, his family and all his things safe. You have given him success with everything that he does. His many farm animals are everywhere! 11 You should take away from him all the things that he has. Then he will certainly curse you very strongly.’
12 So the Lord said to Satan, ‘I agree to give you power over all the things that belong to Job. But you must do nothing to hurt Job himself.’
After that, Satan went away.[b]
Satan destroys all Job's things
13 One day, Job's sons and daughters were at a party in the home of his oldest son. 14 A servant brought a message to Job. He said, ‘We were using your oxen to plough the fields. Your donkeys were eating grass beside them. 15 Some men from Sheba suddenly came and they attacked us. They took away all your oxen and your donkeys. They also killed all your other servants. I was the only one who escaped. I ran here to tell you what has happened.’
16 That servant was still speaking, when another servant arrived. He said to Job, ‘God has sent lightning down from the sky. It has killed your sheep and your servants. I was the only one who escaped. I ran here to tell you what has happened.’
17 Before that servant had finished speaking, a third servant arrived. He said to Job, ‘Some robbers from Chaldea suddenly attacked us. They took away all your camels and they killed your servants. I was the only one who escaped. I ran here to tell you what has happened.’
18 That servant was still speaking, when a fourth servant arrived. He said to Job, ‘Your children were eating a feast at a party in the home of your oldest son. 19 Suddenly there was a strong storm that came from the desert. The wind destroyed the house where your children were. The house fell on them and it killed them. I was the only one who escaped. I ran here to tell you what has happened.’
20 When Job heard this news he was very upset. He tore his clothes and he cut off all his hair. Then he bent down low on the ground to worship God. 21 He said, ‘When I was born, I had nothing. When I die, I will take nothing with me. The Lord has given me all the things that I have. The Lord may choose to take those things away. I will continue to praise the name of the Lord!’
22 Even after all these things had happened, Job still did not do anything bad. He did not say that God had done something wrong to him.
Satan attacks Job's health
2 Another time, the angels came again to meet with the Lord. Satan also came with them to meet the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan replied, ‘I have been travelling all over the earth. I have been watching the things that happen there.’
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘You have seen Job, who is my servant. What do you think about him? There is no one on earth who is like him. He is a good and honest man. He is afraid to make me angry. He refuses to do evil things. Because of what you said, I allowed you to attack him. But he did not deserve that. He has continued to do what is right.’
4 Satan answered the Lord, ‘A man will always take care of his own body. He would do anything to save his own life. 5 So now cause Job to have great pain in his own body. Then he will certainly curse you very strongly.’
6 So the Lord said to Satan, ‘I agree to give you power over Job himself. But you must not cause his death.’
7 So Satan went away. He caused Job to have boils all over his body. They hurt him everywhere, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.
8 Job was very upset and he sat down among some ashes. He used a piece of a broken pot to remove the bad bits of skin.
9 His wife said to him, ‘You cannot continue to trust God! Instead, you should curse God and then die.’ 10 Job replied, ‘Do not talk like a fool! We take the good things that God gives us. So we should not be surprised if he sends us trouble as well.’
In all his trouble, Job never said any wrong things against God.
Job's friends come to help him
11 Three of Job's friends heard news about his trouble. One friend was called Eliphaz, who came from Teman. The second friend was called Bildad, who came from Shuah. The third friend was called Zophar, who came from Naamah. They came from their own homes to meet together. They wanted to show Job that they were sorry about his trouble. They went to visit him to comfort him.
12 When they could see Job from far away, they did not easily recognize him. They began to weep very loudly. They were so upset that they tore their clothes. They threw dust into the air and on their heads. 13 For a whole week, they sat on the ground near Job. They knew that his pain was very bad. So all that time, they did not say anything to him.
22 Moses had teachers who taught him all the wise things that the Egyptians knew. He learned how to speak well. He could also do powerful things.
23 When Moses was 40 years old, he went to see his own people, the people of Israel. 24 He saw that an Egyptian man was being cruel to one of the Israelite men. So he went to help the Israelite man. He killed the Egyptian man to punish him. 25 Moses thought that his own people would understand him. They would know that God was using him to save them. They would no longer be slaves to work for the Egyptians. But his people did not understand all this. 26 On the next day, Moses saw two Israelite men. They were fighting each other. He tried to make them become friends. He said to them, “Listen to me, men. You are both in the family of Israel. You should not hurt each other.”
27 The man who was being cruel to the other man pushed Moses away. He said to Moses, “You have no authority to rule us. You are not our judge. 28 I know that yesterday you killed an Egyptian man. So do you want to kill me too?”
29 When Moses heard this, he decided to run away. He went to the land of Midian and he lived there. He married a wife and they had two sons.
30 Moses lived in Midian for 40 years. Then, one day, he was in the wilderness near Sinai mountain. He saw a bush there that was burning. An angel appeared to him in the fire. 31 Moses was very surprised by what he saw. He went near to the bush so that he could see it better. Then he heard the Lord God speak to him from the bush. 32 God said, “I am the God of your ancestors. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Moses was very frightened. He was too afraid to look at the bush any more.
33 Then the Lord God said to Moses, “Remove your shoes from your feet, because you are standing in a very special place. This is my own place. 34 I have seen that the Egyptians are being cruel to my people. My people are crying with pain and I have heard them. Now I have come down to save them. So come here and listen to me. I will send you back to Egypt.” ’[a]
35 Then Stephen said, ‘Moses is the man that the people of Israel would not accept. They had said to him, “You have no authority to rule us. You are not our judge.” But God did send Moses to rule them. God himself sent Moses to save them from the Egyptians. God spoke to Moses through the angel that appeared to him in the bush. 36 So it was Moses who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He did some powerful things before the people left Egypt. This showed that God was with him. He did more miracles at the Red Sea. Then he led the people through the wilderness for 40 years. He also did more miracles there.[b]
37 It was Moses who said to the people of Israel, “God will send you a prophet. He will be one of your own people. He will speak God's message as I have done.” 38 This is the same Moses who was leader of our people in the wilderness. He was there with our ancestors when the angel spoke to him on Sinai mountain. He received the message from God to give to us. Those words from God bring life to us.
39 But our ancestors would not obey Moses. They did not accept him as their leader. They wanted to go back to Egypt. 40 So the people said to Aaron, “Please make us some gods that we can carry in front of us. Yes, that man Moses brought us out of Egypt. But now we do not know what has happened to him.”[c]
41 It was then that the people made something that would be an idol for them. They made it from gold with the shape of a young bull. They killed some animals and they burned them as a gift for their idol. The people then had a big meal together because they were very happy. They thought that they had made something that was very good.[d]
42 But God turned away from his people. He let them do what they wanted to do. He let them worship the stars in the sky.
One of God's prophets wrote about this long ago:
“God said, ‘People of Israel, listen!
When you were in the wilderness for 40 years,
you brought sacrifices and gifts to me.
But you did not really worship me when you did that.
43 No. You carried with you the idol of the god called Molech.
You also carried an idol with the shape of a star,
to be like your god, Rephan.
These were the idols which you worshipped in the wilderness.
So now I will send you away from your own country.
You will go to live in places beyond Babylon.’ ”[e]
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