Job 2 · Verse 7

Job 2:7

So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Job 2:7, King James Version

Job 2:7 in other translations

BSBSo Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
WEBSo Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
ASVSo Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
YLTAnd the Adversary goeth forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smiteth Job with a sore ulcer from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
DARBYAnd Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah; and he smote Job with a grievous botch from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
BBEAnd the Satan went out from before the Lord, and sent on Job an evil disease covering his skin from his feet to the top of his head.
WebsterSo Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to his crown.

What does Job 2:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
7. sore boils--malignant boils; rather, as it is singular in the Hebrew, a "burning sore." Job was covered with one universal inflammation. The use of the potsherd [Job 2:8] agrees with this view. It was that form of leprosy called black (to distinguish it from the white), or elephantiasis, because the feet swell like those of the elephant. The Arabic judham (De 28:35), where "sore botch" is rather the black burning boil (Is 1:6).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 7 Sore boils - בשחין רע bischin ra, "with an evil inflammation." What this diabolical disorder was, interpreters are not agreed. Some think it was the leprosy, and this is the reason why he dwelt by himself, and had his habitation in an unclean place, without the city, (Septuagint, εξω της πωλεως), or in the open air: and the reason why his friends beheld him afar off, Job 2:12, was because they knew that the disorder was infectious. His scraping himself with a potsherd indicates a disease accompanied with intolerable itching, one of the characteristics of the smallpox. Query, Was it not this disorder? And in order to save his life (for that he had in especial command) did not Satan himself direct him to the cool regimen, without which, humanly speaking, the disease must have proved fatal? In the elephantiasis and leprosy there is, properly speaking, no boil or detached inflammation, or swelling, but one uniform disordered state of the whole surface, so that the whole body is covered with loathsome scales, and the skin appears like that of the elephant, thick and wrinkled, from which appearance the disorder has its name. In the smallpox it is different; each pock or pustule is a separate inflammation, tending to suppuration; and during this process, the fever is in general very high, and the anguish and distress of the patient intolerable. When the suppuration is pretty far advanced, the itching is extreme; and the hands are often obliged to be confined to prevent the patient from literally tearing his own flesh.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 2:7-10
The devil tempts his own children, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. He provoked Job to curse God. The disease was very grievous. If at any time we are tried with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with otherwise than as God sometimes deals with the best of his saints and servants. Job humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and brought his mind to his condition. His wife was spared to him, to be a troubler and tempter to him. Satan still endeavours to draw men from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts of Him, than which nothing is more false. But Job resisted and overcame the temptation. Shall we, guilty, polluted, worthless creatures, receive so many unmerited blessings from a just and holy God, and shall we refuse to accept the punishment of our sins, when we suffer so much less than we deserve? Let murmuring, as well as boasting, be for ever done away. Thus far Job stood the trial, and appeared brightest in the furnace of affliction. There might be risings of corruption in his heart, but grace had the upper hand.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 2:7 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֵּצֵא֙vai.ye.Tze'and he went outH3318
הַשָּׂטָ֔ןha.sa.Tanthe adversaryH7854
מֵאֵ֖תme.'Etfrom withH854
פְּנֵ֣יpe.Nei[the] presence ofH6440
יְהוָ֑הYah.wehYahwehH3068
וַיַּ֤ךְvai.Yakhand he struckH5221
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
אִיּוֹב֙'i.yOvJobH347
בִּשְׁחִ֣יןbish.Chinwith boil[s]H7822
רָ֔עRa'badH7451
מִכַּ֥ףmi.Kaffrom [the] sole ofH3709
רַגְל֖וֹrag.Lofoot hisH7272
וְעַ֥דve.adand toH5704
קָדְקֳדֽוֹ\׃ka.de.ko.Doscalp hisH6936

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 2:7

  • Deuteronomy 28:35

    The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

  • Job 30:30

    My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

  • Isaiah 1:6

    From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

  • Job 7:5

    My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

  • Deuteronomy 28:27

    The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

  • Revelation 16:11

    And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

  • Exodus 9:9-11

    And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.

  • Isaiah 3:17

    Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.

  • Job 30:17-19

    My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

  • 1 Kings 22:22

    And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
So went.
1Ki 22:22
sore boils.{Shechin râ,} supposed to be the {Judham,} or black leprosy, of the Arabs, termed Elephantiasis by the Greeks, from its rendering the skin, like that of the elephant, scabrous, dark coloured, and furrowed all over with tubercles. This loathsome and most afflictive disease is accompanied with most intolerable itching.
30:17-19,30; Ex 9:9-11; De 28:27,35; Re 16:11
from the sole.
Isa 1:6; 3:17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 2:6

    And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

  • Job 2:7

    So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

  • Job 2:8

    And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

Read all of Job 2

Job 2:7 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y salió Satán de delante de Jehová, é hirió á Job de una maligna sarna desde la planta de su pie hasta la mollera de su cabeza.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et Satan sortit de la présence de l’ Éternel; et il frappa Job d’un ulcère malin, depuis la plante de ses pieds jusqu’au sommet de sa tête.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und Satan ging von dem Angesicht Jehovas hinweg, und er schlug Hiob mit bösen Geschwüren, von seiner Fußsohle bis zu seinem Scheitel.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Egressus igitur Satan a facie Domini, percussit Job ulcere pessimo, a planta pedis usque ad verticem ejus;