Job 2:11-13

Job's Three Friends

11 Now when Job's three friends-Eliphaz the Temanite,^[a] Bildad the Shuhite,^[b] 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^[c] to him.

12 When they looked from a distance, they could [barely] recognize him. They wept aloud,^[d] and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.^[e]

13 Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights,^[f] but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering^[g] was very intense.

Job 2:11-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 2

This chapter gives an account of a second trial of Job's constancy and integrity, the time and occasion of it, Job 2:1-3; the motion made for it by Satan, which being granted, he smote him from head to foot with sore boils, which he endured very patiently, Job 2:4-8; during which sad affliction he is urged by his wife to give up his integrity, which he bravely resisted, Job 2:9,10; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a visit of three of Job's friends, and of their conduct and behaviour towards him, Job 2:11-13.

Footnotes

• [a] Gn 36:11; Jr 49:7
• [b] Gn 25:2
• [c] Jb 42:11; Ps 69:20; Jr 16:5
• [d] Jdg 21:2; Ru 1:9,14; 2 Sm 13:36
• [e] Jos 7:6; Lm 2:10; Ezk 27:30
• [f] Gn 50:10; Ezk 3:15
• [g] Jb 16:6; Ps 39:2