When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

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

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another also came 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 shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

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

And Job said,

“Let the day perish on which I was to be born,
And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

“For my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And my cries pour out like water.

“Have I said, ‘Give me something,’
Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’

“Am I the sea, or the sea monster,
That You set a guard over me?

“Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?

“Though I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will leave off my sad countenance and be cheerful,’

“For you have said, ‘My teaching is pure,
And I am innocent in your eyes.’

“You put my feet in the stocks
And watch all my paths;
You set a limit for the soles of my feet,

“Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

“Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

“Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight;

“I was at ease, but He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.

“His strength is famished,
And calamity is ready at his side.

“He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

“Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger.
I am a foreigner in their sight.

“Though evil is sweet in his mouth
And he hides it under his tongue,

“Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes,

“They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’

“Oh that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!

“If even the moon has no brightness
And the stars are not pure in His sight,

Then Job continued his discourse and said,

“The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.

When He set a limit for the rain
And a course for the thunderbolt,

“And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

And Job again took up his discourse and said,

“When I went out to the gate of the city,
When I took my seat in the square,

“I chose a way for them and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king among the troops,
As one who comforted the mourners.

“Have the men of my tent not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’?

So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spoke out and said,
“I am young in years and you are old;
Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.

“His flesh wastes away from sight,
And his bones which were not seen stick out.

Then Elihu continued and said,

“For Job has said, ‘I am righteous,
But God has taken away my right;

“For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
When he is pleased with God.’

“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have borne chastisement;
I will not offend anymore;

Then Elihu continued and said,

Then Elihu continued and said,

“Wait for me a little, and I will show you
That there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.

“Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress,
Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;
And that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

“Who has appointed Him His way,
And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?

And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,

And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?

Then the Lord said to Job,

Then Job answered the Lord and said,

Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said,

“Behold, your expectation is false;
Will you be laid low even at the sight of him?

Then Job answered the Lord and said,

It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.