Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/165

 “Skin for  skin  and  all  that  a man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life ; but put  forth  Thy  hand,  touch  his  bone  and  his  flesh,  and  then Thou shalt  see,  if  he  will  not  curse  Thee.”

The Lord  said : “Behold,  he  is  in  thy  hand,  but  yet  save  his life.” So  Satan  struck  Job  with  a most  grievous  ulcer  from  the sole of  the  foot  even  to  the  top  of  his  head. And Job  sat  on a dung-hill  and  scraped  the  ulcerated  matter  with  a potsherd. Then his  wife  came,  not  to  comfort,  but  rather  to  tempt  him, for she  mockingly  said:  “Bless  God  and  die!”

But Job  said  to  her:  “Thou  hast  spoken  like  one  of  the foolish women. If we  have  received  good  things  at  the  hand  of God,  why  should  we  not  receive  evil?”  Again,  in  all  these  things Job did  not  sin  with  his  lips  or  his  heart.

Now when  Job’s  three  friends  heard  of  the  evils  that  had  befallen him,  they  came  to  visit  him. When they  saw  him  afar  off, they knew  him  not,  and  crying  out,  they  wept,  and  rending  their garments, they  sprinkled  ashes  on  their  heads. They sat  with him on  the  ground  seven  days  and  seven  nights,  and  no  man spoke to  him  a word; for  they  saw  that  his  grief  was  very  great.

But when  Job  began  at  length  to  complain  of  the  excess  of his  misery,  they  reproached  him,  saying  that  secretly  he  must have been  a great  sinner,  or  the  just  God  would  not  have  afflicted him in  so  grievous  a manner. But Job  loudly  and  firmly  asserted his innocence,  and  consoled  himself  with  the  hope  of  the  resur-