Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to
present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “From
where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going
to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And
the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that
there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man,
who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his
integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him
without reason.” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for
skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out
your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you
to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your
hand; only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job
with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his
head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape
himself while he sat in the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your
integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as
one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from
God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin
with his lips.
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come
upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite,
Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an
appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him.
And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes
and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with
him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a
word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
