Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
- BSB Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your 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 2:3And the LORD said unto Satan, 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, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
- Job 2:5But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
- 2 Kgs 6:33And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
- Mal 3:14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
- Job 1:11But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
- Job 21:14–15Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
- Gen 3:6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- 1 Kgs 11:4For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
- Gen 3:12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
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.