Job 2:7
in Job 2So 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Job 2
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
So went Satan forth - Job 1:12. And smote Job with sore boils - The English word boil denotes the well-known turnout upon the flesh, accompanied with severe inflammation; a sore angry swelling. “Webster.” The Hebrew word, however, is in the singular number שׁחין shechı̂yn, and should have been so rendered in our translation.
This site's exposition
infected Job with terrible boils
on Job 2:7-8
The text gives "terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head" and offers no diagnosis. Barnes calls any naming of the disease guesswork. Job scrapes himself as he sits "among the ashes," the posture of a mourner, as Delitzsch notes.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church4 voices
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION. 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. No one entereth into this life of the Elect, that has not undergone the contradictions of this enemy. And they all have proved themselves the members of our Redeemer, who, from the first beginning of the world, whilst living righteously, have suffered wrongs. Did not Abel prove himself His member, who not only in propitiating God by his sacrifice, but also by dying without a word, was a figure of Him, of whom it is written, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. Thus from the very beginning of the world he strove to vanquish the Body of our Redeemer; and thus He inflicted wounds 'from the sole of the foot to His crown,' in that beginning with mere men, he came to the very Head of the Church in his raging efforts.
MORAL INTERPRETATION. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he immediately went forth from before the face of the Lord, and by smiting him whom He had thus gotten he wounded him from the sole of his foot even to his crown. Thus, viz. in that when he receives permission, beginning with the least, and reaching even to the greater points, he as it were rends and pierces all the body of the mind with the temptations which he brings upon it, yet he does not attain to the smiting of the soul, in that deep at the bottom of all the thoughts of the heart, the interior purpose of our secret resolution holds out, in the midst of the very wounds of gratification which it receives, so that although the enjoyment may eat into the mind, yet it does not so bend the set intent of holy uprightness as to bring it to the very softness of consenting. Yet it is our duty to cleanse the mere wounds of enjoyment themselves by the sharp treatment of penance, and if aught that is dissolute springs up in the heart to refine it with the chastening hand of rigorous severity.
When Satan had received the power, he proceeds to execute it. So the text continues, "So Satan went forth from the face of the Lord and afflicted Job," with what was truly an abominable and shameful blow. So the text says, "with sores," which were …
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown. How 'Satan goes forth from the presence of the Lord,' is shewn by the remarks which have been already made above. Strokes are to be estimated in two ways, viz. to consider either of what kind, or how great.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Boils - Like those inflicted upon the Egyptians, which are expressed by the same word, and threatened to apostate Israelites, Deut. xxviii, 27, whereby he was made loathsome to himself, and to his nearest relations, and filled with consuming pains in his body, and no less torments and anguish in his mind.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord,....
The former attack was extremely violent, but Job kept his ground, bravely made good the pass and carried the day. Yet he is still but girding on the harness; there is worse behind.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּצֵא֙ | vaiyetze' | and he went out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| הַשָּׂטָ֔ן | hasatan | the adversary | H7854 → | 27 times |
| מֵאֵ֖ת | meet | from with | H854 → | 929 times |
| פְּנֵ֣י | penei | [the] presence of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וַיַּ֤ךְ | vaiyakh | and he struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אִיּוֹב֙ | ʾiyov | Job | H347 → | 58 times |
| בִּשְׁחִ֣ין | bishchin | with boil[s] | H7822 → | |
| רָ֔ע | ra' | bad | H7451 → | 662 times |
| מִכַּ֥ף | mikaf | from [the] sole of | H3709 → | 192 times |
| רַגְל֖וֹ | raglo | foot his | H7272 → | 247 times |
| וְעַ֥ד | vead | and to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| קָדְקֳדֽוֹ׃ | kadekodo | scalp his | H6936 → |
וַיֵּצֵא֙and he went out
vaiyetze'H3318 →1067 times
הַשָּׂטָ֔ןthe adversary
hasatanH7854 →27 times
מֵאֵ֖תfrom with
meetH854 →929 times
פְּנֵ֣י[the] presence of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וַיַּ֤ךְand he struck
vaiyakhH5221 →499 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אִיּוֹב֙Job
ʾiyovH347 →58 times
בִּשְׁחִ֣יןwith boil[s]
bishchinH7822 →
רָ֔עbad
ra'H7451 →662 times
מִכַּ֥ףfrom [the] sole of
mikafH3709 →192 times
רַגְל֖וֹfoot his
ragloH7272 →247 times
וְעַ֥דand to
veadH5704 →1261 times
קָדְקֳדֽוֹ׃scalp his
kadekodoH6936 →
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
Job 30:30My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
it leads to
- Lamentations 4:8
But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
- Psalms 102:3
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Psalms 119:83
Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
- Lamentations 4:8
Through
Isaiah 1:6From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 6:14
They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
- Jeremiah 6:14
Through
Deuteronomy 28:27The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 5:6
Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
- 1 Samuel 5:6
Through
Job 7:5My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.
it leads to
- Job 17:14
and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
- Isaiah 14:11
Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
- Job 17:14
Through
Deuteronomy 28:35The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:27
The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
- Deuteronomy 28:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book III; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.