BOOK 18 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Job 1

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Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Job 1 Overview

Job is introduced as an upright, God-fearing man of great family and wealth. In the heavenly scene, Satan challenges Job’s integrity, claiming it depends on blessing. God permits severe loss within stated limits, and Job loses his livestock, servants, and children in a single day yet does not charge God foolishly.

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Before you read Job 1

Coming from

Esther ended with God’s people preserved in Persian exile. Job shifts away from Israel’s national history to wisdom literature and the deeply personal question of righteous suffering.

In this chapter

The chapter establishes Job’s character, the unseen challenge, and the first wave of catastrophic loss.

Leads into

Chapter 2 brings a second heavenly challenge, bodily affliction, Job’s wife’s despairing counsel, and the arrival of three friends.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Job’s suffering is not introduced as punishment for secret wickedness. The narrator explicitly calls him perfect and upright in the sense of integrity and God-fearing character. The reader is shown an unseen heavenly dimension that Job himself never receives during the debates.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Severe suffering can come upon an upright person without being a direct punishment for some hidden sin.

Truth 2

Satan operates under God’s sovereign limits; he is not presented as an equal rival to God.

Truth 3

Job’s first response holds grief and worship together: he mourns honestly yet refuses to accuse God of wrongdoing.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

James 5:11 later names the patience of Job and points readers to the Lord’s compassionate end of the story.

Connection 2

Luke 22:31-32 also portrays satanic testing as limited and subject to divine authority.

Connection 3

Ecclesiastes and several Psalms likewise challenge simplistic formulas that equate present prosperity with righteousness.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not use Job 1 to teach that every tragedy results from a specific heavenly wager; the reader is shown this explanation for Job’s particular case.

Keep this clear 2

“Perfect” does not mean sinlessly flawless; it describes mature integrity and uprightness.

Keep this clear 3

Do not say Job’s children died because of sins Job suspected; his sacrifices were precautionary acts of consecration, not proof of their guilt.

Read Job 1 watching for…

How the narrator describes Job before any suffering begins.

The limits God places on Satan.

The speed and totality of the losses.

Job’s physical signs of grief.

What Job does—and does not—say about God.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-5Job is introduced as an upright man who fears God and cares for his family 6-12Satan challenges Job’s faithfulness, and the LORD permits his possessions to be tested 13-19Job loses his livestock, servants, and children in a series of disasters 20-22Job mourns and worships without charging God foolishly

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, 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 cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

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?

Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.