Esther 10 - Job 2

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Mordecai’s Fame

10 King Ahasuerus imposed a tax throughout the land^(A) even to the farthest shores.^{[a](B) 2} All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments^(C) and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank to which the king had honored him,^(D) have they not been written in the Historical Records of the Kings of Media and Persia?^{(E) 3} Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus,^(F) famous among the Jews, and highly popular with many of his relatives.^(G) He continued to seek good for his people and to speak for the welfare of all his descendants.^(H)

Job and His Family

1 There was a man in the country of Uz^(I) named Job.^(J) He was a man of perfect integrity,^(K) who feared God and turned away from evil.^{(L) 2} He had seven sons and three daughters. ³ His estate included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.

⁴ His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for^[b] all of them. For Job thought: Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts. This was Job’s regular practice.

Satan’s First Test of Job

⁶ One day the sons of God^(M) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan^[c] also came with them. ⁷ The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,”^(N) Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”

⁸ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

⁹ Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Haven’t You placed a hedge around^(O) him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But stretch out Your hand and strike^(P) everything he owns, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

¹² “Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

¹³ One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger came to Job and reported: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby, ¹⁵ the Sabeans^(Q) swooped down and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶ He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “A lightning storm^[d] struck from heaven.^(R) It burned up the sheep and the servants and devoured them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷ That messenger was still speaking when yet another came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, made a raid on the camels, and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸ He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. ¹⁹ Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

²⁰ Then Job stood up, tore^(S) his robe, and shaved^(T) his head.^[e] He fell to the ground and worshiped, ²¹ saying:

²² Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.^[g](X)

Satan’s Second Test of Job

2 One day the sons of God^(Y) came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord. ² The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity,^(Z) who fears God and turns away from evil.^(AA) He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.”

⁴ “Skin for skin!” Satan answered the Lord. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life. ⁵ But stretch out Your hand and strike^(AB) his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

⁶ “Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.” ⁷ So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.^{(AC) 8} Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.^[h](AD)

⁹ His wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰ “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.^[i]

Job’s Three Friends

¹¹ Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite,^(AE) Bildad the Shuhite,^(AF) and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort^(AG) him. ¹² When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud,^(AH) and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.^{(AI) 13} Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights,^(AJ) but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering^(AK) was very intense.