There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.

His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts." Job did so continually.

The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil."

It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

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

While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."

He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.

When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.

"Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, 'There is a boy conceived.'

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.

or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.

There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.

Isn't their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.'

"Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,

whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.

He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.

He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you.

For the arrows of Shaddai are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.

Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things?

then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

"Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.

Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?

Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.

You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."

In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.

He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

"For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.

yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant.

so man lies down and doesn't rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

(Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit."

They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.

Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.

"Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?

For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.

There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.

"Behold, I cry out 'Injustice.' but there is no justice.

Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."

There was nothing left that he did not devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.

Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes.

Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and do not miscarry.

They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.

They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.

Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

"How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?

Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Do you not know their evidences,

The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.

So how can you comfort me with nonsense, seeing that in your answers there remains only falsehood?"

Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.

"If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him;

There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.

There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They do not know the light.

"They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards.

God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.

He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.

The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.