Job's Suffering and Restoration

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. He was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright." Satan replied, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your power." In a single day, Job lost his oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, and servants. Then his sons and daughters were killed when a house collapsed on them. Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Satan afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. His wife said, "Curse God and die!" But he replied, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

Job's friends came to comfort him and sat with him for seven days in silence. Job cried out in his anguish, but he never cursed God. Finally, God answered Job out of the storm. He restored Job's fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former.