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[Job and His Family] There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil.
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His estate included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.
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Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send [for his children] and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought: Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts. This was Job's regular practice.
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[Satan's First Test of Job] One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
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Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil."
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Satan answered the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing?
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"Very well," the Lord told Satan, "everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job [himself]." So Satan went out from the Lord's presence.
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One day when Job's sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,
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a messenger came to Job and reported: "While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby,
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Then Job stood up, tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,
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Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.
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[Satan's Second Test of Job] One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord.
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Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause."
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So Satan left the Lord's presence and infected Job with incurable boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
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Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.
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"You speak as a foolish woman speaks," he told her. "Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?" Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.
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[Job's Three Friends] Now when Job's three friends-Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite-heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and offer sympathy and comfort to him.
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[Job's Opening Speech] After this Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.
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[Job's Reply to Eliphaz] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Bildad] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Zophar] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Eliphaz] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Bildad] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Zophar] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Eliphaz] Then Job answered:
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[Job's Reply to Bildad] Then Job answered:
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Job continued his discourse, saying:
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[Job's Hymn to Wisdom] Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.
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[Job's Final Claim of Innocence] Job continued his discourse, saying:
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Haven't the members of my household said, "Who is there who has not had enough to eat at Job's table?"
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then let thorns grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are concluded.
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[Elihu's Angry Response] So these three men quit answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
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Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite from the family of Ram became angry. He was angry at Job because he had justified himself rather than God.
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He was also angry at Job's three friends because they had failed to refute [him], and yet had condemned him.
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Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were [all] older than he.
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But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.
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I paid close attention to you. Yet no one proved Job wrong; not one of you refuted his arguments.
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But Job has not directed his argument to me, and I will not respond to him with your arguments.
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Job's friends are dismayed and can no longer answer; words have left them.
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[Elihu Confronts Job] But now, Job, pay attention to my speech, and listen to all my words.
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Pay attention, Job, and listen to me. Be quiet, and I will speak.
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For Job has declared, "I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.
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What man is like Job? He drinks derision like water.
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"Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight."
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If only Job were tested to the limit, because [his] answers are [like] those of wicked men.
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Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.
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Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders.
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[The Lord Speaks] Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:
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The Lord answered Job:
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Then Job answered the Lord:
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Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
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[Job Replies to the Lord] Then Job replied to the Lord:
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After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.
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Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his [prayer] and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has."
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Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job's [prayer].
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[God Restores Job] After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his prosperity and doubled his [previous] possessions.
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So the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the earlier. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
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No women as beautiful as Job's daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.
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Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
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Then Job died, old and full of days.
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even [if] these three men-Noah, Daniel, and Job-were in it, they would deliver [only] themselves by their righteousness." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .
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even [if] Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live"-the declaration of the Lord God -"they could not deliver [their] son or daughter. They would deliver [only] themselves by their righteousness.
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See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome from the Lord: the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
