Job 2:3
And the Lord said to Satan: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved me against him, that I should afflict him without cause.
Open Job 2:3 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et dixit Dominus ad Satan : Numquid considerasti servum meum Job, quod non sit ei similis in terra, vir simplex et rectus, ac timens Deum, et recedens a malo, et adhuc retinens innocentiam ? tu autem commovisti me adversus eum, ut affligerem eum frustra.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος πρὸς τὸν διάβολον Προσέσχες οὖν τῷ θεράποντί μου Ἰώβ; ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν κατ᾽ αὐτὸν τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἄνθρωπος ἄκακος, ἀληθινός, ἄμεμπτος, θεοσεβής, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ. ἔτι δὲ ἔχεται ἀκακίας· σὺ δὲ εἶπας τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ διὰ κενῆς ἀπολέσαι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל הַשָּׂטָ֗ן הֲשַׂ֣מְתָּ לִבְּךָ֮ אֶל עַבְדִּ֣י אִיּוֹב֒ כִּי֩ אֵ֨ין כָּמֹ֜הוּ בָּאָ֗רֶץ אִ֣ישׁ תָּ֧ם וְיָשָׁ֛ר יְרֵ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים וְסָ֣ר מֵרָ֑ע וְעֹדֶ֨נּוּ֙ מַחֲזִ֣יק בְּתֻמָּת֔וֹ וַתְּסִיתֵ֥נִי ב֖וֹ לְבַלְּע֥וֹ חִנָּֽם
Haydock's commentary
Simple. Plain-dealing, mild, and without guile. (St. Gregory) (Worthington)
Without cause. This may form a new sentence. (Haydock)
Thy proposal and attempts are vain. (Calmet)
Job has not deserved this treatment. (St. Chrysostom, &c.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist, Chapter 49
Chapter 49. 113. Petilianus said: "For, granting that you faithless ones are acquainted with the law, without any prejudice to the law itself, I may say so much as this, the devil knows it too. For in the case of righteous Job he answered the Lord God concerning the law as though he were himself righteous, as it is written, "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a man without malice, a true worshipper of God abstaining from every evil; and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause?" And Satan answered the Lord, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. Behold he speaks in legal phrase, even when he is striving against the law. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XIII
5. “Lest at any time mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him” ( ver. 4 ). The devil’s mockery is to be feared. “They that trouble me will exult, if I be moved;” the devil and his angels; who exulted not over that righteous man, Job, when they troubled him; because he was not moved, that is, did not draw back from the stedfastness of his faith.
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
11. You will tell me, perhaps, that, high-born as you are, reared in luxury and used to lie softly, you cannot do without wine and dainties, and would find a stricter rule of life unendurable. If so, I can only say: “Live, then, by your own rule, since God’s rule is too hard for you.” Not that the Creator and Lord of all takes pleasure in a rumbling and empty stomach, or in fevered lungs; but that these are indispensable as means to the preservation of chastity. Job was dear to God, perfect and upright before Him; yet hear what he says of the devil: “His strength is in the loins, and his force is in the navel.”
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Julian
3. Long ago this wealthy proprietor and still wealthier father was made by a sudden stroke destitute and bereaved. But as, in spite of all that befel him, he had not sinned before God or spoken foolishly, the Lord, exulting in the victory of his servant and regarding Job’s patience as His own triumph, said to the devil: “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? and still he holdeth fast his integrity?” He finely adds the last clause because it is difficult for innocence to refrain from murmuring when it is overborne by misfortune; and to avoid making a shipwreck of faith when it sees that its sufferings are unjustly inflicted. The devil answered the Lord and said: “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. …