Job 2

Satan's Second Challenge

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 in 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 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.”

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.”

Job's Affliction and the Arrival of His Friends

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.

Previous Job 1

Next Job 3

Satan appears before God a second time and challenges Job's faithfulness, arguing that Job will curse God if his physical health is attacked. God permits Satan to afflict Job with painful sores, but Job maintains his integrity despite his wife's urging to curse God and die. Three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—arrive to comfort Job and sit with him in silent mourning for seven days, setting the stage for the lengthy dialogues that follow.

Context

This chapter escalates the testing begun in chapter 1 and introduces Job's three friends who will dominate the dialogue cycles in chapters 3-31.

Key Themes

Outline

1-6
Satan's Second Challenge Satan appears before God again and proposes that Job will curse God if his physical health is attacked, receiving permission to afflict Job while sparing his life.
7-8
Job's Physical Affliction Satan strikes Job with painful sores from head to foot, leaving him to scrape himself with pottery shards while sitting in ashes.
9-10
Job's Wife's Test and Job's Response Job's wife urges him to curse God and die, but Job rebukes her and maintains that both good and evil come from God's hand.
11-13
The Arrival of Three Friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come to comfort Job, barely recognizing him in his afflicted state, and sit with him in silent mourning for seven days and nights.

Satan's Second Challenge

2:1–2:6

narrative dialogue solemn

Satan challenges God a second time regarding Job's faithfulness, claiming Job will curse God if afflicted physically. God permits Satan to harm Job's body but spare his life.

person_contrast

Satan's escalation from attacking Job's possessions to his physical body mirrors the ancient Near Eastern belief that bodily affliction represented the ultimate test of divine loyalty.

Job's Affliction and the Arrival of His Friends

2:7–2:13

narrative narration mournful

Satan afflicts Job with painful sores, and Job's three friends come to comfort him, sitting in silence for seven days witnessing his great suffering.

person_contrast

Job's friends demonstrate the Hebrew concept of *nichum* (comfort through presence) by sitting wordlessly for seven days—the only biblical instance where silence itself becomes an act of pastoral care.

Insight Character Study

Satan's escalation from attacking Job's possessions to his physical body mirrors the ancient Near Eastern belief that bodily affliction represented the ultimate test of divine loyalty.

Insight Character Study