1One day when the sons of God came to present themselves in front of Jehovah, Satan the Accuser came along with them. 2Jehovah asked Satan: »Where have you come from? Satan replied to Jehovah: From wandering all over the earth.« 3Jehovah asked Satan: »Have you thought about my servant Job? No one in the world is like him! He is a man of integrity! He is decent and he respects God. He stays away from evil. And he still holds on to his principles. You are trying to provoke me into ruining him for no reason.« 4Satan answered Jehovah: »Skin for skin! Certainly, a man will give everything he has for his life. 5»But stretch out your hand, and strike his flesh and bones and he will curse you to your face!« 6Jehovah told Satan: »He is in your power, but you must spare his life!« 7Satan left Jehovah’s presence and struck Job with painful boils from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. 8Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch his sores as he sat in the ashes. 9His wife asked him: »Are you still holding on to your principles? Curse God and die!« 10He said to her: »You are talking like a godless fool. We accept the good that God gives us. Should we not also accept the bad?« Through all this Job did not speak sinful words. 11Job's three friends heard about all the terrible things that happened to him. Each of them came from his home: Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, and Zophar of Naama. They agreed they would go together to sympathize with Job and comfort him. 12They saw him from a distance and did not even recognize him. They cried out loud and wept. Each of them tore his clothes in grief. They threw dust on their heads. 13Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw that he was in such great pain.