Esther 10 · Job 1–2

1King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea.

2Aren’t all the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

3For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and accepted by the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his descendants.

1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

2There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

3His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.

4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

5It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.

6Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them.

7Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

8Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”

9Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”

12Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.

13It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

14that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,

15and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

16While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

17While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

18While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

19and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

20Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.

21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”

22In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

1Again, on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.

2Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

3Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”

4Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

5But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”

6Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”

7So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.

8He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.

9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”

10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.

11Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.

12When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.

13So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.