Job 2 explained: Job Loses His Health Too

A second meeting in heaven (vv. 1-3)

The scene from chapter 1 repeats: heavenly beings gather before the LORD, and the accuser (in Hebrew "the satan," meaning the adversary) comes too. The LORD points out that Job has kept his integrity after losing everything, and admits Job was ruined for no cause of his own.

Skin for skin (vv. 4-6)

"Skin for skin" was a saying whose exact sense is uncertain, but it seems to mean a person will give up anything to save their own life. The accuser claims Job stayed loyal only because his own body was unharmed, and the LORD lets him strike Job but not kill him.

Covered in sores (vv. 7-8)

Job is struck with painful sores from head to foot, and no one knows exactly what the disease was. He scrapes himself with a piece of broken pottery and sits in ashes, a common sign of deep mourning and lowliness.

Job and his wife (vv. 9-10)

His wife, who has also lost her children, tells him to curse God and die, and readers differ on whether she speaks from bitterness, despair, or a wish to see his pain end. Job calls this foolish talk, meaning turning away from God rather than lacking intelligence, and asks whether people should receive good from God and not trouble too.

Three friends arrive (vv. 11-13)

Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar come from lands outside Israel, and Teman, Eliphaz's home in Edom, was famous for its wise men. They tear their robes, throw dust toward the sky so it falls on their heads, and sit on the ground in silence for seven days, the usual length of mourning, because his pain is too great for words.

Key verse: Job 2:10

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how to understand God allowing the accuser to strike an innocent man: some read the heavenly scenes as literal events showing how God permits suffering, while others see them as a storytelling frame that sets up the book's questions rather than explaining how God actually works.

Something to think about

When someone is suffering badly, what do you think helps more, finding the right words or simply staying beside them in silence?