Job 1

¹ There was once a man in the land of Uz[*a] called Job: a sound and honest man who feared God and shunned evil.

² Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

³ And he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-donkeys, and many servants besides. This man was indeed a man of mark among all the people of the East.[*b]

⁴ It was the custom of his sons to hold banquets in each other’s houses, one after the other, and to send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

⁵ Once each series of banquets was over, Job would send for them to come and be purified, and at dawn on the following day he would offer a holocaust for each of them. ‘Perhaps’ Job would say ‘my sons have sinned and in their hearts affronted God.’ So that was what he used to do after each series.

⁶ One day the Sons of God[*c] came to attend on Yahweh, and among them was Satan.

⁷ So Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Where have you been?’ ‘Round the earth, ‘he answered ‘roaming about.’

⁸ So Yahweh asked him, ‘Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.’

⁹ ‘Yes,’ Satan said ‘but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he?

¹⁰ Have you not put a wall round him and his house and all his domain? You have blessed all he undertakes, and his flocks throng the countryside.

¹¹ But stretch out your hand and lay a finger on his possessions: I warrant you, he will curse you to your face.’

¹² ‘Very well,’ Yahweh said to Satan ‘all he has is in your power. But keep your hands off his person.’ So Satan left the presence of Yahweh.

¹³ On the day when Job’s sons and daughters were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother’s house,

¹⁴ a messenger came to Job. ‘Your oxen’ he said ‘were at the plough, with the donkeys grazing at their side,

¹⁵ when the Sabaeans[*d] swept down on them and carried them off. Your servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.’

¹⁶ He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘The fire of God’ he said ‘has fallen from the heavens and burnt up all your sheep, and your shepherds too: I alone escaped to tell you.’

¹⁷ He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘The Chaldaeans,’ he said ‘three bands of them, have raided your camels and made off with them. Your servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.’

¹⁸ He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. ‘Your sons and daughters’ he said ‘were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother’s house,

¹⁹ when suddenly from the wilderness a gale sprang up, and it battered all four corners of the house which fell in on the young people. They are dead: I alone escaped to tell you.’

²⁰ Job rose and tore his gown and shaved his head.[*e] Then falling to the ground he worshipped

²¹ and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return. Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken back. Blessed be the name of Yahweh!’

²² In all this misfortune Job committed no sin nor offered any insult to God.