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.

But extend your hand and strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!"

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!"

But Satan answered the Lord, "Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life!

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

Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me, and what I feared has come upon me.

I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me."

Is not my power to help myself nothing, and has not every resource been driven from me?

He is wise in heart and mighty in strength -- who has resisted him and remained safe?

If a land has been given into the hand of a wicked man, he covers the faces of its judges; if it is not he, then who is it?

and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom -- for true wisdom has two sides -- so that you would know that God has forgiven some of your sins.

For you will forget your trouble; you will remember it like water that has flowed away.

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this,

"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!

Only his flesh has pain for himself, and he mourns for himself."

Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

Surely now he has worn me out, you have devastated my entire household.

You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me.

His anger has torn me and persecuted me; he has gnashed at me with his teeth; my adversary locks his eyes on me.

I was in peace, and he has shattered me. He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;

He has made me a byword to people, I am the one in whose face they spit.

For he has been thrown into a net by his feet and he wanders into a mesh.

His memory perishes from the earth, he has no name in the land.

He has neither children nor descendants among his people, no survivor in those places he once stayed.

Surely such is the residence of an evil man; and this is the place of one who has not known God.'"

know then that God has wronged me and encircled me with his net.

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

He has stripped me of my honor and has taken the crown off my head.

"He has put my relatives far from me; my acquaintances only turn away from me.

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, for the hand of God has struck me.

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,

"Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth,

For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build.

Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off?

No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done.

But he is unchangeable, and who can change him? Whatever he has desired, he does.

Indeed, God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.

"How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the person who has no strength!

To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?

"As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter --

The house he builds is as fragile as a moth's cocoon, like a hut that a watchman has made.

a hidden path no bird of prey knows -- no falcon's eye has spotted it.

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.

He has cut out channels through the rocks; his eyes have spotted every precious thing.

He has searched the sources of the rivers and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

For it has been hidden from the eyes of every living creature, and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.

Because God has untied my tent cord and afflicted me, people throw off all restraint in my presence.

Terrors are turned loose on me; they drive away my honor like the wind, and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away.

He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.

My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever.

If I have walked in falsehood, and if my foot has hastened to deceit --

If my footsteps have strayed from the way, if my heart has gone after my eyes, or if anything has defiled my hands,

If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

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

Job has not directed his words to me, and so I will not reply to him with your arguments.

Inside I am like wine which has no outlet, like new wineskins ready to burst!

See now, I have opened my mouth; my tongue in my mouth has spoken.

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

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

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

All humanity has seen it; people gaze on it from afar.

See how he scattered his lightning about him; he has covered the depths of the sea.

Does the rain have a father, or who has fathered the drops of the dew?

Who has put wisdom in the heart, or has imparted understanding to the mind?

It ranks first among the works of God, the One who made it has furnished it with a sword.

(Who has confronted me that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me!)

Its back has rows of shields, shut up closely together as with a seal;

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen you.

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.

So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede for you, and I will respect him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has."