The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And there was a day when the sons of the gods came together before the Lord, and the Satan came with them.
1
When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the Lord again, Satan was there among them.
2 And the Lord said to the Satan, Where do you come from? And the Satan said in answer, From wandering this way and that on the earth, and walking about on it.
2
The Lord asked him, "Where have you been?" Satan answered, "I have been walking here and there, roaming around the earth."
3 And the Lord said to the Satan, Have you taken note of my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a man without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil? and he still keeps his righteousness, though you have been moving me to send destruction on him without cause.
3
"Did you notice my servant Job?" the Lord asked. "There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil. You persuaded me to let you attack him for no reason at all, but Job is still as faithful as ever."
4 And the Satan said in answer to the Lord, Skin for skin, all a man has he will give for his life.
4
Satan replied, "A person will give up everything in order to stay alive.
5 But now, if you only put your hand on his bone and his flesh, he will certainly be cursing you to your face.
5
But now suppose you hurt his body - he will curse you to your face!"
6 And the Lord said to the Satan, See, he is in your hands, only do not take his life.
6
So the Lord said to Satan, "All right, he is in your power, but you are not to kill him."
7 And the Satan went out from before the Lord, and sent on Job an evil disease covering his skin from his feet to the top of his head.
7
Then Satan left the Lord's presence and made sores break out all over Job's body.
8 And he took a broken bit of a pot, and, seated in the dust, was rubbing himself with the sharp edge of it.
8
Job went and sat by the garbage dump and took a piece of broken pottery to scrape his sores.
9 And his wife said to him, Are you still keeping your righteousness? Say a curse against God, and put an end to yourself.
9
His wife said to him, "You are still as faithful as ever, aren't you? Why don't you curse God and die?"
10 And he said to her, You are talking like one of the foolish women. If we take the good God sends us, are we not to take the evil when it comes? In all this Job kept his lips from sin.
10
Job answered, "You are talking nonsense! When God sends us something good, we welcome it. How can we complain when he sends us trouble?" Even in all this suffering Job said nothing against God.
11 And Job's three friends had word of all this evil which had come on him. And they came every one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So they came together to a meeting-place, in order that they might go and make clear to Job their grief for him, and give him comfort.
11
Three of Job's friends were Eliphaz, from the city of Teman, Bildad, from the land of Shuah, and Zophar, from the land of Naamah. When they heard how much Job had been suffering, they decided to go and comfort him.
12 And lifting up their eyes when they were still far off, it did not seem that the man they saw was Job because of the change in him. And they gave way to bitter weeping, with signs of grief, and put dust on their heads.
12
While they were still a long way off they saw Job, but did not recognize him. When they did, they began to weep and wail, tearing their clothes in grief and throwing dust into the air and on their heads.
13 And they took their seats on the earth by his side for seven days and seven nights: but no one said a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.
13
Then they sat there on the ground with him for seven days and nights without saying a word, because they saw how much he was suffering.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.