Job 1:1--7:21

I. The Prologue (1:1-2:13)

Job’s Good Life

1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was pure and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 1:2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 1:3 His possessions included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. Thus he was the greatest of all the people in the east.

1:4 Now his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one in turn, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 1:5 When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice.

Satan’s Accusation of Job

1:6 Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord – and Satan also arrived among them. 1:7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 1:8 So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.”

1:9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? 1:10 Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land. 1:11 But extend your hand and strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!”

1:12 So the Lord said to Satan, “All right then, everything he has is in your power. Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Job’s Integrity in Adversity

1:13 Now the day came when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 1:14 and a messenger came to Job, saying, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing beside them, 1:15 and the Sabeans swooped down and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

1:16 While this one was still speaking, another messenger arrived and said, “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants – it has consumed them! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

1:17 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

1:18 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 1:19 and suddenly a great wind swept across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they died! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

1:20 Then Job got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head, and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground. 1:21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed!” 1:22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety.

Satan’s Additional Charge

2:1 Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. 2:2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 2:3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason.”

2:4 But Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life! 2:5 But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!”

2:6 So the Lord said to Satan, “All right, he is in your power; only preserve his life.”

Job’s Integrity in Suffering

2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. 2:8 Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.

2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” 2:10 But he replied, “You’re talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?” In all this Job did not sin by what he said.

The Visit of Job’s Friends

2:11 When Job’s three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country – Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him. 2:12 But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. 2:13 Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

II. Job’s Dialogue With His Friends
(3:1-27:33)

Job Regrets His Birth

3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. 3:2 Job spoke up and said:

3:3 “Let the day on which I was born perish,

and the night that said,

‘A man has been conceived!’

3:4 That day – let it be darkness;

let not God on high regard it,

nor let light shine on it!

3:5 Let darkness and the deepest

shadow claim it;

let a cloud settle on it;

let whatever blackens the day terrify it!

3:6 That night – let darkness seize it;

let it not be included among the days of the year;

let it not enter among the number of the months!

3:7 Indeed, let that night be barren;

let no shout of joy penetrate it!

3:8 Let those who curse the day curse it –

those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.

3:9 Let its morning stars be darkened;

let it wait for daylight but find none,

nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

3:10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb on me,

nor did it hide trouble from my eyes!

Job Wishes He Had Died at Birth

3:11 “Why did I not die at birth,

and why did I not expire

as I came out of the womb?

3:12 Why did the knees welcome me,

and why were there two breasts

that I might nurse at them?

3:13 For now I would be lying down

and would be quiet,

I would be asleep and then at peace

3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth

who built for themselves places now desolate,

3:15 or with princes who possessed gold,

who filled their palaces with silver.

3:16 Or why was I not buried

like a stillborn infant,

like infants who have never seen the light?

3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil,

and there the weary are at rest.

3:18 There the prisoners relax together;

they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

3:19 Small and great are there,

and the slave is free from his master.

Longing for Death

3:20 “Why does God give light to one who is in misery,

and life to those whose soul is bitter,

3:21 to those who wait for death that does not come,

and search for it

more than for hidden treasures,

3:22 who rejoice even to jubilation,

and are exultant when they find the grave?

3:23 Why is light given to a man

whose way is hidden,

and whom God has hedged in?

3:24 For my sighing comes in place of my food,

and my groanings flow forth like water.

3:25 For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me,

and what I feared has come upon me.

3:26 I have no ease, I have no quietness;

I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me.”

Eliphaz Begins to Speak

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

4:2 “If someone should attempt a word with you,

will you be impatient?

But who can refrain from speaking?

4:3 Look, you have instructed many;

you have strengthened feeble hands.

4:4 Your words have supported those

who stumbled,

and you have strengthened the knees

that gave way.

4:5 But now the same thing comes to you,

and you are discouraged;

it strikes you,

and you are terrified.

4:6 Is not your piety your confidence,

and your blameless ways your hope?

4:7 Call to mind now:

Who, being innocent, ever perished?

And where were upright people ever destroyed?

4:8 Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and those who sow trouble reap the same.

4:9 By the breath of God they perish,

and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

4:10 There is the roaring of the lion

and the growling of the young lion,

but the teeth of the young lions are broken.

4:11 The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

Ungodly Complainers Provoke God’s Wrath

4:12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me,

and my ear caught a whisper of it.

4:13 In the troubling thoughts of the dreams in the night

when a deep sleep falls on men,

4:14 a trembling gripped me – and a terror! –

and made all my bones shake.

4:15 Then a breath of air passes by my face;

it makes the hair of my flesh stand up.

4:16 It stands still,

but I cannot recognize its appearance;

an image is before my eyes,

and I hear a murmuring voice:

4:17 “Is a mortal man righteous before God?

Or a man pure before his Creator?

4:18 If God puts no trust in his servants

and attributes folly to his angels,

4:19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like a moth?

4:20 They are destroyed between morning and evening;

they perish forever without anyone regarding it.

4:21 Is not their excess wealth taken away from them?

They die, yet without attaining wisdom.

5:1 “Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn?

5:2 For wrath kills the foolish person,

and anger slays the silly one.

5:3 I myself have seen the fool taking root,

but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.

