But, on the other hand, stretch out your hand and touch {all that belongs to him} [and see] {whether} he will {curse} you to your face."

So Yahweh said to Satan, "Look, {all that belongs to him} is in your {power}. Only do not stretch out your hand {against} him." So Satan went out from Yahweh's {presence}.

So Yahweh {asked} Satan, "Have you {considered} my servant Job? Indeed, there is no one like him on the earth--a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. And still he persists in his blamelessness {even though} you incited me against him to destroy him for nothing."

Then Satan answered him and said, "Skin for skin! All that {that} man has he will give for his life.

Then his wife said to him, "Are you still persisting in your blamelessness? {Curse} God and die."

Thus Job's three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So each set out from his [own] place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met together to come to console him and to comfort him.

Thus they lifted up their eyes from afar, but they did not recognize him, so they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment and threw dust on their heads {toward the sky}.

Then they sat with him on the ground [for] seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that {his} suffering was very great.

[Why does he give light] to a man whose way is hidden, and God has fenced him in [all] around?

He does not return again to his house, and his place does not recognize him again.

"What [is] a human being that you make him great and that {you fix your mind on him},

so that you visit him {every morning}, you test him {every moment}?

If your children sinned against him, then he sent them into the {power} of their transgression.

If he destroys him from his place, then it deceives him, [saying], 'I have never seen you.'

If he wants to contend with him, he cannot answer him one [time] in a thousand.

[He is] wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has resisted him and succeeded?

"{If} he passes by me, {I would not see him}; and [if] he should move on, {I would not recognize him}.

{If} he would snatch away, who could turn him? Who could say to him, 'What are you doing?'

God will not turn back his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow.

{How much less} can I myself answer him? [How] can I choose my words with him,

If I summon [him], and he should answer me, I do not believe that he will listen to my voice--

"For [he is] not a mortal like me [that] I can answer him, [that] {we can come to trial together}.

[then] I would speak and not fear him, for {in myself I am not fearful}.

[Are] not my days few? Let him leave [me] alone; let him turn from me, and let me rejoice a little.

"If he passes through and imprisons someone {and summons the assembly}, then who can hinder him?

"If you yourself direct your heart and stretch out your hands to him--

I am a laughingstock to my friends: '[He] calls on God, and he answers him.' A righteous, blameless man [is] a laughingstock.

"With him [are] wisdom and powerful deeds, and to him [belong] counsel and understanding.

"Strength and sound wisdom [are] with him; [the] deceived and [the] deceiver [are] his.

"Will you speak falsely for God? And will you speak deceitfully for him?

{Will you show partiality for him}? Or do you want to plead God's case?

[Will it be] well, if he examines you? Or can you deceive him like deceiving a human being?

Look, [though] he kill me, I will hope in him; however, I will defend my ways {before him}.

Moreover, this [is] salvation to me, that [the] godless would not come {before him}.

Look away from him, and let him desist until he enjoys his days like a laborer.

You overpower him forever, and he passes away; [you] change {his countenance}, {then} you send him away.

He feels only the pain of his own body, and his inner self mourns for him."

Sounds of terror [are] in his ears; in prosperity [the] destroyer will come [against] him.

Anguish and distress terrify him; they overpower him like a king ready for the battle.

he {stubbornly} runs against him {with his thick-bossed shield}.

Let him not trust in emptiness--he will be deceiving himself-- for worthlessness will be his recompense.

"I was at ease, then he broke me in two, and he seized [me] by my neck; then he shattered me and set me up as a target for him.

The light becomes dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out.

"{His strong steps} are shortened, and his [own] schemes throw him down,

A trap seizes [him] by [the] heel; a snare takes hold of him.

"Sudden terrors terrify him all around, and they chase him at his heels.

He is torn from his tent {in which he trusted}, and it brought him to the king of terrors.

"{Nothing} remains for him in his tent; sulfur is scattered upon his dwelling place.

