Abraham’s Family · Not dated
Chapter 16
Job’s Trouble
He 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.”
For parents
In this chapter Job loses everything: raiders kill his servants, and a great wind brings down a house on all ten of his children, who die (Job 1:13–19). Then he is struck with painful sores, and in his grief he wishes he had never been born (Job 2–3). It is told plainly, without detail.
There was a man in the land of whose name was . He was blameless and honest. He and stayed away from evil.
He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred female donkeys, and he had a great many servants. He was the greatest man among all the peoples of the east.
His sons took turns holding a feast, each in his own house on his birthday, and they invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children and make them clean and ready to come before God. He would get up early in the morning and offer a for each one of them, because he thought, “Maybe my children have sinned and rejected God in their hearts.” Job did this every time.
One day came to stand before the , and came with them.
The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming back and forth across the earth, and walking up and down on it.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth. He is blameless and honest, a man who fears God and stays away from evil.”
Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t you put a fence around him and his family and everything he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his flocks and herds have spread across the land. But reach out your hand now and strike everything he has, and he will reject you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, everything he has is in your power. Only don’t lay a hand on Job himself.” Then Satan went out from the Lord’s presence.
One day, while Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine at their oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job. “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing beside them,” he said, “when the attacked and took them away. They killed the servants with the sword, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another came. “Fire from God fell from the sky,” he said. “It burned up the sheep and the servants until nothing was left of them. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another came. “The split into three bands,” he said. “They swept down on the camels and carried them off, and they killed the servants with the sword. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, yet another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine at their oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a great wind came from across the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on the young people, and they are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
Then Job got up and tore his robe, the way people showed grief. He shaved his head, fell to the ground and worshiped. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,” he said, “and naked I will return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
In all this, Job did not sin or accuse God of doing wrong.
On another day the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, and Satan came with them to stand before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming back and forth across the earth, and walking up and down on it.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth. He is blameless and honest, a man who fears God and stays away from evil. He is still holding on to being blameless, even though you stirred me up against him to ruin him for no reason.”
Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Yes, a man will give up all he has to keep his life. But reach out your hand now and strike his bones and his flesh, and he will reject you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power. Only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the Lord’s presence and struck Job with painful sores, from the bottoms of his feet to the top of his head. Job picked up a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to being blameless? Reject God and die!”
But he said to her, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Should we accept good from God, and not accept trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
When Job’s three friends heard about all the trouble that had come on him, they set out from their homes and agreed to meet and go together to comfort him and show him sympathy. They were from Teman, from Shuah and from Naamah.
When they caught sight of him from far off, they didn’t recognize him. They cried out loud and wept, and each of them tore his robe. They threw dust up toward the sky and onto their heads. Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, because they could see how great his grief was.
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. Job said:
“Let the day I was born be wiped out,and the night that said, ‘A boy is on the way!’Let that day be darkness.Let God above not care about it,and let no light shine on it.Let deep darkness claim it as its own.Let a cloud settle over it,and let the blackness of the day terrify it.Let thick darkness seize that night.Let it never be counted among the days of the yearor be included in any month.Let that night be barren,with no shout of joy in it.Let those who curse days curse it,those who are ready to stir up .Let its morning stars stay dark.Let it wait for light that never comes,and never see the first rays of dawn,because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,or hide trouble from my eyes.
“Why didn’t I die at birth?Why didn’t I breathe my last as I was born?Why was there a lap to hold me,and a breast to feed me?For now I would be lying down in peace.I would be asleep and at restwith kings and their advisers,who rebuilt ruined places for themselves,with rulers who had goldand filled their houses with silver.Or why wasn’t I like a baby born dead,like an infant who never saw the light?There the wicked stop their troubling,and there the weary are at rest.There the prisoners are at peace together;they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.The small and the great are there,and the slave is free from his master.
“Why is light given to people in misery,and life to those whose hearts are bitter,who long for a death that never comes,and dig for it harder than for buried treasure,who would be glad, even overjoyed,if only they could find the grave?Why give light to a man whose path is hidden,a man God has hemmed in?My sighing comes before I eat,and my groaning spills out like water.The thing I fear comes on me;what I am afraid of finds me.I have no ease, no quiet, no rest,and still trouble comes.”