The book of job is one of the most problematic portions of the bible and has called forth a variety of interpretations. Check out the other amazing 3minute whiteboard explanation of the word job in ancient hebrew. The books theme is the eternal problem of unmerited suffering, and it is named after its central character, job, who attempts to understand the sufferings that engulf him. At the same time, it also asks the question we rarely. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. The book of job begins with a prologue job 12, which describes a wager between satan and god, in which satan the adversary bets god that joba particularly pious manwill abandon his piety and curse god if all his wealth and wellbeing are taken away.
Meaning, origin and history of the name job behind the name. God knew that it was there, and he knew that in shaking this godly, blameless man there would arise some imperfection into his life, and that it would need to be purged. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that job himself wrote it. It is found in the third section of the biblical canon known as the ketuvim writings. One sage states that this book, like the song of songs, is allegorical talmud. The name job is the english translation of the hebrew name iyov which means persecuted, hated on the surface job is a long, boring, somewhat confusing book and one might question how it ever came to be grouped with the wisdom books as it is hard to ascertain any wisdom in this tale of woe. In the book of job in the old testament he is a righteous man who is tested by god, enduring many tragedies and. Key personalities of this book include job, eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite, zophar the naamathite, and elihu the buzite. Analysis of the book job of the hebrew bible essay. Addressing the theme of gods justice in the face of human suffering or more simply, why do the righteous suffer. The book deals with similar themes as the babylonian work ludlulbelnimeqi and is.
This wisdom book of hebrew poetry portrays the suffering of job, his patience, and loyalty to god. Where did the biblical story of creation come from. Now, the book of job has been rendered into english by the eminent translator and scholar stephen mitchell, whose versions of rilke, israeli poetry, and the tao te ching have been widely praised. It has been widely and often extravagantly praised for its literary qualities. This summary of the book of job provides information about the title, author s, date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the book of job.
The books theme is the eternal problem of unmerited suffering, and it is named after its central. Regardless of its classification the book of job has been known to be one of the greatest literary writings in all of history. In fact, some scholars believe that job requires and understanding of the book as a whole more than any other book of the old testament. Apply to tutor, foreign language teacher, translator and more.
Its incredibly complex and obscure hebrew allowing for multiple translations and meanings. The book of job is the first book of the wisdom literature of hebrew scripture, and is followed by psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, and the song of songs. Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself was not the author. The titular hero of the book of job, represented as a wealthy and pious landholder who lived in patriarchal times, or at least conditions, in the land of uz, on the borders of idumea.
This is the first time ever that the hebrew verse of job has been translated into verse in any language, ancient or modern, and the result is a triumph. The book of job is considered being part of the poetic books job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, and song of songs in todays bible editions. It is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. Nothing in the book shows that job was ruler of edom. Job is 400 lines shorter in the lxx because the translators sought to simplify the oriental poetic style text into a coles notes dynamic equivalent for a target greek audience. The book, in its present form, loosely divides into five parts. Set in uz, an obscure land far from israel, during an unknown time period, the book of job focuses on questions about gods justice and why good people suffer. Some of the hebrew prophets attempted to deal with this question insofar as it affected the nation as a whole, but the writer of the book of job deals with it on an individual basis. The book of job is the only book in the hebrew bible concerning which the talmud debates as to when it took place. It should be kept in mind that job is not the author. The variants in the book of job date to before 200 bc and are the result of the initial translating of the book from hebrew into greek.
Job 1 niv prologue in the land of uz there bible gateway. Attempts have been made to find parallels to the book of job in semitic literature. But this claim is rejected by many modern scholars and instead. The book of job is the third book of ketuvim writings. Chapter one describes a wager god made with the adversary.
Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of bible. Job is a pious believer who is struck by misfortune so great that it cannot be explained in the usual way as a prompting to repentance, a warning, let alone a punishment the arguments later. The most important of jobs three friends was eliphaz of theman. Apply to foreign language teacher, interpreter, linguist and more. Owing to the importance of the book of job, the talmudists occupied themselves frequently with its chief character. The book of job is the first of the five books of hebrew poetry, and is also been classified with the wisdom literature of the bible. The book of job is quite possibly the strangest book in the hebrew bible, and is notoriously difficult to date.
The book of job is one of the three books in the hebrew bible whose genre is described as wisdom literature. Job 1, english standard version 2016 esv the bible app. It is possible that job is the oldest of any book of the bible written approximately 21001800 b. To which i would answer that to our lord communicating to job according to the hebrew idiom of the time 1 only the holy angels matter so as to be included in the all i. The book of job is estimated to have been written in the time of the patriarchs, between 1900 and 1700 b. It poses the difficult and wellknown question oftheodicy. Read the full text of the book of job in hebrew and english here. The book of job kindle edition by mitchell, stephen. Whole chapters of the book are devoted to speeches by jobs counselors. Rabbi breitowitz responds to these fundamental issues based on the book of job. The book of job was also found among the dead sea scrolls. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads job to submit so humbly to god at the end. Tanakh jewish bible 24 books21 books in bold are part of the ketuvim protestant old testament 39 books catholic old testament 46 books eastern orthodox old testament 51 books original language torah pentateuch or the five books of moses bereishit genesis genesis genesis hebrew shemot exodus exodus exodus hebrew vayikra leviticus leviticus leviticus hebrew bamidbar numbers numbers.
The book of job is one of the literary masterpieces of all time, and provides a profound discussion on the suffering of a just man. One of the amoraim expressed his opinion in the presence of samuel b. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew bible tanakh, and the first poetic book in the old testament of the christian bible. The tone of the work abruptly changes, however, in chapter 3, as job begins his poetic speeches. An appendix to the book of job in the septuagint identifies job with king jobab of edom gen.
The complex and delicate nature of the subject matter. To understand the full impact of the book of job the book must be read and understood as a whole. Job with book summary versebyverse bible commentary. The babylonian talmud claims, moses wrote his own book, and the passages about balaam and job baba bathra, 14b, 15a. When god shook job, the sediment colored the water, and you find job saying some terrible things about god in this book. Job is a book that ranks as one of the most difficult books in thetanach bible, for two reasons. Job, possibly the strangest book in the bible, is based on legends going back thousands of years, and is written in a very unusual form of hebrew. The babylonian poem on the right eous sufferer, the socalled babyloman job, has been com pared to the biblical job. List of books in the hebrew bible believers portal. Sefer iyov begins with a narrative about an extremely righteous person named iyov, who is to be tormented by hashem. In essence, job is an essay on the problem of evil. Job explores the difficult question of gods relationship to human suffering, and invites us to trust gods wisdom and character. Like them, his wealth was measured in livestock and servants 1.
Like the hebrew patriarchs, job lived more than 100 years. Ancient jewish tradition credits the authorship of the book of job in the hebrew bible to moses. The book of job tells how one man suddenly awakened to the anarchy rampant in the world, yet his attachment to god outlived the ruin of his tidy system. The greek septuagint also included the books of wisdom and sirach. The book of job, book of hebrew scripture that is often counted among the masterpieces of world literature. So the last thing is, therefore, i despise myself, and. The prose prologue chapters one and two and the epilogue 42.
125 624 771 395 753 1575 89 957 1366 131 1257 986 286 140 133 892 714 203 1245 475 481 1271 917 722 466 403 79 408 1459 500 666 679 1440 803 798 1133 190 661 1438 1371