Job 1

KJV · Chapter 1/42

¹There 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.

²And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

³His 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.

⁴And 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.

⁵And 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.

⁶Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

⁷And 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.

⁸And 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?

⁹Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

¹⁰Hast 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.

¹¹But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

¹²And 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.

¹³And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:

¹⁴And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶While 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.

¹⁷While 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.

¹⁸While 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:

¹⁹And, 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.

²⁰Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

²¹And 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.

²²In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Job is introduced as a blameless, wealthy, God-fearing man from the land of Uz. In the heavenly council, Satan challenges God, claiming that Job is faithful only because of his blessings, and is given permission to attack his possessions and children, who all die in a single day.

Explanation

The book of Job belongs to the wisdom literature of the Old Testament and addresses one of humanity's oldest questions: why do the innocent suffer? The scene of the "heavenly council," where spiritual beings present themselves before God, also appears in other biblical texts (such as 1 Kings 22:19-23) and reflects a common image of the royal court in the ancient Near East, applied to divine governance. Faced with the sudden loss of everything, Job's response — tearing his robe, yet worshiping God and not sinning with his lips — establishes the standard of faith that will be tested throughout the entire book. Application for today: genuine faith does not depend on favorable circumstances but holds firm even in the face of the most devastating loss.

Fun facts

The land of "Uz" is generally located in the region of Edom or northern Arabia, outside Israel, suggesting that Job was not an Israelite — which makes the book a universal reflection on suffering, not one restricted to a specific people.
The name "Satan" appears here with the definite article in Hebrew (ha-satan), literally meaning "the accuser" or "the adversary" — a role within the heavenly court similar to a prosecutor, rather than a proper name as it would later come to be understood.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Job 1:1Uz lies outside Israel, in a half-legendary region to the east — it is like opening with “once upon a time,” a sign that the story has the feel of a universal parable, not the chronicle of one specific nation. The KJV’s “perfect and upright” does not mean flawless; it means integrity — someone whose life matches what he professes.
Job 1:2Seven sons and three daughters make a full, almost too-perfect number — the text sets up Job’s family as a model of blessing before disaster strikes.
Job 1:3The list of livestock and servants shows Job as the wealthiest man of the East in his day — the greater the fortune, the harder the fall that follows.
Job 1:4The sons took turns hosting feasts and invited their sisters to join — the scene paints a close, festive family, a picture of the good life before tragedy strikes.
Job 1:5After each feast Job offered sacrifices purely as a precaution, thinking his sons might have sinned “in their hearts” without his knowing — it shows just how scrupulous he was about his own righteousness.
Job 1:6“The sons of God” is the term for the beings of the heavenly court, a council around the throne. Here “Satan” translates the Hebrew ha-satan, “the satan,” with the definite article — it names an office, the adversary or prosecutor who tests human loyalty before God, not yet the cosmic enemy later Christian tradition would draw.
Job 1:7“From going to and fro in the earth” is Satan’s answer to God — here he appears as an inspector who roams the world watching humans, not yet the cosmic enemy of later tradition.
Job 1:8It is God who brings up the subject, naming Job first as an example of integrity — the wager begins on divine initiative, not because Satan asked to test him.
Job 1:9The adversary’s question — “Doth Job fear God for nought?” — drives the whole book. It unsettles because it has no easy answer: no one in the text, neither Job nor the reader, knows the answer until the end.
Job 1:10Satan argues that God has built a “hedge” of protection and prosperity around Job, so his faith would be pure self-interest — the image is ironic, because later Job will feel hedged in again, only this time by suffering.
Job 1:11Satan’s bet is direct: take everything from him and Job “will curse thee to thy face.” It’s the challenge that kicks off the first wave of disasters.
Job 1:12God authorizes Satan to strike Job’s possessions but forbids touching the man himself — the limit of the first wager is clear: property only, not the body.
Job 1:13The scene returns to an ordinary feast day at the sons’ house, the moment just before everything collapses — the contrast between the celebration and the disaster to come is deliberate.
Job 1:14The first of four messengers arrives, each one interrupting the last — a narrative device that piles up the tragedies without giving Job a moment’s breath.
Job 1:15The Sabeans attack and steal the oxen and donkeys, killing the servants — the line “I only am escaped alone to tell thee” repeats with every messenger, a refrain marking total destruction.
Job 1:16The “fire of God” that falls from heaven probably describes lightning — the phrase attributes the natural event to God, even though Satan is behind it.
Job 1:17The Chaldeans, in three organized raiding bands, carry off the camels and kill the servants — the third blow, as calculated as the ones before it.
Job 1:18The fourth messenger repeats the scene of the sons’ feast, now to deliver the worst news of all.
Job 1:19A great wind from the wilderness collapses the house on Job’s ten children, killing them all — the final and heaviest blow in the sequence of disasters.
Job 1:20Tearing one’s robe and shaving one’s head were the standard gestures of mourning in the ancient world, a way of marking a grievous loss on the body itself. Job does both and still falls down to worship — grief and faith coexisting in the same scene, neither cancelling the other.
Job 1:21“Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither” is Job’s answer to losing everything: he came into the world with nothing and accepts leaving with nothing, blessing the name of the Lord even in his pain.
Job 1:22The narrator closes the first round by saying Job “sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” — the verdict that opens the door to the second round of trials in the next chapter.