Old/New Testament

Prologue: Job’s Prosperity, Woes, and Resignation^[a]

Chapter 1

A Good and Righteous Man.^{[b] 1} Job, a good and righteous man, lived in the land of Uz. He feared God and shunned evil. ² He was the father of seven sons and three daughters, ³ and he possessed seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys, in addition to a large number of servants. Thus, he was the greatest man throughout the entire East.

⁴ Job’s sons had the custom of taking turns hosting banquets in one another’s house, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ And when each banquet had been completed, Job would send for his children and sanctify them, rising early in the morning and sacrificing burnt offerings for each of them. For Job said, “It could perhaps have happened that my sons have sinned and blasphemed against God in their hearts.” This was his regular custom.

“Why Should Job Not Be a God-Fearing Man?”^{[c] 6} One day the sons of God assembled to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan was with them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “I have been roaming the earth and going back and forth in it.” ⁸ The Lord asked him, “Have you paid any notice to my servant Job? You will not find anyone like him on the entire earth. He is a good and righteous man who fears God and shuns evil.”

⁹ Satan said in reply, “Why should Job not be a God-fearing man? ¹⁰ You have safeguarded him and his family and all his possessions with your protection. You have blessed every one of his undertakings, and his flocks have continued to increase throughout the land. ¹¹ But if you stretch out your hand and strike all that he has, he will surely curse you to your face.” ¹² The Lord then said, “Very well. All that he has is in your power. However, you may not lay a hand upon him.” So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

¹³ Messengers of Woe.^[d] One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger came to Job and said, “While your oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing beside them, ¹⁵ the Sabeans^[e] swooped down on them and carried them off, after first putting the herdsmen to the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁶ While he was speaking, another messenger arrived and said, “The fire of God^[f] flashed from heaven, striking the sheep and their shepherds and consuming them. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another messenger ran up and said, “Three bands of Chaldeans^[g] made a raid on the camels and carried them off and slaughtered those who were tending them. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came forth and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house. ¹⁹ Then suddenly a powerful wind swept across the desert. It struck the four corners of the house, which collapsed upon the young people, and they are all dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

²⁰ Then Job arose, tore his cloak, and shaved his head. He threw himself prostrate on the ground ²¹ and said:

²² In all this, Job did not sin, nor did he revile God.

Chapter 2

Have You Paid Any Notice to My Servant Job?^{[i] 1} On another occasion the sons of God came forward to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan accompanied them. ² The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “I have been roaming the earth and going back and forth in it.”

³ The Lord said to Satan, “Have you paid any notice to my servant Job? You will not find anyone like him on the entire earth. He is a good and righteous man who fears God and shuns evil. He still maintains his integrity, even though you incited me to ruin him without the slightest justification.”

⁴ Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin!^[j] A man will surrender everything he has to save his own life. ⁵ But now if you stretch forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, he will curse you to your face.” ⁶ The Lord said to Satan, “He is in your power, but you must spare his life.”

Job Did Not Utter a Single Sinful Word.^{[k] 7} Therefore, when Satan left the Lord’s presence, he afflicted Job with malignant sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. ⁸ Job took a potsherd to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.^[l]

⁹ Then his wife said to him, “When will you give up persisting in your integrity? Curse God and die!” ¹⁰ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. If we accept good things from God, should we not be willing to accept sorrows as well?” In all this, Job did not utter a single sinful word.

¹¹ The Three Friends.^[m] When three of Job’s friends heard of all the misfortunes that he had endured, each of them set out from his own home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. After they gathered together, they went forth to console and comfort him.^[n]

¹² However, when they first saw Job from a distance, they could hardly recognize him, and they wept aloud, tore their cloaks, and threw dust into the air over their heads. ¹³ Then they sat there with him upon the ground for seven days and seven nights. None of them spoke a word to him, for they could clearly see how greatly he was suffering.

²² Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in word and in deed.

²³ “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow countrymen, the children of Israel. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being maltreated, he went to his aid and avenged the victim by slaying the Egyptian. ²⁵ He thought that his brethren would realize that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

²⁶ “The next day, he came upon two of them fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren! Why are you trying to hurt one another?’ ²⁷ But the man who had wronged his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge? ²⁸ Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ Moses fled when he heard this, and he dwelt as an alien in Midian and became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed, and as he approached to examine it, the voice of the Lord said to him, ³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’

“Moses was terrified and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their sighs, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come! I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they rejected by saying ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge?’ God now sent forth as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert. ³⁷ It was this Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you, from your own people, a prophet like me.’ ³⁸ It was he who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and who received words of life to hand on to us.

³⁹ “This is the man whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us on the way. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

⁴¹ “It was then that they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced over the work of their hands. ⁴² So God turned away from them and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: