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Job 1

Job’s opening chapter places a righteous man’s devastating losses beside Satan’s challenge to whether anyone fears God without reward.

Job lives in Uz with ten children, vast herds, and a large household. He fears God and offers sacrifices out of concern for his children. Before YHWH, Satan challenges Job’s motives, claiming his devotion depends on prosperity. YHWH permits Satan to take what Job has, while forbidding harm to Job himself. Four messengers then report raids, fire, and a wind that kills his children. Job tears his robe, shaves his head, and worships in grief.

griefjob loss or money feardoubt
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1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
2There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.
4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
6Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan also came among them.
7The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, “From going back and forth on the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
8The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”
9Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
12The LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
13It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
14that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
15and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
19and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the LORD’s name.”
22In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Job 1:21Job blesses YHWH after losing his children and wealth, answering Satan’s accusation through worship amid grief.
Job 1:1The opening description establishes Job’s integrity before any suffering begins, ruling out wrongdoing as the chapter’s explanation for his losses.
Job 1:6The scene before YHWH reveals a challenge to Job’s faithfulness that Job himself never hears.
Where this chapter reaches

Ecclesiastes shares Job’s image of leaving life naked, unable to carry away wealth, while Ezekiel names Job among righteous people and James recalls his endurance. Revelation also portrays Satan as an accuser, linking his challenge here with the wider biblical theme of accusation against God’s people.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does Job’s response suggest about the place of grief within worship?

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How does knowing Job’s integrity before his losses shape your reading of what follows?

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Questions people ask about Job 1

Why did God allow Satan to test Job?

Satan claims that Job fears God because God protects and prospers him. YHWH permits a test of that claim and sets a boundary: Satan may touch Job’s possessions, but may not harm Job himself. The chapter reveals this challenge without explaining every purpose God has in permitting such suffering.

Who are the sons of God in Job 1?

The scene presents God’s sons as heavenly beings gathered before YHWH, with Satan appearing among them. Their individual identities and ranks are not given. The focus falls on YHWH’s authority and Satan’s accusation against Job, rather than on a detailed account of the heavenly assembly.

What does “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away” mean?

Job acknowledges God’s rule over what he possessed and has now lost. He speaks after tearing his robe and shaving his head, so his blessing of God comes with open mourning. The narrator affirms that Job does not sin or charge God with wrongdoing in this response.

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Job · 42 chapters
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What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about money →What the Bible says about doubt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).