Job 1-5

Complete Jewish Bible

1 There was a man in the land of ‘Utz whose name was Iyov. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. ²Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. ³He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen and 500 female donkeys, as well as a great number of servants; so that he was the wealthiest man in the east.

⁴It was the custom of his sons to give banquets, each on his set day in his own house; and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵After a cycle of banquets, Iyov would send for them to come and be consecrated; then he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each of them, because Iyov said, “My sons might have sinned and blasphemed God in their thoughts.” This is what Iyov did every time.

⁶It happened one day that the sons of God came to serve Adonai, and among them came the Adversary ^[a]. ⁷Adonai asked the Adversary, “Where are you coming from?” The Adversary answered Adonai, “From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there.” ⁸Adonai asked the Adversary, “Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there’s no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil?” ⁹The Adversary answered Adonai, “Is it for nothing that Iyov fears God? ¹⁰You’ve put a protective hedge around him, his house and everything he has. You’ve prospered his work, and his livestock are spread out all over the land. ¹¹But if you reach out your hand and touch whatever he has, without doubt he’ll curse you to your face!” ¹²Adonai said to the Adversary, “Here! Everything he has is in your hands, except that you are not to lay a finger on his person.” Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai.

¹³One day when Iyov’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴a messenger came to him and said, “The oxen were plowing, with the donkeys grazing near them, ¹⁵when a raiding party from Sh’va came and carried them off; they put the servants to the sword too, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another one came and said, “Fire from God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants; it completely destroyed them, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another one came and said, “The Kasdim, three bands of them, fell on the camels and carried them off; they put the servants to the sword too, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another one came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹when suddenly a strong wind blew in from over the desert. It struck the four corners of the house, so that it fell on the young people; they are dead, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

²⁰Iyov got up, tore his coat, shaved his head, fell down on the ground and worshipped; ²¹he said,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will return there.
Adonai gave; Adonai took;
blessed be the name of Adonai.”

²²In all this Iyov neither committed a sin nor put blame on God.

2 Another day came when the sons of God came to serve Adonai, and among them came the Adversary to serve Adonai. ²Adonai asked the Adversary, “Where are you coming from?” The Adversary answered Adonai, “From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there.” ³Adonai asked the Adversary, “Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there’s no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil, and that he still holds on to his integrity, even though you provoked me against him to destroy him for no reason?” ⁴The Adversary answered Adonai, “Skin for skin! A person will give up everything he has to save his life. ⁵But if you reach out your hand and touch his flesh and bone, without doubt he’ll curse you to your face!” ⁶Adonai said to the Adversary, “Here! He is in your hands, except that you are to spare his life.”

⁷Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai and struck Iyov down with horrible infected sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸He took a piece of a broken pot to scratch himself and sat down in the pile of ashes. ⁹His wife asked him, “Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” ¹⁰But he answered her, “You’re talking like a low-class woman! Are we to receive the good at God’s hands but reject the bad?” In all this Iyov did not say one sinful word.

¹¹Now when Iyov’s three friends heard of all the calamities that had overwhelmed him, they all came. Each came from his own home — Elifaz from Teiman, Bildad from Shuach and Tzofar from Na‘amah. They had agreed to meet together in order to come and offer him sympathy and comfort. ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they couldn’t even recognize him. They wept aloud, tore their coats and threw dust over their heads toward heaven. ¹³Then they sat down with him on the ground. For seven days and seven nights, no one spoke a word to him; because they saw how much he was suffering. ¹⁴^(3:1)At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth].

3 ⁽²⁾Iyov said,

²⁽³⁾“Perish the day I was born
and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’
³⁽⁴⁾May that day be darkness,
may God on high not seek it,
may no light shine on it,
⁴⁽⁵⁾may gloom dark as death defile it,
may clouds settle on it,
may it be terrified by its own blackness.

⁵⁽⁶⁾“As for that night, may thick darkness seize it,
may it not be joined to the days of the year,
may it not be numbered among the months;
⁶⁽⁷⁾may that night be desolate,
may no cry of joy be heard in it;
⁷⁽⁸⁾may those who curse days curse it,
those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan;
⁸⁽⁹⁾may the stars of its twilight be dark,
may it look for light but get none,
may it never see the shimmer of dawn —
⁹⁽¹⁰⁾because it didn’t shut the doors of the womb I was in
and shield my eyes from trouble.

¹⁰⁽¹¹⁾“If I had been stillborn,
if I had died at birth,
¹¹⁽¹²⁾had there been no knees to receive me
or breasts for me to suck.
¹²⁽¹³⁾Then I would be lying still and in peace,
I would have slept and been at rest,
¹³⁽¹⁴⁾along with kings and their earthly advisers,
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
¹⁴⁽¹⁵⁾or with princes who had [plenty of] gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
¹⁵⁽¹⁶⁾Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried
child that never saw light.

