Job Job's power and position in the world evaporated suddenly and tragically, but God rewarded his steadfast faith. He called God Yahweh (Job 1:21) Shadday (Job 6:4) Elohim (Job 9:2) Go'el (Job 19:25)
Satan Challenges the LORD Again 21 One day when the sons of Elohim came to stand in front of Yahweh, Satan the Accuser came along with them.
2 Yahweh asked Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered Yahweh, "From wandering all over the earth."
3 Yahweh asked Satan, "Have you thought about my servant Job? No one in the world is like him! He is a man of integrity: He is decent, he fears Elohim, and he stays away from evil. And he still holds on to his principles. You're trying to provoke me into ruining him for no reason."
4 Satan answered Yahweh, "Skin for skin! Certainly, a man will give everything he has for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand, and strike his flesh and bones. I bet he'll curse you to your face."
6 Yahweh told Satan, "He is in your power, but you must spare his life!"
Job's Second Crisis 7 Satan left Yahweh's presence and struck Job with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself as he sat in the ashes.
9 His wife asked him, "Are you still holding on to your principles? Curse Elohim and die!"
10 He said to her, "You're talking like a godless fool. We accept the good that Elohim gives us. Shouldn't we also accept the bad?"
Through all this Job's lips did not utter one sinful word.
11 When Job's three friends heard about all the terrible things that had happened to him, each of them came from his home-Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, Zophar of Naama. They had agreed they would go together to sympathize with Job and comfort him.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they didn't even recognize him. They cried out loud and wept, and each of them tore his own clothes in grief. They threw dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw that he was in such great pain.
Job Speaks: Job Curses the Day He Was Born 31 After all this, Job finally opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. 2 Job said, 3 "Scratch out the day I was born and the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived!'
4 "That daylet it be pitch-black.
Let Eloah above not even care about it.
Let no light shine on it.
5 Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own.
Let a dark cloud hang over it.
Let the gloom terrify it.
6 "That nightlet the blackness take it away.
Let it not be included in the days of the year or be numbered among the months.
7 Let that night be empty.
Let no joyful singing be heard in it.
8 Let those who curse the daya (those who know how to wake up Leviathanb) curse that night.
9 Let its stars turn dark before dawn.
Let it hope for light and receive none.
Let it not see the first light of dawn 10 because it did not shut the doors of the womb from which I came or hide my eyes from trouble.
Why Did I Survive at Birth?
11 "Why didn't I die as soon as I was born and breathe my last breath when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did knees welcome me?
Why did breasts let me nurse?
13 Instead of being alive, I would now be quietly lying down.
I would now be sleeping peacefully.
14 I would be with the kings and the counselors of the world who built for themselves what are now ruins.
15 I would be with princes who had gold, who filled their homes with silver.
16 I would be buried like a stillborn baby.
I would not exist.
I would be like infants who never saw the light.
17 There the wicked stop their raging.
There the weary are able to rest.
18 There the captives have no troubles at all.
There they do not hear the shouting of the slave driver.
19 There you find both the unimportant and important people.
There the slave is free from his master.
Why Do I Go on Living?
20 "Why give light to one in misery and life to those who find it so bitter, 21 to those who long for death but it never comes- though they dig for it more than for buried treasure?
22 They are ecstatic, delighted to find the grave.
23 Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden, to those whom Eloah has fenced in?
24 "When my food is in front of me, I sigh.
I pour out my groaning like water.
25 What I fear most overtakes me.
What I dread happens to me.
26 I have no peace!
I have no quiet!
I have no rest!
And trouble keeps coming!"
Eliphaz Speaks: Be Patient and Listen, Job 41 Then Eliphaz from Teman replied to Job, 2 "If someone tries to talk to you, will you become impatient?
But who can keep from talking?
3 Certainly, you have instructed many people: When hands were weak, you made them strong.
4 When someone stumbled, you lifted him up with your words.
When knees were weak, you gave them strength.
5 But trouble comes to you, and you're impatient.
It touches you, and you panic.
6 Doesn't your fear of Elohim give you confidence and your lifetime of integrity give you hope?
Only Evil People Suffer 7 "Now think about this: Which innocent person ever died an untimely death?
Find me a decent person who has been destroyed.
8 Whenever I saw those who plowed wickedness and planted misery, they gathered its harvest.
9 Eloah destroys them with his breath and kills them with a blast of his anger.
10 Though the roar of the lion and the growl of the ferocious lion is loud, the young lions have had their teeth knocked out.
11 The old lions die without any prey to eat, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 "I was told something secretly and heard something whispered in my ear.
13 With disturbing thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, 14 fear and trembling came over me, and all my bones shook.
15 A spirit passed in front of me.
It made my hair stand on end.
16 Something stood there.
I couldn't tell what it was.
A vague image was in front of my eyes.
I heard a soft voice: 17 'Can any mortal be righteous to Eloah?
Can any human being be pure to his maker?'
18 "You see, Eloah doesn't trust his own servants, and he accuses his angels of making mistakes.
19 How much more will he accuse those who live in clay houses that have their foundation in the dust.
Those houses can be crushed quicker than a moth!
20 From morning to evening, they are shattered.
They will disappear forever without anyone paying attention.
21 Haven't the ropes of their tent been loosened?
Won't they die without wisdom?
Eliphaz Continues: Seek God's Help, Job 51 "Cry out!
Is there anyone to answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Certainly, anger kills a stubborn fool, and jealousy murders a gullible person.
3 I have seen a stubborn fool take root, but I quickly cursed his house.