Job 2

⁶One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.

¹⁴Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

¹⁹“I am Gabriel,” replied the angel. “I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

⁷“Where have you come from?” said the Lord to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

³⁰I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on Me.

⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁸Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

⁵I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.

⁶I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.

¹⁷For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.

¹⁷The highway of the upright leads away from evil; he who guards his way protects his life.

⁷so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁸More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

⁹and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

⁸But ten of the men among them said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he refrained from killing them with the others.

³Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.

⁴For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

¹⁸We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo.

¹⁹On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.

¹¹But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

⁵And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

¹⁵And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin.

²⁰My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

²¹They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.

²For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

³There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

³¹Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat.

³²But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

¹⁰Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹²“Very well,” said the Lord to Satan. “Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

²⁹For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰“What is your name?” Jesus asked. “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

¹⁰when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,

¹¹and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?

³⁵The Lord will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁰My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.

⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

²⁷The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.

¹¹and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores. Yet they did not repent of their deeds.

⁶Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

⁶When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

³⁰They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

²⁰And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores

²¹and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

⁵My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly.

⁵But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

³Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

³³While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

¹⁴You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?

⁴For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

³⁸Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

²¹saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

²²In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.

¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

¹⁰Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

⁹Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

¹¹All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

¹⁴A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

⁷Concerning Edom, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

²and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁰The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

³⁰They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the Lord until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.

¹On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

²⁰Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

⁴When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.

¹⁰When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.

⁴When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

¹⁵I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.

²⁶And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

²“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?

⁸God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.