Passage

Job 2.13

Book: Job · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

11. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to bemoan him and to comfort him. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great. (Job 2:11-13, ASV)

WEB

11. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. 12. When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.

13. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. (Job 2:11-13, WEB)

KJV

11. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great. (Job 2:11-13, KJV)

YLT

11. And three of the friends of Job hear of all this evil that hath come upon him, and they come in each from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they are met together to come in to bemoan him, and to comfort him; 12. and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads, heavenward.

13. And they sit with him on the earth seven days and seven nights, and there is none speaking unto him a word when they have seen that the pain hath been very great. (Job 2:11-13, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The narrator, in the prose prologue of the book (1:1-2:13)
Audience: The readers. In the scene, Job and his three friends: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite (2:11).
Location: The land of Uz (1:1), unlocated in the text and traditionally placed east or southeast of Israel. Job sits among the ashes (2:8).
Time period: Patriarchal in setting, with the date of composition disputed across a wide range

Theological reading

"So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." The friends had come "to bemoan him and to comfort him" (2:11). Seeing him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they wept, tore their robes, and threw dust toward heaven (2:12).

Seven days. Seven days was a recognized period of mourning. Joseph "made a mourning for his father seven days" (Genesis 50:10), and the men of Jabesh "fasted seven days" after burying Saul and his sons (1 Samuel 31:13). The friends treat Job's state as a bereavement and sit with him on the ground.

Silence for a reason. "None spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." The silence is not awkwardness. It is a judgment that words would not help yet. Job speaks first, when he is ready: "After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day" (3:1).

Their best moment. When the friends do speak, they go wrong. They argue that Job's suffering must be the result of his sin, and Job calls them "Miserable comforters" (16:2) and wishes they "would altogether hold your peace! And it would be your wisdom" (13:5). At the end, God tells Eliphaz, "ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath" (42:7). The book leaves the friends' week of silence as the one part of their visit no one criticizes. Paul's instruction, "weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15), names the same priority. See Why Doesn't God Intervene Objection Defeater.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Why Doesn't God Intervene Objection Defeater

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.