Do the job the Lord your God has assigned you by following his instructions and obeying his rules, commandments, regulations, and laws as written in the law of Moses. Then you will succeed in all you do and seek to accomplish,

After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; he continued to appoint common people as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest.

Their job was to help Aaron's descendants in the service of the Lord's temple. They were to take care of the courtyards, the rooms, ceremonial purification of all holy items, and other jobs related to the service of God's temple.

supervised the laborers and all the foremen on their various jobs. Some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and guards.

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

When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's customary practice.

So the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil."

Then Satan answered the Lord, "Is it for nothing that Job fears God?

Now the day came when Job's sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

and a messenger came to Job, saying, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing beside them,

Then Job got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head, and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground.

In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety.

Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason."

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the sole of his feet to the top of his head.

Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.

But he replied, "You're talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?" In all this Job did not sin by what he said.

When Job's three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country -- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him.

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.

Job spoke up and said:

Then Job responded:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job replied:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job answered:

Then Job replied:

And Job took up his discourse again:

Then Job continued his speech:

if the members of my household have never said, 'If only there were someone who has not been satisfied from Job's meat!' --

then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat, and in place of barley, weeds!" The words of Job are ended.

So these three men refused to answer Job further, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. He was angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God.

With Job's three friends he was also angry, because they could not find an answer, and so declared Job guilty.

Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job, because the others were older than he was.

Now I was paying you close attention, yet there was no one proving Job wrong, not one of you was answering his statements!

Job has not directed his words to me, and so I will not reply to him with your arguments.

"But now, O Job, listen to my words, and hear everything I have to say!

Pay attention, Job -- listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

For Job says, 'I am innocent, but God turns away my right.

What man is like Job, who drinks derision like water!

that Job speaks without knowledge and his words are without understanding.

But Job will be tested to the end, because his answers are like those of wicked men.

So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; without knowledge he multiplies words."

"Pay attention to this, Job! Stand still and consider the wonders God works.

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:

Then the Lord answered Job:

Then Job answered the Lord:

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

Then Job answered the Lord:

After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.

So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede for you, and I will respect him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has."

So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job.

So the Lord restored what Job had lost after he prayed for his friends, and the Lord doubled all that had belonged to Job.

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

Nowhere in all the land could women be found who were as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance alongside their brothers.

After this Job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

And so Job died, old and full of days.

May his days be few! May another take his job!

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the sovereign Lord.

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own son or daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.