Jó 2

ARC · Chapter 2/42

¹E, vindo outro dia, em que os filhos de Deus vieram apresentar-se perante o Senhor, veiu tambem Satanaz entre elles, apresentar-se perante o Senhor.

²Então o Senhor disse a Satanaz: D'onde vens? E respondeu Satanaz ao Senhor, e disse: De rodeiar a terra, e passeiar por ella.

³E disse o Senhor a Satanaz: Consideraste ao meu servo Job? porque ninguem ha na terra similhante a elle, homem sincero e recto, temente a Deus, e desviando-se do mal, e que ainda retem a sua sinceridade; havendo-me tu incitado contra elle, para o consumir sem causa.

⁴Então Satanaz respondeu ao Senhor, e disse: Pelle por pelle, e tudo quanto o homem tem dará pela sua vida.

⁵Porém estende a tua mão, e toca-lhe nos ossos, e na carne, e verás se te não amaldiçoa na tua face

⁶E disse o Senhor a Satanaz: Eis-*que elle está na tua mão; porém guarda a sua vida.

⁷Então saiu Satanaz da presença do Senhor, e feriu a Job d'uma chaga maligna, desde a planta do pé até ao alto da cabeça.

⁸E tomou um caco para se raspar com elle: e estava assentado no meio da cinza.

⁹Então sua mulher lhe disse: Ainda retens a tua sinceridade? amaldiçoa a Deus, e morre.

¹⁰Porém elle lhe disse: Como falla qualquer das doidas, fallas tu; receberemos o bem de Deus, e não receberiamos o mal? Em tudo isto não peccou Job com os seus labios.

¹¹Ouvindo pois tres amigos de Job todo este mal que tinha vindo sobre elle, vieram cada um do seu logar; Eliphaz o temanita, e Bildad o suhita, e Sofar o naamathita; e concertaram juntamente de virem condoer-se d'elle, e para o consolarem.

¹²E, levantando de longe os seus olhos, não o conheceram: e levantaram a sua voz e choraram; e rasgaram cada um o seu manto, e sobre as suas cabeças lançaram pó ao ar.

¹³E se assentaram juntamente com elle na terra, sete dias e sete noites: e nenhum lhe dizia palavra alguma, porque viam que a dôr era mui grande.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Satan appears once again before God and is given permission to attack Job's body, sparing only his life. Job is afflicted with painful sores but remains faithful even when his wife urges him to curse God. Three friends arrive to comfort him.

Explanation

Job's response to his wife ("Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?") shows a mature theology that accepts both blessings and hardships as part of God's sovereignty, without denying the real pain of loss. The three friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — come from nearby regions and represent the traditional wisdom of the time; their initial gesture of sitting in silence for seven days follows the ancient Near Eastern mourning custom in the face of extreme suffering. Application for today: silent, sympathetic presence beside someone who is suffering, without trying to immediately explain or resolve their pain, is often the most valuable support one can offer.

Fun facts

The friends' seven days of silence (verse 13) correspond to the Jewish mourning custom later known as "shiva" (meaning "seven" in Hebrew), a mourning practice still observed in Judaism today.
Job's illness, described as "sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown," has been associated by scholars with various possible conditions, but the text deliberately avoids identifying it with medical precision, focusing instead on the total, generalized suffering of the body.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Jó 2:1The scene of the heavenly court repeats almost word for word from chapter 1 — a sign that a second round of testing is about to begin.
Jó 2:2God asks Satan the same question again, and the answer is identical — the repeated dialogue marks the cyclical pattern of Job’s trials.
Jó 2:3God acknowledges that Job remains blameless even though He was “moved” against him “without cause” — the text itself admits that Job’s suffering has no reason, which already undercuts any theory of punishment for sin.
Jó 2:4“Skin for skin” is a bargaining phrase: the adversary argues that Job only endured losing his goods and children because he never lost his own skin. It is the second wager of the prologue, this time over his body.
Jó 2:5Satan raises the stakes: this time he wants to touch Job’s “bone and flesh,” convinced physical pain will break his faith.
Jó 2:6God authorizes the attack on Job’s body but demands that his life be spared — the limit of the second wager.
Jó 2:7The “sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” suggest some severe skin disease; the text does not diagnose it, only describes the physical suffering piled on top of his earlier loss.
Jó 2:8The potsherd for scraping himself and the ashes he sits in were part of the ritual of someone in extreme suffering — sitting on the ground, in the dirt, outside normal life. The scene marks Job’s rock bottom before he even utters a single complaint.
Jó 2:9Job’s wife, who also lost her children, tells him to “curse God, and die” — harsh words, but coming from someone devastated by the very same tragedy.
Jó 2:10Job rebukes his wife and accepts both good and evil from God’s hand — the narrator repeats that he did not sin “with his lips,” a hint that something may shift further on.
Jó 2:11Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come from different regions — the text is assembling a cast of outside sages to debate with Job. Their intention is good, to mourn with him and comfort him, which makes it all the more ironic how much they will soon disagree with him.
Jó 2:12Seeing Job from a distance, his friends do not even recognize him, so disfigured is he — they weep, tear their robes, and throw dust on their heads, the most intense mourning gestures of the time.
Jó 2:13Seven days and seven nights of silence was the heaviest mourning period of the time, and it is the one moment in the book where the friends get it right: presence alone, no speeches. Starting in the next chapter they break the silence, and that is exactly what Job will later hold against them.