1. One day the divine beings presented themselves before the LORD. The Adversary came along with them to present himself before the LORD.
2. The LORD said to the Adversary, "Where have you been?" The Adversary answered the LORD, "I have been roaming all over the earth."
3. The LORD said to the Adversary, "Have you noticed My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. He still keeps his integrity; so you have incited Me against him to destroy him for no good reason."
4. The Adversary answered the LORD, "Skin for skin -- all that a man has he will give up for his life.
5. But lay a hand on his bones and his flesh, and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face."
6. So the LORD said to the Adversary, "See, he is in your power; only spare his life."
7. The Adversary departed from the presence of the LORD and inflicted a severe inflammation on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8. He took a potsherd to scratch himself as he sat in ashes.
9. His wife said to him, "You still keep your integrity! Blaspheme God and die!"
10. But he said to her, "You talk as any shameless woman might talk! Should we accept only good from God and not accept evil?" For all that, Job said nothing sinful.
11. When Job's three friends heard about all these calamities that had befallen him, each came from his home -- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him.
12. When they saw him from a distance, they could not recognize him, and they broke into loud weeping; each one tore his robe and threw dust into the air onto his head.
13. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights. None spoke a word to him for they saw how very great was his suffering.
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