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Wisdom & Poetry · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

Job 2

Suffering, protest, limited human knowledge, friendship, and encounter with the sovereign God.

Old Testament

Job 2

1Again, on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

2The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, and said, “From going back and forth on the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

3The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on 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.”

4Satan answered the LORD, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

5But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”

6The LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”

7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job 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 Job didn’t sin with his lips.

11Now when Job’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 didn’t 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 no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Suffering, protest, limited human knowledge, friendship, and encounter with the sovereign God. Read Job 2 within the complete Job overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Job 2

Job 2 contains 13 verses and about 371 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “Again, on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 13 closes: “So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include satan, himself, evil, hand, present, answered. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Job 2

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Job 2:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer