1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 2There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. 4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
6Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. 7Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
8Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”
9Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
12Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.”
So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh. 13It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. 21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.” 22In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.
The meaning of the "sons of God," in this passage has been interpreted three ways: 1) Angels, 2) kings and rulers, and 3) the people of God. The first option draws the interpreter’s attention as follows: Around the second century B.C. the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates the “sons of God” in Gen 6:2 as “angels.” 1 Enoch, a Jewish apocryphal literature of the second century B.C., quoted by Jude, also interprets Gen 6:1-4 in terms of the fallen angel’s cohabitation with human women. This view appears to have been held by all of the church fathers prior to St. Augustine. This option is perhaps most appealing in light of the New Testament because the New Testament authors refer to the concept of fallen angels in 2 Pet 2:4 and Jude 6, and its usage in Job 1:6. While 2 Pet 2:4 speaks only of some angels in the days of Noah committing a sin that brought them under God's judgment, the writer Jude provides the nature of the sin that Peter mentions, that it was sexual in nature, as was the sin of Sodom (use of the comparative ὡς in Greek). This option, however, does not answer the question of why God punished men by the Flood if the sons of God were angels unless the text in Genesis speaks of angels who were fallen angels who had already fallen or fell into sin by this act. Furthermore, God bestowed procreative power on animals and humanity (Gen 1:22, 28), not angels. In fact, Jesus denied angels’ procreative ability (Matt 22:30), but this might only speak of angels when they are incorporeal. When angels take on human form, as in Genesis 18 (one, Yahweh Himself), who interacted with Abraham, had their feet washed, and ate a meal with Abraham, it is possible they had other human capabilities.
A second option is that human kings and rulers took any woman of their choice (single or married) for royal harems. In this case, the source of moral decay was the tyrants' polygamy and abuse of power. A difficulty is that the larger context of this text reveals that this text is not about decadent kingship but the moral corruption of humanity as a whole.
The third option views the "sons of God" as the godly men in the lineage of Seth (Gen 4:24-5:32), a view first held by the church father, Augustine. Gen 4:26 deliberately mentions that people during the time of Seth's son Enosh began to call on the name of Yahweh. The "daughters of men" here refer to the ungodly descendants of Cain (Gen 4:17-24). The larger context which leads to this text sets forth the genealogies of godly people (the people of God) and ungodly people (Cainites) and the present text accounts for the fall of the human race in terms of this ungodly union.