1 ARST On another day, the angels came again and gathered together in front of Yahweh. Satan also came again. BSB BSB: On another day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him.
2 ARST Yahweh asked Satan,“Where have you come from{ this time}?” Satan replied,“I have come from the earth, where I was traveling around{ to see what was happening}.” BSB BSB: “Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”
3 ARST Yahweh asked Satan,“Have you noticed that Job continues to worship me? I mention him again because no one else on earth has such complete integrity as he does. He respects me, and so he refuses to do anything evil. He still does this even though you persuaded me to{ permit you to} attack him for no reason.” BSB BSB: Then 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.”
4 ARST Satan replied to Yahweh,“Job still worships you because he is glad you destroyed his herds and family rather than destroying him. People will give up everything they have in order to save their own lives. BSB BSB: “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
5 ARST But if you harm his body, he will certainly curse you in front of everyone!” BSB BSB: But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
6 ARST Yahweh replied to Satan,“All right, I permit you to harm his body. But you must leave him alive.” BSB BSB: “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”
7 ARST Satan{ agreed and he} left. He went and caused Job to suffer from very painful boils all over his body. BSB BSB: So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
8 ARST Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped the boils on his skin. He sat down in a pile of ashes{ outside the city}. BSB BSB: And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.
9 ARST His wife said to him,“You should not still be loyal to God! You should curse God and then go ahead and die.” BSB BSB: Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 ARST But Job replied,“You are talking the way people talk who do not know God. We should be willing to receive whatever God sends us.” So in spite of all the things that had happened to him, Job did not sin by saying that what God had done was wrong. BSB BSB: “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
11 ARST Job had some good and wise friends. One of them was Eliphaz from the town of Teman. Another was Bildad from the Shuhite people group. A third friend was Zophar from the town of Naamah. These men heard about the terrible things that had happened to Job. So they each left their homes and went together to visit Job to comfort him sincerely. BSB BSB: Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.
12 ARST But when they saw Job from a distance, they almost did not recognize him. They wailed loudly, they all tore their clothing, and they threw dust into the air that settled on their heads.{ They did these things to demonstrate how sorry they were for Job.} BSB BSB: When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head.
13 ARST Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days.{ During that time} none of them said anything to him, out of respect for how greatly he was suffering. BSB BSB: Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.