18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, 'Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house,
19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!'
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship
21 and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.'
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
2 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?' Satan answered the Lord , 'From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.'
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.'
4 'Skin for skin!' Satan replied. 'A man will give all he has for his own life.
5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.'
6 The Lord said to Satan, 'Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.'
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, 'Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!'
10 He replied, 'You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?' In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
11 When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.
13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 He said:
3 'May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, 'A boy is born!'
4 That day-may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it.
5 May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm its light.
6 That night-may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.
7 May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.
8 May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
9 May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
11 'Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
15 with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.
18 Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver's shout.
