The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up.
1
Again it happened on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.
2 God singled out Satan, saying, "And what have you been up to?" Satan answered God, "Oh, going here and there, checking things out."
2
Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
3 Then God said to Satan, "Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him, is there - honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn't work."
3
Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."
4 Satan answered, "A human would do anything to save his life.
4
Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has will he give for his life.
5 But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He'd curse you to your face, that's what."
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But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face."
6 God said, "All right. Go ahead - you can do what you like with him. But mind you, don't kill him."
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Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life."
7 Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot.
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So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
8 They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
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He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said, "Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!"
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Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die."
10 He told her, "You're talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God - why not also the bad days?" Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God. Job's Three Friends
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But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job didn't sin with his lips.
11 Three of Job's friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. Each traveled from his own country - Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, Zophar from Naamath - and went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him.
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Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came 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 to comfort him.
12 When they first caught sight of him, they couldn't believe what they saw - they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief.
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When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn't recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
13 Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.
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So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.