His possessions included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. Thus he was the greatest of all the people in the east.

When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's customary practice.

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.

Then Job got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head, and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground.

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!"

In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety.

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."

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

But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!"

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

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the sole of his feet to the top of his head.

Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.

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.

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.

That day -- let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it!

how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth?

He does great and unsearchable things, marvelous things without number;

he gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields;

he sets the lowly on high, that those who mourn are raised to safety.

He frustrates the plans of the crafty so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had planned!

He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.

So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth, even the poor from the hand of the powerful.

For he wounds, but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal.

He will deliver you from six calamities; yes, in seven no evil will touch you.

In time of famine he will redeem you from death, and in time of war from the power of the sword.

And that God would be willing to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and kill me.

"To the one in despair, kindness should come from his friend even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

"Teach me and I, for my part, will be silent; explain to me how I have been mistaken.

How painful are honest words! But what does your reproof prove?

He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him any more.

"How long will you speak these things, seeing that the words of your mouth are like a great wind?

If your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

if you become pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself for you, and will restore your righteous abode.

He leans against his house but it does not hold up, he takes hold of it but it does not stand.

He is a well-watered plant in the sun, its shoots spread over its garden.

If he is uprooted from his place, then that place will disown him, saying, 'I have never seen you!'

"Surely, God does not reject a blameless man, nor does he grasp the hand of the evildoers.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with gladness.

"Truly, I know that this is so. But how can a human be just before God?

If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.

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

He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger;

he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble;

he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars;

he alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea;

he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky;

he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number.

If he passes by me, I cannot see him, if he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

If he snatches away, who can turn him back? Who dares to say to him, 'What are you doing?'

"How much less, then, can I answer him and choose my words to argue with him!

If I summoned him, and he answered me, I would not believe that he would be listening to my voice --

he who crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds for no reason.

He does not allow me to recover my breath, for he fills me with bitterness.

If it is a matter of strength, most certainly he is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, he will say, 'Who will summon me?'

"It is all one! That is why I say, 'He destroys the blameless and the guilty.'

If a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks at the despair of the innocent.

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?

For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment.

But if only God would speak, if only he would open his lips against you,

If he comes by and confines you and convenes a court, then who can prevent him?

For he knows deceitful men; when he sees evil, will he not consider it?

I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered -- a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!

If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.

If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land.

He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges into fools.

He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a loincloth around their waist.

He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the potentates.

He deprives the trusted advisers of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.

He pours contempt on noblemen and disarms the powerful.

He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light.

He makes nations great, and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them.

He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.

They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.

Would it turn out well if he would examine you? Or as one deceives a man would you deceive him?

He would certainly rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality!

Would not his splendor terrify you and the fear he inspires fall on you?

Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face!

How many are my iniquities and sins? Show me my transgression and my sin.

He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.

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.

Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man.

But man dies and is powerless; he expires -- and where is he?

If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait until my release comes.

You overpower him once for all, and he departs; you change his appearance and send him away.

If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.

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

Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them?

What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water!

He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword;

he wanders about -- food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat,

he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps.

He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.

He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God's mouth.

Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.

Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms.