Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 1:5

"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, 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. Thus did Job continually." — Job 1:5 (ASV)

Job sent and sanctified them ... —The early records of society show the father of the family acting as the priest. This is one of the passages that indicate Job was outside the sphere and influence of the Mosaic law, whether this was due to his age or his country. His life in this respect corresponds more closely with that of the patriarchs in Genesis than any other in Scripture.

Cursed God. —The word used here, and in Job 1:11, Job 2:5, 9, and also in 1 Kings 21:10, 13, concerning Naboth, is literally blessed; while the word in Job 3:1, for example, is quite different. The contrast in Job 1:22 and Job 2:10 shows the Authorised Version to be substantially right, no matter how this contradictory sense is obtained.

Many languages have words that are used in opposite senses (compare, for example, our “cleave to” and “cleave”). The use of bless in the sense of curse may be a euphemism, or it may arise from giving it the meaning of saluting or bidding farewell to, and so dismissing. This use is found only in the passages cited above.