5:4 His children are far from safety,

and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered,

nor is there anyone to deliver them.

5:5 The hungry eat up his harvest,

and take it even from behind the thorns,

and the thirsty swallow up their fortune.

5:6 For evil does not come up from the dust,

nor does trouble spring up from the ground,

5:7 but people are born to trouble,

as surely as the sparks fly upward.

Blessings for the One Who Seeks God

5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God,

and to God I would set forth my case.

5:9 He does great and unsearchable things,

marvelous things without number;

5:10 he gives rain on the earth,

and sends water on the fields;

5:11 he sets the lowly on high,

that those who mourn are raised to safety.

5:12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty

so that their hands cannot accomplish

what they had planned!

5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness,

and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.

5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,

and grope about in the noontime as if it were night.

5:15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth,

even the poor from the hand of the powerful.

5:16 Thus the poor have hope,

and iniquity shuts its mouth.

5:17 “Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects,

so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

5:18 For he wounds, but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal.

5:19 He will deliver you from six calamities;

yes, in seven no evil will touch you.

5:20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death,

and in time of war from the power of the sword.

5:21 You will be protected from malicious gossip,

and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes.

5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine

and need not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

5:23 For you will have a pact with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

5:24 And you will know that your home

will be secure,

and when you inspect your domains,

you will not be missing anything.

5:25 You will also know that your children will be numerous,

and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age,

As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.

5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.

Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”

Job Replies to Eliphaz

6:1 Then Job responded:

6:2 “Oh, if only my grief could be weighed,

and my misfortune laid on the scales too!

6:3 But because it is heavier than the sand of the sea,

that is why my words have been wild.

6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

God’s sudden terrors are arrayed against me.

Complaints Reflect Suffering

6:5 “Does the wild donkey bray when it is near grass?

Or does the ox low near its fodder?

6:6 Can food that is tasteless be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

6:7 I have refused to touch such things;

they are like loathsome food to me.

A Cry for Death

6:8 “Oh that my request would be realized,

and that God would grant me what I long for!

6:9 And that God would be willing to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand

and kill me.

6:10 Then I would yet have my comfort,

then I would rejoice,

in spite of pitiless pain,

for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait?

and what is my end,

that I should prolong my life?

6:12 Is my strength like that of stones?

or is my flesh made of bronze?

6:13 Is not my power to help myself nothing,

and has not every resource been driven from me?

Disappointing Friends

6:14 “To the one in despair, kindness should come from his friend

even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

6:15 My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream,

and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams

that flow away.

6:16 They are dark because of ice;

snow is piled up over them.

6:17 When they are scorched, they dry up,

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

6:18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;

they go into the wasteland and perish.

6:19 The caravans of Tema looked intently for these streams;

the traveling merchants of Sheba hoped for them.

6:20 They were distressed,

because each one had been so confident;

they arrived there, but were disappointed.

6:21 For now you have become like these streams that are no help;

you see a terror, and are afraid.

Friends’ Fears

6:22 “Have I ever said, ‘Give me something,

and from your fortune make gifts in my favor’?

6:23 Or ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s power,

and from the hand of tyrants ransom me’?

No Sin Discovered

6:24 “Teach me and I, for my part, will be silent;

explain to me how I have been mistaken.

6:25 How painful are honest words!

But what does your reproof prove?

6:26 Do you intend to criticize mere words,

and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?

6:27 Yes, you would gamble for the fatherless,

and auction off your friend.

Other Explanation

6:28 “Now then, be good enough to look at me;

and I will not lie to your face!

6:29 Relent, let there be no falsehood;

reconsider, for my righteousness is intact!

6:30 Is there any falsehood on my lips?

Can my mouth not discern evil things?

The Brevity of Life

7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service on earth?

Are not their days also

like the days of a hired man?

7:2 Like a servant longing for the evening shadow,

and like a hired man looking for his wages,

7:3 thus I have been made to inherit

months of futility,

and nights of sorrow

have been appointed to me.

7:4 If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’,

and the night stretches on

and I toss and turn restlessly

until the day dawns.

7:5 My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs;

my skin is broken and festering.

7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle

and they come to an end without hope.

7:7 Remember that my life is but a breath,

that my eyes will never again see happiness.

7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more;

your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

7:9 As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears,

so the one who goes down to the grave

does not come up again.

7:10 He returns no more to his house,

nor does his place of residence know him any more.

Job Remonstrates with God

7:11 “Therefore, I will not refrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

7:12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep,

that you must put me under guard?

7:13 If I say, “My bed will comfort me,

my couch will ease my complaint,”

7:14 then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

7:15 so that I would prefer strangling,

and death more than life.

7:16 I loathe it; I do not want to live forever;

leave me alone, for my days are a vapor!

Insignificance of Humans

7:17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,

and that you pay attention to them?

7:18 And that you visit them every morning,

and try them every moment?

7:19 Will you never look away from me,

will you not let me alone

long enough to swallow my spittle?

7:20 If I have sinned – what have I done to you,

O watcher of men?

Why have you set me as your target?

Have I become a burden to you?

7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,

and take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust,

and you will seek me diligently,

but I will be gone.”