Job 1

1 There was a man in the land of Ausis whose name was Job, and that man was true, blameless, righteous and reverent toward God, keeping away from every evil thing. † 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 His cattle were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred grazing female donkeys; he had a very large household staff and great works of farming on the earth. That man was the noblest of all the people of the east.

4 His sons used to go to one another and hold a banquet every day, and they would take their three sisters along with them to eat and drink with them. 5 Whenever the days of the banquet were over, Job would send for them and purify them. He would get up early in the morning and offer sacrifices for them, one for each of them, and a single calf as an offering for sin on behalf of their souls. For Job said, “Perhaps my sons have thought something evil in their minds toward God.” That is what Job did, day after day.

6 Then the day came when the messengers of God came to stand before the Lord, and the Accuser came with them. [a] 7 The Lord said to the Accuser, “Where have you come from?” And the Accuser answered the Lord, “I have been going around the earth and walking up and down under heaven, and here I am.” 8 The Lord said to him, “Have you turned your mind to my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him — a man blameless, true, reverent toward God, keeping away from every evil thing.”

9 Then the Accuser answered before the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job reveres God? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and around his household and around everything he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands and made his cattle many on the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch everything he has — he will bless you to your face.” [c] 12 Then the Lord said to the Accuser, “Look, everything he has I put into your hand; only do not touch the man himself.” And the Accuser went out from the Lord.

13 The day came when Job’s sons and his daughters were drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, 14 and a messenger came to Job and said to him, “The yokes of oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 when raiders came and carried them off, and they killed the servants with their swords. I alone was saved, and I have come to tell you.” [d]

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, and it devoured the shepherds the same way. I alone was saved, and I have come to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “The horsemen formed three columns against us and surrounded the camels and carried them off, and they killed the servants with their swords. I alone was saved, and I have come to tell you.”

18 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking at their eldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a great wind came in off the desert and caught the four corners of the house, and the house fell on your children, and they are dead. I alone was saved, and I have come to tell you.”

20 At that Job stood up and tore his clothes and cut the hair from his head, and he fell on the ground and worshiped, and said: 21 “I myself came out naked from my mother’s womb, and naked I will go back there. The Lord gave; the Lord has taken away. As it seemed good to the Lord, so it has happened. May the name of the Lord be blessed.” [e] 22 In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin before the Lord, and he did not charge God with folly.