Job 2 KJV
Job's Second Trial
Job Chapter 2: Job's Second Trial
The repetition of the heavenly court scene from chapter 1 deliberately frames Job's physical affliction as a direct extension of the initial wager, emphasizing that his suffering tests the purity of disinterested piety rather than any hidden sin.
1gain there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
11 Now when Jobโs three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
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Did You Know?
The repetition of the heavenly court scene from chapter 1 deliberately frames Job's physical affliction as a direct extension of the initial wager, emphasizing that his suffering tests the purity of disinterested piety rather than any hidden sin.
Job's wife's terse command to 'curse God, and die' functions as an ironic inversion of the prologue's blessing motif, casting her not merely as a despairing spouse but as an unwitting agent echoing the accuser's challenge to divine order.
The detail of Job scraping himself with a potsherd while seated among ashes draws on ancient Near Eastern mourning and purification rites, symbolizing both his social death and his paradoxical retention of ritual awareness amid total bodily ruin.
By limiting Satan's power to spare Job's life, the chapter establishes a theological boundary that evil cannot ultimately control existence itself, prefiguring later biblical assertions that God alone holds authority over life and death.
The friends' arrival from distant regions like Teman and Naamah signals Job's pre-suffering renown across cultural boundaries, transforming their silent seven-day vigil into a rare cross-regional expression of shared grief before their later theological debates erupt.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain a day โ appointed for the angels giving an account of their ministry to God. The words "to present himself before the Lord" occur here, though not in Job 1:6, as Satan has now a spโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Job 2 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Satan further tempts job; Job reproves his wife.
- 1
- a day โ appointed for the angels giving an account of their ministry to God. The words "to present himself before the Lord" occur here, though not in Job 1:6, as Satan has now a special report to make as to Job.
- 3
- integrity โ literally, "completeness"; so "perfect," another form of the same Hebrew word, Job 11:7. movedst... against โ So 1Sa 26:19; compare 1Ch 21:1 with 2Sa 24:1.
Read all 11 notes on Job 2 โ