Day 219 of 730

¹There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

³His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.

⁴His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

⁵It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts." Job did so continually.

⁶Now it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan also came among them.

⁷The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

⁸The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil."

⁹Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?

¹⁰Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

¹¹But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face."

¹²The Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself do not put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

¹³It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

¹⁴that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,

¹⁵and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁶While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁷While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁸While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

¹⁹and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."

²⁰Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.

²¹He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

²²In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

¹Again it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan came also among 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 none 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 put forth 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 forth 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 among 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 did not 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 sympathize with him and to comfort him.

¹²When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.

¹³So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!

²I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

³I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

⁴Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I did not take away.

⁵God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren't hidden from you.

⁶Do not let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord God of Hosts. Do not let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

⁷Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother's children.

⁹For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.

¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

¹²Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to you, Lord, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire, and do not let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Do not let the pit shut its mouth on me.

¹⁶Answer me, Lord, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

¹⁷Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!

¹⁸Draw near to my soul, and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.

¹⁹You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.

²⁰Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.

²³Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can't see. Let their backs be continually bent.

²⁴Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

²⁵Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.

²⁶For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

²⁷Charge them with crime upon crime. Do not let them come into your righteousness.

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.

²⁹But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.

³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

³¹It will please the Lord better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

³²The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.

³³For the Lord hears the needy, and doesn't despise his captive people.

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!

³⁵For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.

³⁶The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his holy ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.