Job 1

VBL · Chapter 1/42

¹Había una vez un hombre llamado Job que vivía en la tierra de Uz. Era un hombre íntegro que hacía lo recto. Job respetaba a Dios y evitaba el mal.

²Tenía siete hijos y tres hijas.

³Poseía siete mil ovejas, tres mil camellos, quinientas yuntas de bueyes y quinientas asnas, así como muchos sirvientes. Era más rico que cualquier otro en el Oriente.

⁴Los hijos de Job se turnaban para celebrar fiestas en sus casas, en su día específico, y también invitaban a sus hermanas para que vinieran a comer y a beber con ellos.

⁵Cuando terminaban los días de fiesta, Job mandaba a buscarlos y los purificaba, levantándose de madrugada para ofrecer un holocausto por cada uno de ellos. Job se preocupaba, pensando para sí mismo: “Tal vez mis hijos hayan pecado de alguna manera y hayan ofendido a Dios sin querer”. Era lo que Job hacía siempre.

⁶Un día, los ángeles vinieron a presentarse ante el Señor, y Satanás vino con ellos.

⁷El Señor le preguntó a Satanás: “¿Qué has estado haciendo?” .

⁸“¿Has prestado atención a Job, mi siervo?” le peguntó el Señor. “No hay nadie como él en la tierra, un hombre íntegro que hace lo correcto, que respeta a Dios y evita el mal”.

⁹“¿Acaso es por nada que Job respeta a Dios?” – respondió Satanás. “Has colocado un cerco protector alrededor de él, de su familia y de todo lo que posee.

¹⁰Has bendecido todo lo que hace. ¡Sus rebaños y manadas han aumentado tanto que llenan toda la tierra!

¹¹Pero si extiendes tu mano y le quitas todo lo que tiene, sin duda te maldecirá en tu cara”.

¹²Entonces el Señor le dijo a Satanás: “Muy bien, tienes el poder de hacer lo que quieras con todo lo que tiene, pero no lo hieras a él físicamente”. Entonces Satanás se fue de la presencia del Señor.

¹³Llegó el día en que, mientras los hijos e hijas de Job estaban comiendo y bebiendo vino en la casa de su hermano mayor,

¹⁴un mensajero se acercó a Job y le dijo: “Mientras los bueyes estaban arando y las asnas pastando cerca,

¹⁵los sabeos atacaron y se los llevaron, matando a los pastores. Sólo yo escapé para traerte esta noticia”.

¹⁶Mientras aún hablaba, llegó otro mensajero y dijo: “El fuego de Dios cayó del cielo y prendió fuego a las ovejas y a los pastores y los quemó. Sólo yo escapé para traerte esta noticia”.

¹⁷Mientras él seguía hablando llegó otro mensajero y dijo: “Tres compañías armadas de caldeos atacaron los camellos y los tomaron, matando a los pastores. Sólo yo escapé para traerte esta noticia”.

¹⁸Mientras él seguía hablando llegó otro mensajero y dijo: “Tus hijos e hijas estaban comiendo y bebiendo vino en la casa de su hermano mayor,

¹⁹cuando de repente llegó un tremendo viento del desierto. Golpeó la casa por los cuatro costados, se derrumbó sobre ellos, y murieron. Sólo yo escapé para traerte esta noticia”.

²⁰Entonces Job se levantó y se rasgó la túnica. Entonces se cortó el pelo y se postró en el suelo en señal de adoración.

²¹“Estaba desnudo cuando salí del vientre de mi madre, y estaré desnudo cuando me vaya”, dijo. “El Señor dio, y el Señor ha quitado. Que el nombre del Señor sea honrado”.

²²En todo esto Job no pecó ni culpó a Dios.

📖 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.