6 Satán hathe permission to afflict Job. 9 His wife tempteth him to forsake God. 11 His three friends visit him.
1.And on a day the achildren of God came and stode before the Lord, and bSatán came also among them, and stode before the Lord.
2.Then the Lord said unto Satán, Whence commest thou? And Satán answered the Lord, & said, From compassing the earth to and fro, and from walking in it.
3.And the Lord said unto Satán, Hast thou not considered my servant Job, how none is like him in the earth? *an upright and juste man, one that feareth God, and eschueth evil? for yet he continueth in his uprightness, calthough thou movedst me against him, to destroye dhim without cause.
4.And Satán answered the Lord, and said, eSkin for skin, and all that ever a man hathe, wil he give for his life.
5.But stretche now out thine hand, and touch his fbones & his flesh, to see if he wil not blaspheme thee to thy face.
6.Then the Lord said unto Satán, Lo, he is in thine hand, but save ghis life.
7.¶ So Satán departed from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore hboyles, from the sole of his fote unto his crowne.
8.And he toke a ipotsharde to scrape him, and he sate downe among the ashes.
9.Then said his kwife unto him. Doest thou lcontinue yet in thine uprightness? mBlaspheme God, and dye.
10.But he said unto her, Thou speakest like a foolish woman: what? shal we receive good at the hand of God, and not nreceive evil? In all this did not Job sinne with his olips.
11.Now when Job’s three pfriends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, thei came everie one from his owne place, to wit, Elipház the Temanite, & Bildád the Shuhite, and Zophár the Naamathite, for thei were agreed together to come to lament with him, and to comfort him.
12.So when they lift up their eyes a farre off, they knewe him not, therefore thei lift up their voyces and wept, and everie one of them rent his garment, and sprinkled qdust upon their heads toward the heaven.
13.So thei sate by him upon the grounde seven dayes, & seven nights, & none spake a word unto him: for they saw that the grief was very rgreat. Job curseth. Job. 3:1
This sore was most vehement, wherewith also God plagued the Egyptians, Ex. 9.9 & threatens to punish the rebellious people, Deut. 28.27 so that this tentation was most grievous, for if Job had measured God’s favour by the vehemency of his disease, he might have thought that God had cast him off.
Meaning, What gainest thou to serve God, seeing he thus plagues you as though he were your enemie? This is the most grievous tentation of the faithful, when their faith is assailed, and when Satan goes about to persuade them, that they trust in God in vain.
Which were men of authority, wise and learned, and as the Septuagint write, Kings, and came to comfort him but when they saw how he was visited, they conceived an evil opinion of him, as though he had been but a hypocrite, and so justly plagued of God for his sins.