1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD. Satan came among them too, to present himself before the LORD.
2The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going here and there on 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 like him on the earth. He is a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, although you stirred me up against him, to destroy him without cause."
4Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin. Yes, a man will give all that he has for his life."
5"But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."
6The LORD said to Satan, "Look, he is in your hand. Only spare his life."
7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. He struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
8Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat down among the ashes.
9Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die."
10But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we receive good from the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They had agreed together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
12When they lifted up their eyes from far off, they did not know him. They lifted up their voices and wept. Each one tore his robe, and they threw dust on their heads toward heaven.
13So they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.