Satan’s Challenge and Job’s Initial Suffering | Job’s Righteousness and Prosperity

The story of Job is found primarily in the Book of Job in the Old Testament of the Bible. Below are key scriptures that outline the major events and themes of Job's life:

1. Job’s Righteousness and Prosperity
Job 1:1-3: "There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East."
2. Satan’s Challenge and Job’s Initial Suffering
Job 1:6-12: Satan challenges God, claiming that Job is only righteous because he is blessed. God allows Satan to test Job’s faith by taking away his wealth, family, and health.
Job 1:20-22: "Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.' In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong."
3. Job’s Further Suffering and Physical Affliction
Job 2:7-8: "So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes."
4. Job’s Lament and Questioning
Job 3:1-3: "After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke and said: 'May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, "A male child is conceived."'"
5. Job’s Friends and Their Counsel
Job 4:7-8 (Eliphaz speaks): "Remember now, whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same."
Job 16:2: "I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all!"
6. Job’s Declaration of Faith
Job 13:15: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."
Job 19:25-26: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God."
7. God’s Response to Job
Job 38:1-3: "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 'Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.'"
Job 40:1-2: "Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: 'Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.'"
8. Job’s Repentance and Restoration
Job 42:1-6: Job humbly acknowledges God’s wisdom and repents: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. ... Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
Job 42:10: "And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before."
Job 42:12-13: "Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters."
These passages encapsulate the major events in Job's life and illustrate his journey from prosperity to suffering and then to restoration, all while exploring themes of faith, justice, and the human condition in the face of suffering.