There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil.

His estate included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.

Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought: Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts. This was Job’s regular practice.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

“Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

a messenger came to Job and reported: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby,

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

Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.”

So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.

Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Job continued his discourse, saying:

Job continued his discourse, saying:

Haven’t the members of my household said,
“Who is there who has not had enough to eat at Job’s table?”

then let thorns grow instead of wheat
and stinkweed instead of barley.

The words of Job are concluded.

So these three men quit answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite from the family of Ram became angry. He was angry at Job because he had justified himself rather than God.

He was also angry at Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute him and yet had condemned him.

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he.

But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.

I paid close attention to you.
Yet no one proved Job wrong;
not one of you refuted his arguments.

But Job has not directed his argument to me,
and I will not respond to him with your arguments.

Job’s friends are dismayed and can no longer answer;
words have left them.

But now, Job, pay attention to my speech,
and listen to all my words.

Pay attention, Job, and listen to me.
Be quiet, and I will speak.

For Job has declared, “I am righteous,
yet God has deprived me of justice.

What man is like Job?
He drinks derision like water.

“Job speaks without knowledge;
his words are without insight.”

If only Job were tested to the limit,
because his answers are like those of wicked men.

Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.

Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God’s wonders.

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:

The Lord answered Job:

Then Job answered the Lord:

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

Then Job replied to the Lord:

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.

Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.”

Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his prosperity and doubled his previous possessions.

So the Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.

Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

Then Job died, old and full of days.

even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“they could not deliver their son or daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.