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¹ Another day came when the sons of God came to serve Adonai, and among them came the Adversary to serve Adonai. ² Adonai asked the Adversary, "Where are you coming from?" The Adversary answered Adonai, "From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there." ³ Adonai asked the Adversary, "Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there's no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil, and that he still holds on to his integrity, even though you provoked me against him to destroy him for no reason?" ⁴ The Adversary answered Adonai, "Skin for skin! A person will give up everything he has to save his life. ⁵ But if you reach out your hand and touch his flesh and bone, without doubt he'll curse you to your face!" ⁶ Adonai said to the Adversary, "Here! He is in your hands, except that you are to spare his life."

⁷ Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai and struck Iyov down with horrible infected sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸ He took a piece of a broken pot to scratch himself and sat down in the pile of ashes. ⁹ His wife asked him, "Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!" ¹⁰ But he answered her, "You're talking like a low-class woman! Are we to receive the good at God's hands but reject the bad?" In all this Iyov did not say one sinful word.

¹¹ Now when Iyov's three friends heard of all the calamities that had overwhelmed him, they all came. Each came from his own home — Elifaz from Teiman, Bildad from Shuach and Tzofar from Na‘amah. They had agreed to meet together in order to come and offer him sympathy and comfort. ¹² When they saw him from a distance, they couldn't even recognize him. They wept aloud, tore their coats and threw dust over their heads toward heaven. ¹³ Then they sat down with him on the ground. For seven days and seven nights, no one spoke a word to him; because they saw how much he was suffering. ^14 (3:1) At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth].