UNROLL
Dusk at the ash heap: far off and from behind, one man wrapped in a dark cloak sits small and alone on a long gray mound, the plain flat-topped town wall smaller behind him, under a calm, empty, darkening sky.

The Book of

Job 2

He passed the first test. So the Accuser asks for his body.

13 verses≈ 3 min6 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cryChapter 2
  2. 4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
  3. 15–21Round twoMy Redeemer lives
  4. 22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
  5. 32–37ElihuA younger voice
  6. 38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
  7. 42The endJob prays and is restored

Job Loses His Health

The earth seen from very high: the curve of desert and mountain under broken white cloud, a vast calm light from beyond the frame.

On another day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan.

Satan

“From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

God

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Satan

“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life. But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

God

“Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.

Question

Quick question

Look again at what the LORD said to Satan.

What limit did the LORD set this time?

Job’s wife

Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

Job

“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?”

Evening at the ash heap, from a distance: Job’s wife, in a dark indigo robe and shawl, stands a few steps from the seated, wrapped figure of Job, her head a little bowed and her hands empty at her sides, the moment after words.
Job

Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?

Job 2:10

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

What Job doesn’t know

The LORD nameshim1:8For nothing?1:9Not the manhimself1:12Skin for skin2:4But spare hislife2:6Job on the ashheapknows none of thisNo one tellshimnot even at the end

Whiteboard

All of this happened out of Job’s sight. He never learns it, and neither do his friends. Read every speech that follows with that in mind.

Reflect

Good and adversity

Job asks whether we should accept only good from God. What would it mean to trust God in something you can’t explain right now?

Job’s Three Friends

Shuah (site uncertain)Naamath (site uncertain)UzTeman (site uncertain)

Stylised map · locations approximate

Where it happened

Three friends, three homes

Eliphaz came from Teman in Edom. Shuah and Naamath can’t be placed with certainty, so these two are guesses. Each man left home to reach him.

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

You’ve experienced

Job 2

0 of 42 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?

Job 2:10

or swipe left