The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" And Satan answered the Lord, "From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it."

So the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil."

Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land.

So the Lord said to Satan, "All right then, everything he has is in your power. Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!" So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

While this one was still speaking, another messenger arrived and said, "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants -- it has consumed them! And I -- only I alone -- escaped to tell you!"

While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! And I -- only I alone -- escaped to tell you!"

While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed!"

And the Lord said to Satan, "Where do you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it."

Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason."

So the Lord said to Satan, "All right, he is in your power; only preserve his life."

Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!"

But he replied, "You're talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?" In all this Job did not sin by what he said.

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Job spoke up and said:

"Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, 'A man has been conceived!'

"But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would set forth my case.

"Have I ever said, 'Give me something, and from your fortune make gifts in my favor'?

If I have sinned -- what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target? Have I become a burden to you?

Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:

Then Zophar the Naamathite spoke up and said:

For you have said, 'My teaching is flawless, and I am pure in your sight.'

Since man's days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it.

"O that you would hide me in Sheol, and conceal me till your anger has passed! O that you would set me a time and then remember me!

The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father.

Why should we be regarded as beasts, and considered stupid in your sight?

Calamity is hungry for him, and misfortune is ready at his side.

He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths.

He tears me down on every side until I perish; he uproots my hope like one uproots a tree.

"If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,

The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng.

But you have said, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness?

There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.

I will never declare that you three are in the right; until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!

Proud beasts have not set foot on it, and no lion has passed along it.

On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand; he has overturned mountains at their bases.

And he said to mankind, 'The fear of the Lord -- that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,

I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.

"If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security!'

if the members of my household have never said, 'If only there were someone who has not been satisfied from Job's meat!' --

I said to myself, 'Age should speak, and length of years should make wisdom known.'

Reply to me, if you can; set your arguments in order before me and take your stand!

"Indeed, you have said in my hearing (I heard the sound of the words!):

His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones, which were not seen, are easily visible.

If God were to set his heart on it, and gather in his spirit and his breath,

"Has anyone said to God, 'I have endured chastisement, but I will not act wrongly any more.

Elihu said further:

Who has prescribed his ways for him? Or said to him, 'You have done what is wicked'?

Who set its measurements -- if you know -- or who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone --

when I prescribed its limits, and set in place its bolts and doors,

when I said, 'To here you may come and no farther, here your proud waves will be confined'?

Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?

See, his expectation is wrong, he is laid low even at the sight of it.

You said, 'Pay attention, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.'

After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.