Old/New Testament

Job’s Faithfulness

1 There once was a man in the land of Uz^[a] named Job. The man was blameless as well as upright. He feared God and kept away from evil. ² Seven sons and three daughters had been born to him. ³ His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams^[b] of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man’s stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East. ⁴ His sons used to travel to each other’s houses in turn on a regular schedule and hold festivals, inviting their three sisters to celebrate^[c] with them.

⁵ When their time of feasting had concluded, Job would rise early in the morning to send for them^[d] and consecrate them to God.^[e] He would offer a burnt offering for each one,^[f] because Job thought, “Perhaps my children sinned by cursing God in their hearts.” Job did this time and again.^[g]

Satan’s First Attack on Job

⁶ One day, divine beings^[h] presented themselves to the Lord, and Satan^[i] accompanied them. ⁷ The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

In response, Satan answered the Lord, “From wandering all over the earth and walking back and forth throughout it.”

⁸ Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you considered^[j] my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. The man is blameless as well as upright. He fears God and keeps away from evil.”

⁹ But in response, Satan asked the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Haven’t you surrounded him with a fence on all sides, around his house, and around all that he owns? You have blessed everything he puts his hands on and you have increased his livestock in the land. ¹¹ However, stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face.”

¹² Then the Lord told Satan, “Very well then, everything he owns is under your control,^[k] only you may not extend your hand against him.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

¹³ Some time later, when his children^[l] were celebrating^[m] in their oldest^[n] brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger approached Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing nearby ¹⁵ when the Sabeans attacked, captured the servants, and killed them with swords. I alone escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶ While this messenger^[o] was still speaking, another^[p] came and announced, “A lightning storm struck^[q] and incinerated the flock and the servants while they were eating. I alone escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷ While this messenger^[r] was still speaking, another^[s] came and announced, “The Chaldeans formed three companies, raided the camels, captured the servants, and killed them with swords. Only I alone escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸ While this messenger^[t] was still speaking, another^[u] came and announced, “Your children were celebrating^[v] in their oldest^[w] brother’s house ¹⁹ when a strong wind came straight out of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people, and they died. I alone escaped to tell you!”

Job Blesses God Despite the Catastrophe

²⁰ Then Job stood up, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, bowed very low, ²¹ and exclaimed:

²² Job neither sinned nor charged God with wrongdoing in all of this.

Satan’s Second Attack on Job

2 Some time later, divine beings again^[x] presented themselves to the Lord, and Satan accompanied them to present himself to the Lord. ² The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

In response, Satan told the Lord, “From wandering all over the earth and walking back and forth throughout it.”

³ The Lord asked Satan, “Have you considered^[y] my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. The man is blameless as well as upright. He fears God and keeps away from evil. He remains firm in his integrity, even though you have been urging me to overwhelm him without cause.”

⁴ Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! The man will give up everything that he owns in exchange for his health.^{[z] 5} However, stretch out your hand^[aa] and strike his bones and flesh, and he’ll curse you to your face, won’t he?”

⁶ Then the Lord told Satan, “Very well then, he is under your control.^[ab] Just preserve his life.”^[ac]

⁷ So Satan left the Lord’s presence and struck Job with terrible boils from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. ⁸ Job^[ad] took a broken piece of pottery to scrape himself while sitting among the ashes.

Job Refuses to Curse God

⁹ Then his wife told him, “Do you remain firm in your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰ But he replied to her, “You’re talking like foolish women do. Are we to accept^[ae] what is good from God but not tragedy?”

Throughout all of this, Job did not sin by what he said.^[af]

Job’s Friends Visit

¹¹ When Job’s three friends heard all these tragedies that happened to him, they each traveled from their home towns^[ag] to visit him. Eliphaz came from Teman,^[ah] Bildad came from Shuah,^[ai] and Zophar came from Naamath.^[aj] They met together and went to console and comfort him. ¹² Observing him from a distance, at first they didn’t even recognize him, so they raised their voices and burst into tears. They each ripped their robes, threw ashes into the air on their heads, ¹³ and sat with Job^[ak] on the ground for a full week^[al] without saying a word, since they could see the great extent of his anguish.

²² So Moses learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man, both in words and in deeds.

²³ “When he was 40 years old, he decided^[a] to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him^[b] and avenged the man who was being mistreated by killing the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. ²⁶ The next day, he presented himself to some of them while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why should you be hurting another?’

²⁷ “But the man who was harming his neighbor pushed Moses^[c] away and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ You don’t want to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’^{[d] 29} Because of this, Moses fled and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.

³⁰ “After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached the bush^[e] to look at it, the voice of the Lord said,^{[f] 32} ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’^[g] Moses became terrified and didn’t dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord told him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I’ve heard their groans, and I’ve come down to rescue them. Now come, I’ll send you to Egypt.’^[h]

³⁵ “This same Moses—whom they rejected by saying, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’^[i]—was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for 40 years. ³⁷ It was this Moses who told the Israelis, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own brothers, just as he did^[j] me.’^{[k] 38} This Moses^[l] is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and to our ancestors. He received living truths to give to us,^{[m] 39} but our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and wished to return to Egypt. ⁴⁰ They told Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us. This Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we don’t know what happened to him!’^[n]

⁴¹ “At that time they even made a calf to be their idol, offered a sacrifice to it, and delighted in what they had made with their hands. ⁴² So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the heavenly bodies. As it is written in the book of the Prophets: