Study Desk

Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

Then Job got up, tore his robe, and shaved his head; then he fell to the ground and worshiped.

The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds firm to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause."

Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life.

"However, reach out with Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face!"

So the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life."

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with severe boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die!"

But he said to her, "You are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?" Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

Now when Job's three friends heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, they came, each one from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.

When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.

Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

"The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.

"By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.

'Can mankind be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

'He puts no trust even in His servants; And He accuses His angels of error.

"I have seen the fool taking root, And I cursed his home immediately.

"His sons are far from safety, They are also oppressed at the gate, And there is no one to save them.

"The hungry devour his harvest And take it to a place of thorns, And the schemer is eager for their wealth.