He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “A lightning storm struck from heaven. It burned up the sheep and the servants and devoured them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the Lord. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.

Are their tent cords not pulled up?
They die without wisdom.

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For He crushes but also binds up;
He strikes, but His hands also heal.

Caravans turn away from their routes,
go up into the desert, and perish.

When I lie down I think:
When will I get up?
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.

I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.

His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.

He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame
and aware of my affliction.

As for you, if you redirect your heart
and lift up your hands to Him in prayer—

When He withholds the waters, everything dries up,
and when He releases them, they destroy the land.

If only you would shut up
and let that be your wisdom!

so man lies down never to rise again.
They will not wake up until the heavens are no more;
they will not stir from their sleep.

My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag,
and You would cover over my iniquity.

A wicked man writhes in pain all his days;
only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

You have shriveled me up—it has become a witness;
My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

I was at ease, but He shattered me;
He seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as His target;

My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.

Make arrangements! Put up security for me.
Who else will be my sponsor?

His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.

His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.

Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.

He swallows wealth but must vomit it up;
God will force it from his stomach.

The heavens will expose his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.

Then you will delight in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.

When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”
God will save the humble.

Yet God drags away the mighty by His power;
when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.
They wither like heads of grain.

The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,
astounded at His rebuke.

All of you have seen this for yourselves,
why do you keep up this empty talk?

Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
yet their widows will not weep for them.

Though he piles up silver like dust
and heaps up a wardrobe like clay—

he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide up his silver.

The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon
or a booth set up by a watchman.

An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;
it carries him away from his place.

He dams up the streams from flowing
so that he may bring to light what is hidden.

The rabble rise up at my right;
they trap my feet
and construct their siege ramp against me.

They tear up my path;
they contribute to my destruction,
without anyone to help them.

I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
when I stand up, You merely look at me.

You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it;
You scatter me in the storm.

what could I do when God stands up to judge?
How should I answer Him when He calls me to account?

But if they do not obey,
they will cross the river of death
and die without knowledge.

Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.
They leave and do not return.

Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;
he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.