Job 2  EasyEnglish Bible

Satan attacks Job's health

2 Another time, the angels came again to meet with the Lord. Satan also came with them to meet the Lord. ² The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan replied, ‘I have been travelling all over the earth. I have been watching the things that happen there.’

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘You have seen Job, who is my servant. What do you think about him? There is no one on earth who is like him. He is a good and honest man. He is afraid to make me angry. He refuses to do evil things. Because of what you said, I allowed you to attack him. But he did not deserve that. He has continued to do what is right.’

⁴ Satan answered the Lord, ‘A man will always take care of his own body. He would do anything to save his own life. ⁵ So now cause Job to have great pain in his own body. Then he will certainly curse you very strongly.’

⁶ So the Lord said to Satan, ‘I agree to give you power over Job himself. But you must not cause his death.’

⁷ So Satan went away. He caused Job to have boils all over his body. They hurt him everywhere, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.

⁸ Job was very upset and he sat down among some ashes. He used a piece of a broken pot to remove the bad bits of skin.

⁹ His wife said to him, ‘You cannot continue to trust God! Instead, you should curse God and then die.’ ¹⁰ Job replied, ‘Do not talk like a fool! We take the good things that God gives us. So we should not be surprised if he sends us trouble as well.’

In all his trouble, Job never said any wrong things against God.

Job's friends come to help him

¹¹ Three of Job's friends heard news about his trouble. One friend was called Eliphaz, who came from Teman. The second friend was called Bildad, who came from Shuah. The third friend was called Zophar, who came from Naamah. They came from their own homes to meet together. They wanted to show Job that they were sorry about his trouble. They went to visit him to comfort him.

¹² When they could see Job from far away, they did not easily recognize him. They began to weep very loudly. They were so upset that they tore their clothes. They threw dust into the air and on their heads. ¹³ For a whole week, they sat on the ground near Job. They knew that his pain was very bad. So all that time, they did not say anything to him.