Bible Strands
Job 1:11
But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Satan addresses God in the heavenly council, challenging Job’s piety after noting God’s protective hedge and prosperity. This occurs immediately before the first wave of calamities strikes Job’s family and possessions.
The words — The Hebrew phrase שְׁלַח־יָדְךָ (she.lach-ya.de./Kha) literally means “stretch out your hand,” followed by גַּע (ga') “touch” or “strike.” These terms frame the conditional command to remove everything Job owns.
The thread — This challenge reappears in Job 2:5 when Satan requests permission to strike Job’s flesh, while Job 19:21 records Job’s lament over God’s hand striking him. Revelation 16:11 mirrors the threatened outcome where the afflicted curse God instead of repenting.
Why it lands — The text presents a direct test of devotion when all external blessings are removed, leaving only the relationship itself. It forces the reader to examine whether loyalty to God depends on divine protection or survives its absence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Cross-references
- Job 2:5 But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
- Job 19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
- Revelation 16:11 and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores. Yet they did not repent of their deeds.
- Malachi 3:13 “Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
- Revelation 16:9 And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues. Yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
- Revelation 16:21 And great hailstones weighing almost a hundred pounds each rained down on them from above. And men cursed God for the plague of hail, because it was so horrendous.
- Genesis 26:11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
- Job 1:5 And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
- Job 1:12 “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
- Job 1:21 saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”