He eats grass like an ox.

  16See now, his strength is in his hips,

  And his power is in his stomach muscles.

  17He moves his tail like a cedar;

  The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

  18His bones are like beams of bronze,

  His ribs like bars of iron.

  19He is the first of the mways of God;

  Only He who made him can bring near His sword.

  20Surely the mountains nyield food for him,

  And all the beasts of the field play there.

  21He lies under the lotus trees,

  In a covert of reeds and marsh.

  22The lotus trees cover him with their shade;

  The willows by the brook surround him.

  23Indeed the river may rage,

  Yet he is not disturbed;

  He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,

  24Though he takes it in his eyes,

  Or one pierces his nose with a snare.

  Job 41

  God’s Power in the Leviathan

  1“Can you draw out aLeviathan1 with a hook,

  Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?

  2Can you bput a reed through his nose,

  Or pierce his jaw with a 2hook?

  3Will he make many supplications to you?

  Will he speak softly to you?

  4Will he make a covenant with you?

  Will you take him as a servant forever?

  5Will you play with him as with a bird,

  Or will you leash him for your maidens?

  6Will your companions 3make a banquet of him?

  Will they apportion him among the merchants?

  7Can you fill his skin with harpoons,

  Or his head with fishing spears?

  8Lay your hand on him;

  Remember the battle—

  Never do it again!

  9Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false;

  Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him?

  10No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.

  Who then is able to stand against Me?

  11c Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him?

  d Everything under heaven is Mine.

  12“I will not 4conceal his limbs,

  His mighty power, or his graceful proportions.

  13Who can 5remove his outer coat?

  Who can approach him with a double bridle?

  14Who can open the doors of his face,

  With his terrible teeth all around?

  15His rows of 6scales are his pride,

  Shut up tightly as with a seal;

  16One is so near another

  That no air can come between them;

  17They are joined one to another,

  They stick together and cannot be parted.

  18His sneezings flash forth light,

  And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

  19Out of his mouth go burning lights;

  Sparks of fire shoot out.

  20Smoke goes out of his nostrils,

  As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

  21His breath kindles coals,

  And a flame goes out of his mouth.

  22Strength dwells in his neck,

  And 7sorrow dances before him.

  23The folds of his flesh are joined together;

  They are firm on him and cannot be moved.

  24His heart is as hard as stone,

  Even as hard as the lower millstone.

  25When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid;

  Because of his crashings they 8are beside themselves.

  26Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail;

  Nor does spear, dart, or javelin.

  27He regards iron as straw,

  And bronze as rotten wood.

  28The arrow cannot make him flee;

  Slingstones become like stubble to him.

  29Darts are regarded as straw;

  He laughs at the threat of javelins.

  30His undersides are like sharp potsherds;

  He spreads pointed marks in the mire.

  31He makes the deep boil like a pot;

  He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

  32He leaves a shining wake behind him;

  One would think the deep had white hair.

  33On earth there is nothing like him,

  Which is made without fear.

  34He beholds every high thing;

  He is king over all the children of pride.”

  Job 42

  Job’s Repentance and Restoration

  1Then Job answered the LORD and said:

  2“I know that You acan do everything,

  And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

  3You asked, b‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’

  Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

  c Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

  4Listen, please, and let me speak;

  You said, d‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

  5“I have eheard of You by the hearing of the ear,

  But now my eye sees You.

  6Therefore I fabhor1 myself,

  And repent in dust and ashes.”

  7And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

  8“Now therefore, take for yourselves gseven bulls and seven rams, hgo to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall ipray for you. For I will accept 2him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

  9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had 3accepted Job.

  10jAnd the LORD 4restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job ktwice as much as he had before.

  11Then lall his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.

  12Now the LORD blessed mthe latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had nfourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

  13oHe also had seven sons and three daughters.

  14And he called the name of the first 5Jemimah, the name of the second 6Keziah, and the name of the third 7Keren-Happuch.

  15In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

  16After this Job plived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.

  17So Job died, old and qfull of days.

  Job Commentaries

  Job 1

  1:1—2:13 This section identifies the main persons and sets the stage for the drama to follow.

  1:1 Uz. Job’s home was a walled city with gates (29:7, 8), where he held a position of great respect. The city was in the land of Uz in northern Arabia, adjacent to Midian, where Moses lived for 40 years (Ex. 2:15). Job. The story begins on earth with Job as the central figure. He was a rich man with 7 sons and 3 daughters, in his middle years with a grown family, but still young enough to father 10 more children (see 42:13). He was good, a family man, rich, and widely known. blameless…upright…feared God… shunned evil. Cf. 1:8. Job was not perfect or without sin (cf. 6:24; 7:21; 9:20); however, it appears from the language that he had put his trust in God for redemption and faithfully lived a God-honoring, sincere life of integrity and consistency personally, maritally (2:10), and parentally (1:4, 5).

