The Accuser Returns
2 1 Again there came a day when the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before our Father, and the accuser also came among them to present himself before him.
2 Our Father said to the accuser, "Where have you come from?" The accuser answered him, "From roaming the earth and walking back and forth across it."
3 Our Father said to the accuser, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth — a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, though you incited me against him to destroy him without cause."
4 The accuser answered our Father, "Skin for skin! A man will give all that he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand now and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse you to your face."
6 Our Father said to the accuser, "Very well, he is in your hand; only spare his life."
7 So the accuser left our Father's presence and struck Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" a a v9 Job's wife says "God" here, not "Father" — the distant register the dialogues of the book will stay in until Job finally meets our Father face to face.
10 But he said to her, "You're talking like a foolish woman. Should we receive good from God and not receive trouble?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Three Friends Come Near
11 When Job's three friends heard of all this trouble that had come upon him, they came, each from his own home — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They agreed to come and show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept, and each tore his robe and threw dust over his head toward heaven. 13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.