When the days of their feasting were over, Job would send [for them] and consecrate them, rising early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did this at all [such] times.

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

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God].”

Have You not put a hedge [of protection] around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands [and conferred prosperity and happiness upon him], and his possessions have increased in the land.

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

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

While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens 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, another [messenger] also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and have taken them away and have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

He said,

“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb,
And naked I will return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

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

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God]. And still he maintains and holds tightly to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without cause.”

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

And Job took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself, and he sat [down] among the ashes (rubbish heaps).

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!”

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

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

And Job said,

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Because the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
My spirit drinks their poison;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

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

“What is man that You [should] magnify him [and think him important]?
And that You are concerned about him?

“If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done to You,
O Watcher of mankind?
Why have You set me as a target for You,
So that I am a burden to myself?

Then Job answered and said,

“If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will leave off my sad appearance, and be cheerful and brighten up,’

‘If I am wicked, woe to me [for judgment comes]!
And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
For I am sated and filled with disgrace and the sight of my misery.

“For you have said, ‘My teaching (doctrine) [that God knowingly afflicts the righteous] is pure,
And I am innocent in your eyes.’

“If you direct your heart [on the right path]
And stretch out your hands to Him,

“You also put my feet in the stocks [as punishment]
And [critically] observe all my paths;
You set a circle and limit around the soles of my feet [which I must not overstep],

“Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
That You would set a definite time and then remember me [and in Your lovingkindness imprint me on your heart]!

“Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels);
Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—

“I was [living] at ease, but He crushed me and broke me apart,
And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.

“Why are we regarded as beasts,
As if [we are] stupid (senseless) in your eyes?

“Terrors frighten him on every side
And chase at his heels.

“The strength [of the wicked] is famished and weakened,
And disaster is ready at his side [if he stops].

“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has set darkness upon my paths.

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

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

Whom I, even I, will see for myself,
And my eyes will see Him and not another!
My heart faints within me.

“Though evil and wickedness are sweet in his mouth
And he hides it under his tongue,

“In the fullness of his excess (great abundance) he will be in trouble;
The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him [he is miserable on every side].

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

“The [dirt] clods of the valley are sweet to him [and gently cover him],
Moreover, all men will follow after him [to a grave],
While countless ones go before him.

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

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

“Why does the Almighty not set seasons for judgment?
Why do those who know Him not see His days [for punishment of the wicked]?

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.

“Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God’s majesty and glory]
And the stars are not pure in His sight,

Job continued his discourse and said,

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

And Job again took up his discussion and said,

“When I went out to the gate of the city,
When I took my seat [as a city father] in the square,

“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand.

“I chose a way for them and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king among his soldiers,
As one who comforts mourners.

“But now those younger than I mock and laugh at me,
Whose fathers I refused to put with the sheepdogs of my flock.

“They hate me, they stand aloof from me,
And do not refrain from spitting in my face.

“If I have put my trust and confidence in gold,
Or have declared fine gold my hope and assurance,

Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite said,

“I am young, and you are aged;
For that reason I was anxious and dared not tell you what I think.

“I thought age should speak,
And a multitude of years should teach wisdom.

“I even paid close attention to [what] you [said],
Indeed, not one of you convinced Job [nor could you refute him],
Not one of you supplied [satisfactory] answers to his words.

“Answer me, if you can;
Set yourselves before me, take your stand.

“Man is also disciplined with pain on his bed,
And with unceasing complaint in his bones,

Elihu continued his discourse and said,

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

“For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
When he takes delight and is pleased with God and obeys Him.’

“If God should determine to do so,
If He should gather to Himself [that is, withdraw from man] His [life-giving] spirit and His breath,

“He strikes them like the wicked
In a public place,

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

Elihu continued speaking [to Job] and said,

Elihu continued and said,

“Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress and confinement,
Into a broad place where there is no constraint or distress;
And that which was set on your table was full of fatness (rich food).

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

And marked for it My [appointed] boundary
And set bars and doors [defining the shorelines],

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

“Will you have faith and depend on him to return your grain
And gather it from your threshing floor?

Then the Lord said to Job,

“Will you really annul My judgment and set it aside as void?
Will you condemn Me [your God] that you may [appear to] be righteous and justified?

“Behold, his [assailant’s] hope and expectation [of defeating Leviathan] is false;
Will not one be overwhelmed even at the sight of him?

Then Job answered the Lord and said,

“[You said to me] ‘Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge?’
Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

‘Hear, please, and I will speak;
I will ask You, and You instruct [and answer] me.’

It came about that 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, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.