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Job 2
New Catholic Bible
Job 2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 2
Have You Paid Any Notice to My Servant Job?[a] 1 On another occasion the sons of God came forward to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan accompanied them. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “I have been roaming the earth and going back and forth in it.”
3 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you paid any notice to my servant Job? You will not find anyone like him on the entire earth. He is a good and righteous man who fears God and shuns evil. He still maintains his integrity, even though you incited me to ruin him without the slightest justification.”
4 Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin![b] A man will surrender everything he has to save his own life. 5 But now if you stretch forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, he will curse you to your face.” 6 The Lord said to Satan, “He is in your power, but you must spare his life.”
Job Did Not Utter a Single Sinful Word.[c] 7 Therefore, when Satan left the Lord’s presence, he afflicted Job with malignant sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Job took a potsherd to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.[d]
9 Then his wife said to him, “When will you give up persisting in your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. If we accept good things from God, should we not be willing to accept sorrows as well?” In all this, Job did not utter a single sinful word.
11 The Three Friends.[e] When three of Job’s friends heard of all the misfortunes that he had endured, each of them set out from his own home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. After they gathered together, they went forth to console and comfort him.[f]
12 However, when they first saw Job from a distance, they could hardly recognize him, and they wept aloud, tore their cloaks, and threw dust into the air over their heads. 13 Then they sat there with him upon the ground for seven days and seven nights. None of them spoke a word to him, for they could clearly see how greatly he was suffering.
Footnotes
- Job 2:1 Human beings are great before God when they patiently accept trials, but it is when suffering touches their very lives that they give the final proof of their fidelity.
- Job 2:4 Skin for skin: a proverbial expression that probably originated in the willingness to barter one animal skin for another. Here it means that Job is bearing his suffering with patience solely to avoid more severe suffering and to gain more favors from God.
- Job 2:7 Afflicted with a kind of leprosy, the sick man goes to live away from inhabited places atop a pile of dusty refuse that had accumulated over the years at the entrance to the city. The intervention of his wife in the guise of a temptress (see Gen 3:6-12; Jdg 16:4ff; Tob 2:14) puts the finishing touch to the trial of Job. His faith becomes even more heroic.
- Job 2:8 Sitting among ashes was a sign of mourning.
- Job 2:11 In the presence of Job, disfigured by suffering, his friends make use of rites of penitence and sorrow in common use: loud weeping, tearing of cloaks, throwing dirt over one’s head, and long silent prostration (see Gen 50:10; Jos 7:6; 2 Sam 1:2, 11; 3:31).
- Job 2:11 Teman, Shuh, and Naamath were in Arabia, a land noted at that time for its wise men (see Prov 30:1; Jer 49:7; Ob 8-9; Bar 3:22f).
Job 2
New International Version
Job 2
New International Version
2 On another day the angels[a](A) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them(B) to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”(C)
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.(D) And he still maintains his integrity,(E) though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”(F)
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has(G) for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones,(H) and he will surely curse you to your face.”(I)
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands;(J) but you must spare his life.”(K)
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.(L) 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.(M)
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity?(N) Curse God and die!”(O)
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[b] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”(P)
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.(Q)
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite,(R) Bildad the Shuhite(S) and Zophar the Naamathite,(T) heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.(U) 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him;(V) they began to weep aloud,(W) and they tore their robes(X) and sprinkled dust on their heads.(Y) 13 Then they sat on the ground(Z) with him for seven days and seven nights.(AA) No one said a word to him,(AB) because they saw how great his suffering was.
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