  1:3 sheep…camels…oxen…female donkeys. As typically in the ancient Near East, Job’s wealth was not measured in money or land holdings, but in his numerous livestock, like the patriarchs (cf. Gen. 13:1–7). greatest…of the East. A major claim by any standard. Solomon held a similar reputation, “…Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East…” (1 Kin. 4:30). The “east” denotes those living E of Palestine, as the people of the northern Arabian desert did (cf. Judg. 6:3; Ezek. 25:4).

  1:4 on his appointed day. Of the week (7 sons). This reference to the main meal of each day of the week, which moved from house to house, implies the love and harmony of the family members. The sisters are especially noted to show these were cared for with love.

  1:5 send and sanctify. At the end of every week, Job would offer up as many burnt offerings as he had sons (see Lev. 1:4), officiating as family priest weekly (“regularly”) in a time before the Aaronic priesthood was established. These offerings were to cover any sin that his children may have committed that week, indicating the depth of his spiritual devotion. This record is included to demonstrate the righteousness and virtue of Job and his family, which made his suffering all the more amazing. burnt offerings. This kind of offering was known as early as Noah (Gen. 8:20).

  1:6 sons of God. Job’s life is about to be caught up in heavenly strategies as the scene moves from earth to heaven where God is holding council with His heavenly court. Neither Job nor his friends ever knew about this. The angelic host (cf. 38:7; Pss. 29:1; 89:7; Dan. 3:25) came to God’s throne to render account of their ministry throughout the earth and heaven (cf. 1 Kin. 22:19–22). Like a Judas among the apostles, Satan was with the angels. Satan. Emboldened by the success he had with the unfallen Adam in paradise (Gen. 3:6–12, 17–19), he was confident that the fear of God in Job, one of a fallen race, would not stand his tests. And he had fallen himself (see Is. 14:12). As opposed to a personal name, Satan as a title means “adversary,” in either a personal or judicial sense. This demon is the ultimate spiritual adversary of all time and has been accusing the righteous throughout the ages (see Rev. 12:10). In a courtroom setting, the adversary usually stood to the right of the accused. This location is reported when Satan in heaven accused Joshua the High-Priest (Zech. 3:1). That he is still unsuccessful is the thesis of Rom. 8:31–39.

  1:7 And the LORD said. Lest there be any question about God’s role in this ordeal, it was He who initiated the dialogue. The adversary was not presiding. If anything, Satan raised the penetrating question that might well be asked by anyone, perhaps even Job himself: Does Job serve God with pure motives, or is he in it only as long as the blessings flow?

  1:7, 8 to and fro on the earth. The picture is of haste. No angel, fallen or holy, is an omnipresent creature, but they move rapidly. In Satan’s case, as prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and ruler of demons (Matt. 9:34; 12:24), the earth is his domain where he prowls like a “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). God gave him Job to test.

  1:9–11 Satan asserted that true believers are only faithful as long as they prosper. Take away their prosperity, he claims, and they will reject God. He wanted to prove that salvation is not permanent, that saving faith can be broken and those who were God’s could become his. That is the first of the two great themes of this book (see Introduction: Historical and Theological Themes). Satan repeated this affront with Jesus (see Matt. 4), Peter (see Luke 22:31), and Paul (see 2 Cor. 12:7). The OT has many promises from God in which He pledges to sustain the faith of His children. Cf. Pss. 37:23, 28; 97:10; 121:4–7. For NT texts, cf. Luke 22:31, 32; Jude 24.

  1:12 power. God allowed Satan to test Job’s faith by attacking “all that he has.” With God’s sovereign permission, Satan was allowed to move on Job, except that he could not attack Job physically.

  1:13–19 With 4 rapid-fire disasters, Satan destroyed or removed Job’s livestock, servants, and children. Only the 4 messengers survived.

  1:15 Sabeans. Lit. “Sheba,” part of Arabia. These people were terrorizing robbers, who had descended from Ham (Gen. 10:6, 7) and/or Shem (Gen. 10:28).

  1:16 fire of God…heaven. This probably refers to severe lightning.

  1:17 Chaldeans. A semi-nomadic people of the Arabian desert, experienced in marauding and war (cf. Hab. 1:6–8).

  1:19 great wind. Most likely a tornado-type wind. Cf. Is. 21:1; Hos. 13:15.

  1:20, 21 worshiped. He heard the other messages calmly, but on hearing about the death of his children, he expressed all the symbols of grief (cf. Gen. 37:34; Jer. 41:5; Mic. 1:16), but also worshiped God in the expression of v. 21. Instead of cursing, he blessed the name of Jehovah. Job’s submissive response disproved the adversary’s accusations (1:9–11). So far, Job was what God claimed him to be, a true believer with faith that cannot be broken (v. 8).

  1:22 did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Better, “sin by charging God with wrong.” Hasty words against God in the midst of grief are foolish and wicked. Christians are to submit to trials and still worship God, not because they see the reasons for them, but because God wills them and has His own reasons which believers are to trust.

