hebrew · wisdom

The Book of Job

c. 600–400 BCE · Iron Age to Persian Period · Ancient Israel or Edom

Chapter 1 — The Prologue in Heaven

1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job;

2And that man was blameless and upright,

3And one who feared God and turned away from evil.

4There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

5His substance also was seven thousand sheep,

6And three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen,

7And five hundred she-asses, and a very great household;

8So that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.

9And it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD,

10That Satan also came among them.

11And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?

12Then Satan answered the LORD, and said,

13From going to and fro in the earth,

14And from walking up and down in it.

15And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job?

16That there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and upright man,

17One that feareth God and turneth away from evil.

18Then Satan answered the LORD, and said,

19Doth Job fear God for nought?

20Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house,

21And about all that he hath on every side?

22Thou hast blessed the work of his hands,

23And his substance is increased in the land.

24But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath,

25And he will renounce thee to thy face.

26And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power;

27Only upon himself put not forth thine hand.

28So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Chapter 3 — Job's Lament

29After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

30And Job answered and said:

31Let the day perish wherein I was born,

32And the night which said, A man-child is conceived.

33Let that day be darkness;

34Let not God from above regard it,

35Neither let the light shine upon it.

36Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own;

37Let a cloud dwell upon it;

38Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

39Why died I not from the womb?

40Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?

41Why did the knees receive me?

42Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

43For now should I have lain down and been quiet;

44I should have slept; then had I been at rest —

45With kings and counsellors of the earth,

46Who built up waste places for themselves;

47Or with princes that had gold,

48Who filled their houses with silver.

49Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,

50And life unto the bitter in soul;

51Who long for death, but it cometh not;

52And dig for it more than for hid treasures?

Chapter 38 — The LORD Speaks from the Whirlwind

53Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

54Who is this that darkeneth counsel

55By words without knowledge?

56Gird up now thy loins like a man;

57For I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

58Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

59Declare, if thou hast understanding.

60Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?

61Or who stretched the line upon it?

62Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?

63Or who laid the corner stone thereof,

64When the morning stars sang together,

65And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

66Or who shut up the sea with doors,

67When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb;

68When I made the cloud the garment thereof,

69And thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

70And prescribed for it my decree,

71And set bars and doors,

72And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;

73And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

74Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?

75Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?

76Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?

77Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

78Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth?

79Declare, if thou knowest all this.

80Where is the way to the dwelling of light?

81And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

82That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,

83And that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

84Doubtless thou knowest, for thou wast born then,

85And the number of thy days is great!

86Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades,

87Or loose the bands of Orion?

88Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season?

89Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?

90Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?

91Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?

Chapter 40 — Job's Submission

92Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said:

93Shall he that cavilleth contend with the Almighty?

94He that argueth with God, let him answer it.

95Then Job answered the LORD, and said:

96Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee?

97I lay mine hand upon my mouth.

98Once have I spoken, and I will not answer;

99Yea twice, but I will proceed no further.

100Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

101Gird up thy loins now like a man:

102I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

103Wilt thou even disannul my judgement?

104Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be justified?

105Or hast thou an arm like God?

106And canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

Chapter 42 — The Epilogue

107Then Job answered the LORD, and said:

108I know that thou canst do all things,

109And that no purpose of thine can be restrained.

110Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge?

111Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not,

112Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

113Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak;

114I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

115I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear;

116But now mine eye seeth thee.

117Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent

118In dust and ashes.

notes

The Book of Job is one of the most profound explorations of suffering and theodicy in world literature. The prose prologue (chapters 1–2) and epilogue (chapter 42) frame a lengthy poetic dialogue between Job and three friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — who insist his suffering must be punishment for sin. Job maintains his innocence throughout. The central theological problem: if God is just and omnipotent, why do the righteous suffer? The divine speeches from the whirlwind do not answer the question directly; instead they overwhelm Job with the incomprehensibility of creation. The resolution is not intellectual but experiential — Job encounters God directly. The Satan figure in the prologue is not the later Christian devil but "the Adversary" or "the Prosecutor" — a member of the divine court whose function is to test human virtue. The story belongs to the same Near Eastern wisdom tradition as the Babylonian text Ludlul Bel Nemeqi ("I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom"), which also features a righteous sufferer abandoned by his god. Scholars date the poetic core to approximately the 7th–5th century BCE; the prose frame may be older folk tradition. Translation draws on the King James Version (1611), which rendered the Hebrew poetry with exceptional literary power. Public domain.

currently held: Manuscript tradition (Dead Sea Scrolls, Masoretic text)

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