Context: Job, in the land of Uz, a man who is "perfect and upright" and who fears God and eschews evil, is the father of seven sons and three daughters and the owner of seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses. Satan, in a dialogue with God, points out that Job has always been blessed by the Lord and that a test would cause Job to curse Him. Satan is given permission to test Job, but he is told not to lay hands on Job himself. Job then receives reports from four messengers that his oxen, asses, and camels have been taken by his enemies and that his sheep and sons and daughters have been destroyed by natural causes. But Job refuses to curse God. Satan is then allowed by God to torture the body of the upright man. Struck by boils from head to toe, Job sits in the ashes and scrapes himself. His wife speaks to him: