Job 2:1-8

 וַיְהִי הַיּוֹם וַיָּבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים לְהִתְיַצֵּב עַל יְהוָה וַיָּבוֹא גַם הַשָּׂטָן בְּתֹכָם לְהִתְיַצֵּב עַל יְהוָה

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל הַשָּׂטָן אֵי מִזֶּה תָּבֹא וַיַּעַן הַשָּׂטָן אֶת יְהוָה וַיֹּאמַר מִשֻּׁט בָּאָרֶץ וּמֵהִתְהַלֵּךְ בָּהּ

2 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”

Once again we see the angels arranging themselves before God, and now the changes in the scene are so subtle that it's almost impossible to show them in the translation. One thing you might see by comparing chapter 1 with this scene is that here, Satan also "presents himself" before the Lord, something he did not do before. What was his motive? We would never call it obedience or submission, and it certainly wasn't worship. So we're left with the possibility, maybe the probability, that it was done in mockery. The Lord doesn't mention it, though. What God does say here is, "Where have you come from?" The sentence is just a little different from the one in Job 1:7. There God said: meʼáyin taboʼ? (From where have you come?). Here God says: ʼey mizéh taboʼ? (From what spot have you come from?). Satan, however, doesn't really answer this question any more than he answered the first one. Here, the question is directed at Job's location: Weren't you just with Job in that spot?

JOB 2:3

  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל הַשָּׂטָן הֲשַׂמְתָּ לִבְּךָ אֶל עַבְדִּי אִיּוֹב כִּי אֵין כָּמֹהוּ בָּאָרֶץ אִישׁ תָּם וְיָשָׁר יְרֵא אֱלֹהִים וְסָר מֵרָע וְעֹדֶנּוּ מַחֲזִיק בְּתֻמָּתוֹ וַתְּסִיתֵנִי בוֹ לְבַלְּעוֹ חִנָּם

3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

God keeps up the questions about Job. The devil lost his attempt to incite Job to curse God; God praised Job; God triumphs over the devil whenever this happens, as Jesus did in the ultimate triumphal procession when he descended into hell to proclaim his victory on Easter Sunday (1 Peter 3:19). The devil had predicted that Job would rebel, but we are not all like you, Satan. Job kept his faith.God also shows that despite the devil's actions and intention, it was God himself who afflicted Job, since it was done with God's permission and God used it for his own purpose.

JOB 2:4-6

וַיַּעַן הַשָּׂטָן אֶת יְהוָה וַיֹּאמַר עוֹר בְּעַד עוֹר וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לָאִישׁ יִתֵּן בְּעַד נַפְשׁוֹ

אוּלָם שְׁלַח נָא יָדְךָ וְגַע אֶל עַצְמוֹ וְאֶל בְּשָׂרוֹ אִם לֹא אֶל פָּנֶיךָ יְבָרְכֶךָּ

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל הַשָּׂטָן הִנּוֹ בְיָדֶךָ אַךְ אֶת נַפְשׁוֹ שְׁמֹר

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

What does Satan know about skin? Everything he knows, he has learned from watching mankind. This knowledge has hinted to him that if Job feared for his life, he would turn on God. Remember that Job never learns about this conversation; it takes place behind the scenes. But God is confident about his servant. He only puts this caution on the devil: He can threaten Job's life, so that Job will think he is about to die, but he cannot actually kill him. God sets limits on all things, the way he himself tells us he has set limits on the sea, saying "This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt!" (Job 38:11).

JOB 2:7

וַיֵּצֵא הַשָּׂטָן מֵאֵת פְּנֵי יְהוָה וַיַּךְ אֶת אִיּוֹב בִּשְׁחִין רָע מִכַּף רַגְלוֹ עד קָדְקֳדוֹ

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

The second-to-last word should be read as וְעַד.

Satan sent Job a disease, "bad boils," that is not possible to diagnose from the symptoms in the book, although we have quite a bit of information. Most physicians are agreed that Job could have been suffering from more than one malady. His symptoms included:

1. Bad boils (2:7).

2. Disfiguration (2:12). His friends could hardly recognize him.

3. Oozing sores that scab over (7:5).

4. Sores infected with worms (7:5).

5. Red and swollen eyes form weeping (16:16).

6. Chills (or trembling) and fever (21:6; 30:30).

7. Darkening and peeling skin (30:30). This is associated with the fever.

8. Sleeplessness (7:4)

9. Delirium and terrible nightmares (7:13-14).

10. Diarrhea (probably what is meant by never stopping "churning inside me" (30:27).

11. Perhaps choking (7:15), but this might be disputed.

12. Bad breath (19:17), perhaps one of Job's most famous symptoms.

13. He was emaciated ("nothing but skin and bones," 19:20).

14. He suffered from excruciating pain in his bones (30:17).

JOB 2:8

 וַיִּקַּח לוֹ חֶרֶשׂ לְהִתְגָּרֵד בּוֹ וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב בְּתוֹךְ הָאֵפֶר

8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. (NIV)

Anyone who has had an extremely bad rash knows that scratching open the boils (not recommended by doctors) can give a small amount of relief from their terrible itching. Something else we see here is that Job was not sitting in a city gate as he once had done (29:7). He had rescued people when they needed help (29:12), and now he was sitting in ashes; the owner of nothing at all; he could not even (as Thomas Aquinas said) "afford suitable cures for himself." The only thing Job had left was his marriage. And the devil was about to attack that, too.