  Job 1:22

  Biographical Sketch of Job

  1. A spiritually mature man (1:1, 8; 2:3)

  2. Father of many children (1:2; 42:13)

  3. Owner of many herds (1:3; 42:12)

  4. A wealthy and influential man (1:3b)

  5. A priest to his family (1:5)

  6. A loving, wise husband (2:9)

  7. A man of prominence in community afffairs (29:7–11)

  8. A man of benevolence (29:12–17; 31:32)

  9. A wise leader (29:21–24)

  10. Grower of crops (31:38–40)

  Job 2

  2:1–3a The scene changes again to the heavenly court, where the angels came before the LORD and Satan was also present, having been again searching the earth for victims to assault. See notes on 1:6–8.

  2:3 he holds fast to his integrity. God affirmed that Job had won round one. without cause. God uses the same expression the adversary used in Job 1 “for nothing (1:9)…without cause (2:3).” The message behind God’s turn of words is that the adversary is the guilty party in this case, not Job who had suffered all the disaster without any personal cause. He had done nothing to incur the pain and loss, though it was massive. The issue was purely a matter of conflict between God and Satan. This is a crucial statement, because when Job’s friends tried to explain why all the disasters had befallen him, they always put the blame on Job. Grasping this assessment from God—that Job had not been punished for something, but suffered for nothing related to him personally—is a crucial key to the story. Sometimes suffering is caused by divine purposes unknowable to us (see Introduction: Historical and Theological Themes).

  2:4, 5 Skin for skin. Satan contended that what he had done to Job so far was just touching the skin, scratching the surface. Job endured the loss of all that he had, even the lives of his children, but would not endure the loss of his own well-being. If God allowed Satan to make the disaster a personal matter of his own physical body, the Adversary contended, Job’s faith would fail.

  2:6 spare his life. The LORD sovereignly limited the Adversary, although death seemed preferable. Job believed that to be the case (cf. 7:15), as did his wife (2:9).

  2:7 Satan…struck Job. This appears to be an exceptional case with no other exact parallel in Scripture. In the gospels, demons caused physical problems when they dwelled within people (cf. 13:11, 16), but that is not the case here. God’s permissive will operated for purposes Job can’t know; God was hidden from him along with the reasons for his suffering. painful boils. Although the nature of Job’s affliction cannot be diagnosed exactly, it produced extreme physical trauma (cf. 2:13; 3:24; 7:5, 14; 13:28; 16:8; 19:17; 30:17, 30; 33:21). One cannot fully understand Job’s conversations throughout the book without considering the extraordinary physical distress he endured in a day without medicine or pain relief. His boils would have been similar to those of the Egyptians (Ex. 9:8–11) and Hezekiah (2 Kin. 20:7).

  2:8 potsherd…ashes. Suffering terribly, Job took himself to where the lepers go: the ash heap outside the city where he scraped at his sores with a piece of broken pottery, perhaps breaking them open to release the infection.

  2:9 your integrity. Through all this, Job’s faith remained strong in the confusion, so that his wife could not accuse him of insincerity as Satan had. Her argument in effect was “let go of your piety and curse God; then He will end your life for blaspheming,” (i.e., death under these conditions would be preferable to living). She added temptation to affliction because she advised him to sin.

  2:10 foolish. Not meaning silly or ridiculous, but acting as one who rejects God or God’s revealed will. The word is used of the unwise in the Psalms (14:1; 53:1) and in Proverbs (30:22). She is not seen nor heard of again in this book, except indirectly in 42:13–15. accept. Job lived out and explained the text of Deut. 29:29. His words and deeds demonstrated his confidence in God and vindicated God’s confidence in him.

  2:11–13 Here is one of the most moving scenes in the whole story, as Job’s friends came to comfort and commiserate with him in his pain. They expressed all the traditional gestures of grief.

  2:11 Temanite. Most likely Teman was a city of Edom (cf. Gen. 36:4, 11; Jer. 49:7, 20; Ezek. 25:13; Amos 1:12; Obad. 8, 9). Shuhite. The Shuhites were descendants of Abraham through Keturah (Gen. 25:2, 6). Naamathite. A resident of an unknown location probably in Edom or Arabia, although some have suggested Naamah on the Edomite border (cf. Josh. 15:41).

  2:13 his grief was very great. The expression actually meant that his disease produced pain that was still increasing. The agony was so great, his friends were speechless for a week.

  Job 2:13

  The Script

  1. Job Job 3; 6–7; 9–10; 12–14; 16–17; 19; 21; 23–24; 26–31; 40:3–5; 42:1–6

  2. Eliphaz Job 4–5; 15; 22

  3. Bildad Job 8; 18; 25

  4. Zophar Job 11; 20

  5. Elihu Job 32–37

  6. God Job 38:1—40:2; 40:6–41:34

  Job 3

  3:1—42:6 This whole section is poetry—a dramatic poem of speeches attempting to understand Job’s suffering.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764