Again it happened on the day when the sons of God1 came to present themselves before YAHWEH2, that Shaitan3 came also among them to present himself before YAHWEH. 2YAHWEH said to Shaitan, “Where have you come from?”
Shaitan answered YAHWEH, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
3YAHWEH said to Shaitan, “Have you considered my servant Ayub4? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”
4Shaitan answered YAHWEH, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has will he give for his life. 5But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”
6YAHWEH said to Shaitan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
7So Shaitan went forth from the presence of YAHWEH, and struck Ayub with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. 8He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. 9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”
In all this Ayub did not sin with his lips. 11Now when Ayub’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. 12When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. 13So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
- 2:1 sons of God, that is, heavenly beings or angels. ↩︎
- 2:1 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 2:1 Shaitan, is derived from the Hebrew Satan, which means “adversary” or “accuser.” ↩︎
- 2:3 Ayub, this Arabic name and the English name Job are derived from the Hebrew name Iyyob, which means “persecuted.” ↩︎