The LORD asked Satan, "Where have you come from?" In response, Satan answered the LORD, "From wandering all over the earth and walking back and forth throughout it."

However, stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face."

when a strong wind came straight out of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people, and they died. I alone escaped to tell you!"

The LORD asked Satan, "Where have you come from?" In response, Satan told the LORD, "From wandering all over the earth and walking back and forth throughout it."

However, stretch out your hand and strike his bones and flesh, and he'll curse you to your face, won't he?"

But he replied to her, "You're talking like foolish women do. Are we to accept what is good from God but not tragedy?" Throughout all of this, Job did not sin by what he said.

Observing him from a distance, at first they didn't even recognize him, so they raised their voices and burst into tears. They each ripped their robes, threw ashes into the air on their heads,

This is what Job said:

"Let the day when I was born be annihilated, along with the night when it was announced, "It's a boy!'

Let that day be dark; let God above not care about it; let no light shine over it.

Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it; let clouds settle down on it; let blackness in mid-day terrify it.

Let darkness carry that night away; let it not take its place joyfully among the days of the year; let it not be entered into the calendar.

"Yes, let that night be barren; let it not appear with its joyful shout.

Let whoever curses days curse it those who are ready to awaken monsters.

Let the stars of its evening twilight be dark; let it hope for light but let there be none; let it not see the breaking rays of the dawn.

"Because that night refused to shut the doors of my mother's womb; it failed to keep me from seeing this trouble.

"If I had died, I would be lying down by now, undisturbed, asleep, and at rest,

along with kings and counselors of the earth, who used to build for themselves what are now only ruins,

In that place, the wicked stop causing trouble, and there, those whose strength is exhausted are at rest.

In that place, those who once were prisoners will be at ease together; they won't hear the voice of oppressors.

To those who are longing for death even though it does not come? To those who search for it more than for hidden treasure?

"As far as I'm concerned, my food comes to me in the form of sighs, and my cries of anguish pour out like water.

For the dreaded thing that I feared has happened to me, what caused me to worry has engulfed me.

I will not be at ease; I will not be quiet; I will not rest; because trouble has arrived."

"Will you get offended if somebody tries to talk to you? Who can keep from speaking at a time like this?

"But now it's your turn, and you're the one who is worn out! Now it's striking you, and you're dismayed!

"Your fear of God has been your confidence, hasn't it? The integrity of your life has been your hope, hasn't it?

It's been my experience that those who plow the soil of iniquity and those who sow the seed of trouble will reap their harvest!

"A message was confided to me; my ear caught a whisper of it.

Disquieting thoughts from dreams at night; when deep sleep falls on everyone.

It remained standing, but I couldn't recognize its appearance. A form appeared before my eyes; At first there was silence, and then this voice:

Their wealth perishes with them, doesn't it? They die, and do so without having wisdom, don't they?"

"Cry out, won't you! Is there anyone who will answer you? To whom will you turn among the holy ones?

Then the hungry will devour his harvest, snatching it even from the midst of thorns, while the thirsty covet their wealth.

For wickedness doesn't crop up from dust, nor does trouble sprout out of the ground;

He frustrates the plans of the crafty; so that what they work for never succeeds.

They meet with darkness in broad daylight; at noonday they grope around as if it were night.

You'll be protected from the accusing tongue; you need not fear destruction when it heads your way.

You'll laugh at destruction and famine; and you need not fear the beasts of the earth.

For you'll have a pact with the stones in the field; and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

You'll go to your grave at a ripe old age; like a stack of grain that's harvested at just the right time.

"Look! We have thought all this through, and what we've said is true; So please listen and learn for your own good!"

It would weigh more than the sand on the seashore! Here's why I've talked so rashly:

"Will the wild donkey bray from hunger if fresh grass is beside him? Will the ox low from distress if it is near its feed?

Tasteless food isn't eaten without salt, is it? Is there any taste in an egg white?

