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Satan is a spiritual being who has the ability to affect human lives, often for harm, though he is ultimately subservient to God. Though the book is vague as to Satan’s precise nature and role, Satan is portrayed as being at liberty to wander the earth and even visit the divine assembly or heaven, where he talks with God. Though Satan has the power to harm people, he only holds this power because God grants it to him, and he cannot do what God forbids—for example, at the beginning of the book, God allows Satan to harm anything that belongs to Job, as long as Satan doesn’t harm Job’s own body. At that point, Satan causes Job’s servants to be killed and his animals stolen by raiding parties, and finally, all Job’s children are killed in a house collapse. When these disasters don’t lead Job to curse God (as Satan expects), Satan is allowed to afflict Job himself, which he does by giving Job tormenting sores. After all this, Satan doesn’t appear in the story again. In fact, throughout the book, Job’s quarrel over his suffering is clearly with God and not with Satan.
Satan Quotes in Book of Job
The Book of Job quotes below are all either spoken by Satan or refer to Satan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
Chapter 2
Quotes
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Related Characters:
Job (speaker), Job’s Wife (speaker), God, Satan
Related Themes:
Get the entire Book of Job LitChart as a printable PDF.
Satan Quotes in Book of Job
The Book of Job quotes below are all either spoken by Satan or refer to Satan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
Chapter 2
Quotes
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Related Characters:
Job (speaker), Job’s Wife (speaker), God, Satan
Related Themes:
