Skin for skin
1Another day the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and the Adversary came among them as well, to present himself before Yahweh. 2Yahweh said to the Adversary, “Where have you come from?” The Adversary answered Yahweh, “From roaming the earth and walking up and down in it.” 3Yahweh said to the Adversary, “Have you set your heart on my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth: a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, though you incited me against him to swallow him up for nothing.” 4The Adversary answered Yahweh, “Skin for skin! A man will give everything he has for his own life. 5But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh — surely he will curse you to your face.” 6Yahweh said to the Adversary, “See, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7The Adversary went out from the presence of Yahweh and struck Job with festering sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat down among the ashes. 9His wife said to him, “Are you still holding fast to your integrity? Curse God, and die.” 10He said to her, “You are talking like one of the foolish women. Are we to accept the good from God and not accept the evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. 11When Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came, each from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. They had agreed together to come and grieve with him and comfort him. 12When they looked up from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. Each one tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. 13Then 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 pain was very great.
