Job 2:6
in Job 2“Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; only spare his life.
KJV
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
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This verse in Job 2
Commentary
13 notes on this verseBut save his life - His body thou shalt have permission to afflict, but against his life thou shalt have no power; therefore take care of his life. The original, נפשו שמר naphsho shemor, may be translated, keep his soul; but the word also signifies life; yet in the hands of the destroyer the life of this holy man is placed! How astonishing is the economy of salvation!
This site's exposition
Skin for skin
on Job 2:4-6
The words "Skin for skin" occur only here, a saying of barter in Gill and Clarke, one skin traded to save a more valuable one. "A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life," so the losses so far had spared Job's own body.
This site's exposition
but you must spare his life
Gregory notes the guard goes with the permission, so the LORD keeps Job even while He hands him over. Wesley reads Job as a type of Christ, for Satan was allowed to strike Christ's heel at Genesis 3:15 and to take His life. Job's life stays in the LORD's hands.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Only spare his soul." God does not say this as if he wanted to prevent the devil from snatching Job's life away, but he says "spare him." That is, be careful not to destroy the natural state of Job's mind and reason. So God arranged …
The Lord allows even this for our best, so that Job should be presented as an expression and image of perseverance—like a marked pillar—and that he may be for his contemporaries and his successors an example of such virtue. Indeed, this did happen. From the …
The Medieval Church3 voices
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. Here again, the safeguard of protection goes along with the permission to smite, and the dispensation of God both while guarding, forsakes his elect servant, and while forsaking, guards him. A portion of him He gives over, a portion He protects. For if he had left Job wholly in the hand of so dire a foe, what could have become of a mere man? And so with the very justice of the permission there is mixed a certain measure of pity, that in one and the same contest, both His lowly servant might rise by oppression, and the towering enemy be brought down by the permission. Thus the holy man is given over to the adversary's hand, but yet in his inmost soul he is held fast by the hand of his Helper. For he was of the number of those sheep, concerning whom Truth itself said in the Gospel, Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. And yet it is said to the enemy, when he demands him, Behold, he is in thine hand. The same man then is at the same time in the hand of God, and in the hand of the devil. For by saying, he is in thine hand, and straightway adding, but save his life, the pitiful Helper openly shewed that His hand was upon him whom He yielded up, and that in giving He did not give him, whom, while He cast him forth, He at the same time hid from the darts of his adversary. But how is that it is said to Satan, but save his life? For how does he keep safe, who is ever longing to break in upon things under safe keeping? But Satan's saving is spoken of his not daring to break in, just as, conversely, we petition The Father in prayer, saying, Lead us not into temptation; for neither does the Lord lead us into temptation, Who is ever mercifully shielding His servants therefrom. […]
Therefore the Lord willed to show that Job had not served God for the health of the body, just as he had already shown that Job did not serve him because of exterior goods, and so the text adds, "The Lord said to Satan: Behold, …
MORAL INTERPRETATION. Behold, he is in thine hand: but save his life. Oftentimes our old enemy, after he has brought down upon our mind the conflict of temptation, retires for a time from his own contest, not to put an end to his wickedness, but that upon those hearts, which he has rendered secure by a respite, returning of a sudden, he may make his inroad the more easily and unexpectedly.
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. What fool even would believe that the Creator of all things was given up into 'the hands of Satan?' Yet who that is instructed by the Truth can be ignorant that of that very Satan all they are members who are joined unto him by living frowardly? Thus Pilate shewed himself a member of him, who, even to the extremity of putting Him to death, knew not the Lord when He came for our Redemption. The chief priests proved themselves to be his body, who strove to drive the world's Redeemer from the world, by persecuting Him even to the cross. When then the Lord for our salvation gave Himself up to the hands of Satan's members, what else did He, but let loose that Satan's hand to rage against Himself, that by the very act whereby He Himself outwardly fell low, He might set us free both outwardly and inwardly. If therefore the hand of Satan is taken for his power, He after the flesh bore the hand of him, whose power over the body He endured even to the spitting, the buffetting, the stripes, the cross, the lance; and hence when He cometh to His Passion He saith to Pilate, i.e. to the body of Satan, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me except it were given thee from above; and yet this power, which He had given to him against Himself without, He compelled to serve the end of His own interest within. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Job, in being thus maligned of Satan, was a type of Christ. He had permission to bruise his heel, to touch his bone and his flesh; yea, and his life also; because by dying he was to do what Job could not do, to destroy him that had the power of death.
It would be the language not of his heart, but of his distemper." Job, in being thus maligned by Satan, was a type of Christ, the first prophecy of whom was that Satan should bruise his heel ( Gen. iii. 15 ), and so he was foiled, as in Job's case.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, he is in thine hand,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Behold, he is in thine hand - He is at thy disposal; see Job 1:12, Margin. But save his life - Margin, “only.” This was to be the only limitation. It would seem that he had the power to make any selection of disease, and to afflict him in any manner, provided it did not terminate fatally. The keen sorrows which Job afterward endured showed the malignancy of the tempter; evinced his ingenuity in inflicting pain, and his knowledge of what thc human frame could be made to bear.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֧אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַשָּׂטָ֖ן | hasatan | the adversary | H7854 → | 27 times |
| הִנּ֣וֹ | hino | there he | H2005 → | 316 times |
| בְיָדֶ֑ךָ | veyadekha | [is] in hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| אַ֖ךְ | ʾakh | surely | H389 → | 161 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נַפְשׁ֥וֹ | nafsho | life his | H5315 → | 754 times |
| שְׁמֹֽר׃ | shemor | preserve | H8104 → | 468 times |
וַיֹּ֧אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֛הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַשָּׂטָ֖ןthe adversary
hasatanH7854 →27 times
הִנּ֣וֹthere he
hinoH2005 →316 times
בְיָדֶ֑ךָ[is] in hand your
veyadekhaH3027 →1618 times
אַ֖ךְsurely
ʾakhH389 →161 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נַפְשׁ֥וֹlife his
nafshoH5315 →754 times
שְׁמֹֽר׃preserve
shemorH8104 →468 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Corinthians 10:13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will…
it leads to
- 2 Peter 2:9
if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
- 2 Timothy 4:18
And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
- 1 Peter 5:8–9
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Hebrews 12:4
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
- 2 Peter 2:9
Through
Revelation 2:10Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful…
it leads to
- James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
- Matthew 10:22
You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- Revelation 3:10–11
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the…
- James 1:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
On this chapter
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 2:6; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 2:6; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book III; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.