Job and His Family

1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.^(A)

² There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.^{(A) 3} He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.^{(B) 4} His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.^(C)

Attack on Job’s Character

⁶ One day the heavenly beings^[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and the accuser^[b] also came among them.^{(D) 7} The Lord said to the accuser,^[c] “Where have you come from?” The accuser^[d] answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.”^{(E) 8} The Lord said to the accuser,^[e] “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”^{(F) 9} Then the accuser^[f] answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?^{(G) 10} Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.^(H)