Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Parallel translations
- WEB Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
- KJV Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
- NKJV Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
- NASB Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die!”
- NLT His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job's wife urges him to curse God and die, voicing despair. Her words present a real temptation to abandon faith.
Overview
Crushed by shared grief, Job's wife counsels him to renounce God and end his torment, the very outcome Satan predicted. Faithful interpreters note she is herself a grieving sufferer, though her counsel is wrong. Her challenge sharpens the test, making Job's steadfast trust shine all the brighter against the lure of despair.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Job 2:3Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”
- Job 2:5But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
- 2 Kgs 6:33While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
- Mal 3:14You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
- Job 1:11But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
- Job 21:14–15Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- 1 Kgs 11:4For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- Gen 3:12And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 2:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.