Study Desk

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

So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome boils and agonizingly painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!"

But he said to her, "You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God's will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?" In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

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

When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him [because of his disfigurement], they raised their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe [in grief] and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky [in sorrow].

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

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

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

"By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

'Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He? Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He?

'God puts no trust or confidence, even in His [heavenly] servants, And He charges His angels with error.

"I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], But I cursed his dwelling immediately [for his destruction was certain].

"His children are far from safety [and included in their father's ruin], They are oppressed and crushed in the [court of justice in the city's] gate, And there is no one to rescue them.

"The hungry devour his harvest And take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; The trap opens for [his] wealth.

"For He inflicts pain, but He binds up and gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal.

"Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

"I wish that it would please God to crush me, That He would let loose His hand and cut me off.

"For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not abandon (turn away from) the fear of the Almighty.

"Is not man forced to labor on earth? And are not his days like the days of a hired man?