¹⁶⁽¹⁷⁾“There the wicked cease their raging,
there the weary are at rest,
¹⁷⁽¹⁸⁾prisoners live at peace together
without hearing a taskmaster’s yells.
¹⁸⁽¹⁹⁾Great and small alike are there,
and the slave is free of his master.

¹⁹⁽²⁰⁾“So why must light be given to the miserable
and life to the bitter in spirit?
²⁰⁽²¹⁾They long for death, but it never comes;
they search for it more than for buried treasure;
²¹⁽²²⁾when at last they find the grave,
they are so happy they shout for joy.
²²⁽²³⁾[Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly,
whom God shuts in on every side?

²³⁽²⁴⁾“My sighing serves in place of my food,
and my groans pour out in a torrent;
²⁴⁽²⁵⁾for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me,
what I dreaded has happened to me.
²⁵⁽²⁶⁾I have no peace, no quiet, no rest;
and anguish keeps coming.”

4 Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke up:

²“If one tries to speak to you, will you mind?
Yet who could keep from speaking?
³You have given moral instruction to many,
you have firmed up feeble hands,
⁴your words have supported those who were stumbling,
and you have strengthened the weak-kneed.

⁵“But now it comes to you, and you are impatient;
at the first touch, you are in shock.
⁶Isn’t your fear of God your assurance,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷“Think back: what innocent person has perished?
Since when are the upright destroyed?
⁸What I see is that those who plow sin
and sow trouble reap just that.
⁹At a breath from God, they perish;
at a blast from his anger, they are consumed.
¹⁰The lion may growl, the king lion may roar,
but that old lion’s teeth are broken;
¹¹so the lion succumbs from lack of prey,
and the lion’s cubs are scattered.

¹²“For a word was stealthily brought to me,
my ear caught only a whisper of it.
¹³In passing thoughts flashing through visions at night,
when sleep lies heavy on people,
¹⁴a shiver of horror came over me;
it made all my bones tremble.
¹⁵Then a spirit passed in front of my face;
the hair of my flesh stood on end.
¹⁶It stood still,
but I couldn’t make out its appearance;
yet the form stayed there before my eyes.
Then I heard a subdued voice:
¹⁷‘Can a human be seen by God as righteous?
Can a mortal be pure before his maker?
¹⁸[God] doesn’t trust his own servants,
he finds fault even with his angels;
¹⁹much more those living in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust.
They are crushed more easily than a worm;
²⁰shattered between morning and evening;
they perish forever, and no one takes notice.
²¹Their cord within them is pulled up;
then they die, without ever gaining wisdom.’

5 “Call if you like, but will anyone answer?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
²For anger kills the fool,
and envy slays the silly.
³I watch as a fool establishes roots,
but I curse his home with sudden [destruction] —
⁴his children are far from help,
publicly humiliated, with no one to rescue;
⁵the hungry eat up his harvest,
taking it even from among thorns,
while the thirsty are panting,
eager to swallow his wealth.
⁶For misery does not come from the dust
or trouble spring from the ground.
⁷No, people are born for trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“If I were you, I would seek God;
I would make my plea to him.
⁹For God does great deeds beyond investigation,
wonders beyond all reckoning.
¹⁰He gives rain to the earth,
pours water down on the fields.
¹¹He raises the lowly on high
and lifts mourners to safety.
¹²He frustrates the schemes of the cunning,
so that they achieve no success;
¹³trapping the crafty in their own tricks
and foiling quickly the plans of the false.
¹⁴They meet with darkness during the day,
groping at noon like at night.
¹⁵But he saves the poor from the sword, their mouth,
and from the clutches of the strong;
¹⁶so the poor can hope again;
and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷“How happy the person whom God corrects!
So don’t despise Shaddai’s discipline.
¹⁸For he wounds, but he bandages the sore;
his hands may strike, but they also heal.
¹⁹He will rescue you from six disasters;
yes, in seven no harm will touch you.
²⁰In famine, he will save you from death,
and in war, from the power of the sword.
²¹You will be shielded from the lash of the tongue,
and you won’t have to fear destruction when it comes —
²²you’ll be able to laugh at destruction and famine.
Also you won’t have to fear wild animals,
²³for you will be in league with the stones in the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
²⁴You will know that your tent is safe;
you will look round your home and miss nothing.
²⁵You will know that your descendants are many,
your offspring like grass [growing thick] in the fields.
²⁶You will come to your grave at a ripe old age,
like a pile of grain that arrives in season.