Job 2

There was another day when the heavenly beings came to stand before the LORD, and Satan came along with them to stand before the LORD too.

1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

Note"The sons of God" in the King James is a Hebrew phrase for members of the divine court (supernatural beings who attend on God the way officials attend on a king. It does not mean human sons. "Satan" here translates Hebrew *ha-satan*, "the accuser" or "the adversary": in the Hebrew it carries the definite article, so it reads as a title or office) the prosecutor of the heavenly court, rather than as a personal name. The scene repeats the assembly of chapter 1 almost word for word.

2The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming around the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."

2And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

3The LORD said to Satan, "Have you thought about my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him. He is blameless and honest. He respects God and stays away from evil. He is still holding on to his integrity, even though you urged me to attack him and ruin him for no reason."

3And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

Note"Blameless" (King James "perfect") translates a Hebrew word meaning whole, sound, all of a piece (a person with no crack running through him. It does not claim Job is sinless. "Integrity" in verses 3 and 9 is from the same root. "For no reason" translates a Hebrew word meaning "for nothing, without payment") the same word the accuser used in 1:9 when he asked whether Job served God "for nothing." The question of who is getting something for nothing runs through both scenes.

4Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he owns to save his own life.

4And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

Note"Skin for skin" appears to be a proverb, and its exact sense is not recoverable; it is not explained anywhere else in the Bible. It has been read as a trader's phrase, one hide swapped for another of equal worth, with the point being either that Job will trade anything, even someone else's skin, to save his own, or that what Job has lost so far cost him nothing that touched his own body. The second half of the verse gives the argument plainly: a man will pay everything for his life.

5But reach out your hand now and strike his bones and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."

5But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

Note"His bones and his flesh" is a Hebrew way of saying a person's own body, his very self, as opposed to his property and children, which is all the accuser was permitted to touch in chapter 1.

6The LORD said to Satan, "All right, he is in your power. But you must spare his life."

6And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

7So Satan left the LORD's presence and struck Job with painful sores all over him, from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

7So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

NoteThe Hebrew word covers a range of inflamed skin eruptions; the same word is used of one of the plagues on Egypt and of a disease threatened in the law. No specific modern diagnosis can be recovered from it. "From the soles of his feet to the top of his head" is a stock phrase meaning completely, head to toe.

8Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat down in the ashes.

8And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

NoteA potsherd is a fragment of a smashed clay jar, the commonest piece of rubbish in an ancient town, and hard enough to use as a scraper. The ashes are an ash heap: the tip outside a settlement where hearth ash and refuse were dumped. Sitting in ash or dust was also a standard posture of mourning and humiliation, so the detail says both where he is and what state he is in.

9Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God, and die."

9Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.

NoteThe Hebrew verb here is actually "bless." Scribes appear to have substituted "bless" for "curse" where the object was God, to avoid writing the words out; the same substitution occurs in 1:5, 1:11 and 2:5. Translators render the intended sense, "curse." His wife's line is also open in Hebrew as to its force, bitter advice to end it, or a challenge to see whether his integrity can survive being spoken against.

10But he said to her, "You are talking like one of the foolish women. Should we accept good things from God and not accept trouble?" Through all of this, Job said nothing wrong.

10But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Note"Foolish" here is not stupidity but moral senselessness, the Hebrew word describes a person who lives as though there were no God and no consequences. It is an accusation about character, not intelligence. Note that Job says she is *talking* like such a woman, not that she is one. "Job did not sin in what he said" is the narrator's verdict, and the qualification "with his lips" is in the Hebrew: it rules out his speech, and says nothing about his thoughts.

11Three of Job's friends heard about all the trouble that had come on him: Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar from Naamah. Each of them left his own home, and they agreed to meet and go together to grieve with Job and comfort him.

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

NoteThe three friends are foreigners, like Job himself, and their homelands are places east and southeast of Israel. Teman was a district of Edom with a reputation for wisdom. Shuah and Naamah are less certainly located, somewhere in the same desert region. Placing all four men outside Israel keeps the book's argument general: this is a debate about God and suffering, not about Israel's law or history. Coming to "grieve with him and comfort him" was a recognized social duty, with expected forms of behavior, which is what the next verse describes.

12When they looked up from far away, they did not recognize him. They cried out loud and wept. Each one tore his robe and threw dust into the air over his head.

12And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

NoteTearing one's outer robe and putting dust or earth on the head were the customary public signs of grief in this world, visible, deliberate acts performed in company, not private breakdown. The friends do for Job what mourners did for the dead.

13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his pain was.

13So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.

NoteSeven days and seven nights was the standard mourning period for a death. By sitting it out beside a living man they treat him as though he were already being buried. Staying silent was also the convention: the visitor waited for the sufferer to speak first, which is exactly what happens when Job opens his mouth in the next chapter.