His remembrance perishes from [the] earth, and [there is] not a name for him on [the] street.

"They thrust him from light into darkness, and they drive him out from [the] world.

[There is] no offspring for him nor a descendant among his people, and there is not a survivor in his abode.

Surely these [are] the dwellings of [the] godless, and this [is] the dwelling place of him [who] knows not God."

I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I must {personally} plead with him.

"If you say, 'How will we persecute him?' And 'The root of the trouble is found' in me,

he will perish forever like his dung; [those who] have seen him will say, 'Where [is] he?'

He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him, and he will be chased away like a vision of [the] night.

[The] eye [that] saw him {will not see him again}, and his place will no longer behold him.

His bones were full of his vigor, but it will lie down with him on [the] dust.

in his bowels his food is turned, [the] venom of horned vipers [is] {within him}.

He will suck [the] poison of horned vipers; [the] viper's tongue will kill him.

In the fullness of his excess {he will be in distress}; all of misery's power will come [upon] him.

{When his stomach fills up}, [God] will send {his burning anger} upon him, and he will let [it] rain down upon him as his food.

"He will flee from an iron weapon, [but] an arrow of bronze will pierce him.

He draws [it] forth, and it comes out from [his] body, and [the] glittering point comes from his gall-bladder; terrors come upon him.

{Total darkness} is hidden for his treasures; {an unfanned fire} will devour him; [the] remnant {will be consumed} in his tent.

[The] heavens will reveal his guilt, and [the] earth will rise up against him.

Who [is] Shaddai that we should serve him, or what would we benefit when we plead with him?'

'God stores up his iniquity for his children'? [Then] let him repay [it] to him that he may know.

Let his eyes see his decay, and let him drink from the wrath of Shaddai,

for what {does he care for} his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

Who denounces his way to his face? And who repays him [for what] he has done?

[The] clods of [the] valley are sweet to him; everyone will follow after him, and {before} him {they are innumerable}.

"Can a man be of use to God? Yes, can [the] wise be of use to him?

Thick clouds [are] a covering for him, so that he does not see; and he walks about on [the] dome of heaven.'

"Please reconcile yourself with him, and be at peace; {in this way}, good will come to you.

You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

{O that} I knew and [that] I might find him; [O that] I might come to his dwelling.

I would lay [my] case {before him}, and I would fill my mouth [with] arguments

There an upright person could reason with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

"When I go forward, {he is not there}, or backward, I cannot see him.

{When he works} [on the] left, {I cannot perceive} [him]; he turns to [the] right, but I cannot see [him].

"But he [is] {alone}, and who can dissuade him? And {whatever he desires}, {indeed}, he does [it].

For he will carry out {what he appoints for me}, and many [things] like these [are] with him

Therefore, I am horrified because of his presence; [when] I consider, I tremble because of him.

"Why are not times kept by Shaddai, and [why] do not [those who] know him see his days?

[The] womb forgets him. [The] maggot feasts on him [until] he is no longer remembered, and wickedness is broken like a tree.

He gives security to him, and he is supported, but his eyes [are] upon their ways.

"Domination and dread [are] with him who makes peace in his high heavens.

Sheol [is] naked before him, and there is no covering for Abaddon.

Look, these [are] the outer fringes of his ways, and {how faint is the word} [that] we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?"

Will God hear his cry of distress when distress comes upon him?

Terrors overtake him like the water; a storm wind carries him off [in the] night.

[The] east wind lifts him up, and he is gone, and it sweeps him away from his place.

And it hurls at him, and it has no compassion; he will quickly flee from its power.

It claps its hands over him, and it hisses at him from its place.

let him weigh me in [the] balance of justice, and let God know my blamelessness.

then what shall I do when God rises up? And when he enquires, how shall I answer him?

"If I have rejoiced at [the] ruin of [the one who] hated me or have exulted when evil overtook him--

I would give him an account of my steps; I would approach him like a noble.

So do not say, 'We have found wisdom; let God refute him, not a man.'