"Who will grant my wish? I wish God would grant what I'm hoping for:

At least I could still take comfort and rejoice in unceasing anguish, for I didn't conceal what the Holy One has to say.

"Do I have the strength to wait? And why should I be patient?

The truth can be painful, but what has your argument proven?

Repent! Let there be no injustice; Change your ways! My vindication is at stake.

My skin is covered with worms and clods of dirt; my skin becomes rough and then breaks out afresh.

"What is a human being, that you make so much of him; that you set your affections on him,

So what if I sin? What have I done against you, you observer of humankind? Why have you made me your target? Why burden yourself with me?

Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what's right?

"Inquire of the previous generation, won't you please? Consider what their forefathers searched out.

Won't they instruct you, and tell you, and bring out words from the heart?

While they are still green and not yet ready to be harvested, they wither before any plant.

He leans against his house, but it won't stand; he grabs hold of it firmly, but it doesn't last.

He is a fresh sapling planted in the sunlight, spreading out its branches over its garden.

If he is uprooted from his place, then it will deny him: "I never saw you.'

He commands the sun so that it doesn't shine and seals up the stars.

He alone spreads out the heavens, he walks on the waves of the sea.

Indeed, if he snatches someone away, who could restrain him? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?'

So how am I to answer him, choosing what I am to say to him?

"Were I to be summoned, and he were to answer me, I wouldn't even believe that he was listening to what I have to say.

I say it's all the same he destroys both the blameless and the guilty.

If a calamity causes sudden death, he'll mock at the despair of the innocent.

A land is given into the hands of a wicked person; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not God, then who is it?"

I will be condemned, so why should I wear myself out with this futility?

There is not yet a mediator between us, who would set his hand on the two of us,

"I am disgusted with living, so I'm going to talk about my complaint freely. I'll speak out from the bitterness of my soul.

Does it delight you to oppress or despise what you have made, while you smile at the plans of the wicked?

Do you have eyes made of flesh? Can you look at things as humans do?

""For you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin.

Your hands formed and fashioned me, but then you have destroyed me all at once on all sides.

Didn't you pour me out like milk and let me congeal like cheese?

""Woe to me if I'm guilty! If I'm innocent, I cannot lift my head, because I am filled with disgrace. Look at my affliction!

So why did you bring me out from the womb? I wish I had died, before anyone had seen me,

It's a gloomy land, like deepest darkness; where there's no order, and where even the brightness is like darkness.'"

"But what if God were to speak? What if he were to talk with you,

These things are higher than the heavens, so what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol, so what can you know?

For he knows mankind's deceitfulness; when he sees iniquity, won't he himself consider it?

"Now for you, if you will prepare your heart, spread out your hands to him.

If you have any iniquity, throw it far away. Don't let evil live in your residence.

You'll forget your suffering; you'll remember it like water that has evaporated.

You'll be secure, because there is hope; you'll see that you're at rest and safe.

But what the wicked look for will fail; their way of escape will be taken away from them; their only hope is to take their final breath."

The carefree are thinking, "I have contempt for misfortune,' Those who are about to stumble deserve it.

The tents of robbers are at rest, and those who provoke God are secure, that is, those who carry their god in their pocket.

He uncovers the hidden dimensions from darkness, bringing what is in deep shadow to light.

What you know, I know, too; I'm not inferior to you.

I wish you'd all just shut up. Then at least you would appear to be wise.

His splendor will petrify you with terror, paralyzing you with fear, won't it?

"Don't talk to me! It's my turn to speak; then whatever happens, happens.

Even though he kills me, I'll continue to hope in him. At least I'll be able to argue my case to his face!

Pay attention to what I have to say and listen to my testimony with your own ears."

So I'm a man who wears out like something rotten, like a garment that has become moth-eaten."

Since his days have been determined, the number of his months is known to you. You've set his limit and he cannot exceed it.

"There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots won't stop growing.

the presence of water will make it to bud so that it sprouts new branches like a young plant.