¹Again , on the day when God ’s sons came to present themselves before the LORD , Satan came also amongst them to present himself before the LORD .

²The LORD said to Satan , “Where have you come from ?”

Satan answered the LORD , and said , “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it .”

³The LORD said to Satan , “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man , one who fears God , and turns away from evil . He still maintains his integrity , although you incited me against him , to ruin him without cause .”

⁴Satan answered the LORD , and said , “Skin for skin . Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life .

⁵But stretch out your hand now , and touch his bone and his flesh , and he will renounce you to your face .”

⁶The LORD said to Satan , “Behold , he is in your hand . Only spare his life .”

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD , and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head .

⁸He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with , and he sat amongst the ashes.

⁹Then his wife said to him , “Do you still maintain your integrity ? Renounce God, and die .”

¹⁰But he said to her , “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak . What ? Shall we receive good at the hand of God , and shall we not receive evil ?”

In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips .

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

¹²When they lifted up their eyes from a distance , and didn’t recognise him , they raised their voices , and wept ; and they each tore his robe , and sprinkled dust on their heads towards the sky .

¹³So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights , and no one spoke a word to him , for they saw that his grief was very great .