Book of Job

The Book of Job (Hebrew: איוב) is the 18th book in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It is one of the books in the class of poetry.

Beginning

The Bible says "In the land of Uz" there lived a man whose name was Job. He feared God and shunned evil. Job had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven-thousand sheep, three-thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East." "When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This was Job's regular custom." The Bible also says that Job was a pious, rich, loyal and a man who loved God.

Satan and God

One day Satan and the Angels of God went to God. God tells Satan about his servant Job and how good he is. Satan says that the only reason he is like that is because God was good to him and gave him sons and daughters and many animals. Satan asks if he can test Job and God lets him. God tells Satan not to kill Job.

In the initial test, Satan killed each of Job's children as they enjoyed a meal, snatched up all of Job's animals, and killed the servants who were caring for the animals. Job did not curse God as Satan would have had Job do, despite all that Satan had done to him.

Satan and the Angels went to meet God again. Like before, God talked about how good his servant Job is. Satan says that Job will curse God if he makes Job sick, which he did. This is the last meeting with Satan, the Angels.

Satan afflicted sores all over Job's body. Job's wife told him to curse God and die. Job told her that if he said that, that would be foolish. Even though Job lost everything he had and suffered from painful sores all over his body, he did not sin against God by cursing him. Satan had failed in trying to make him sin. This is the final time Satan is mentioned in the Book of Job.

Job's friends

When Job's friends heard about the things that happened to him they went to comfort him. Most of the book tells of Job and his friends talking. The names of his friends are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Towards the end of the book, Job's friends start to think that Job is not good because a lot of bad things are happening to him. Job keeps on saying that he is good but he starts to wonder if God really is good.

Job and God

After God speaks to Job and his three friends, God asks Job where he was when He created the earth and filled it with amazing things (meaning that it is not possible for man to understand God's ways). God gets very angry at Job's friends for thinking that Job was not a good man and for saying things about God they did not know about, and Job prays for his friends: God answers his prayer. God blesses Job because he did not curse Him. God gives him more than he had before.

Other websites

• Book of Job in the King James Version
• Book of Job in the New International Version
• Book of Job at Scriptures.lds.org