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Textual Variants in the Book of Job
"Scripture cannot be broken" (Jesus, John 10:35)
"My word will accomplish what I desire and
succeed in the purpose for which I sent it." (Isa 55:11)
Steve Rudd November 2017
Textual Variants in the Book of Job:
Bible textual variants analysed
Introduction:
The book of Job is 400 lines shorter in the Septuagint than the Masoretic
because of the translation process that sought to simplify the Oriental
poetic style text into a "Cole's Notes" dynamic equivalent for a
target Greek audience. However, the additional words of Job's wife (Job
2:9a,9b,9c, 9d, LXX) found in the Septuagint but absent in the Masoretic
are a different matter altogether and likely represent a scribal addition
(gloss). To everyone who reads the story in the Masoretic Text, Job's
wife simply didn't say enough to satisfy human curiosity, but that's
how the Holy Spirit may have left it. The single statement of Job's wife
in the Masoretic Text might be viewed as "test bait" to "abide within
the word of God" that some ancient Hebrew scribe (possibly Ezra) found
irresistible and added the words after he "snapped" under the midnight
full moon. Perhaps the words of Job's wife were added as part of a Greek
pubic theatre play in the margin of the text and later scribes assumed they
were part of the autograph. On the other hand, the additional words of
Job's wife may be the original and they are removed by the Jews in their
great corruption of the Tanakh in 160 AD. In the end we simply do not know
why or where the additional words of Job wife originate. What we do know is
that they existed at the time Job was translated into Greek before 150 BC.
However, the scribal gloss addition/note added to the ending of Job
42:17,17a-17e in the LXX is very instructive and helpful. Job 42:17a-e is
clearly a scribal note NOT intended to be considered scripture by the fact
that it references "the Syriac book" for information. This is gloss is
quite helpful and gives us great insight into how the Septuagint
translators knowingly mixed scripture with commentary. While the modern
reader finds their methods unacceptable because there are no demarcations
between the sacred and human words, the translators did not consider these
glosses and additions to be scripture and somehow expected their reads to
understand this. The Septuagint translators therefore viewed these glosses
and additions, including several complete apocryphal books, the same way
Christians view the Bible maps, comments and notes throughout their
"Study Bible".
Discussion:
1. The text of the book of Job we use today
generally follows the Masoretic Text (MT) which is viewed as superior and
closer to the original than the Septuagint (LXX) Greek translation of Job.
a. The book of Job in the Masoretic Text (MT) is
longer than the Septuagint (LXX) by 400 lines and contains many unique and
unusual words and phrases.
b. However, all the differences make zero
difference in the overall message and theme of the book of Job.
2. Various theories as to why the MT differs
from the LXX in the book of Job:
a. Perhaps, like the book of Jeremiah, there two
different original manuscripts of Job in use at the same time.
b. Perhaps Job was used in liturgy of responsive
singing: Perhaps the book was expanded to include repetitious sentences
etc. and used in responsive acapella singing in the same way the Song of
the Sabbath Service, Daniel 3:49-93 Apocrypha LXX or from the ancient
Jewish songbook Psalm 145:1-7, 12-21 from Dead Sea Scroll 11Q5.
c. Perhaps the book of Job was originally written
in Aramaic or Arabic and LXX translators abridged the repetitive phrases
and simply skipped sections that were difficult to translate.
d. Perhaps there was a single Hebrew original copy
of Job and the LXX translators abridged the book by removing repetitive
phrases and ignored difficult to translate sections.
3. Gloss Addition: The rebuke of Job's
wife: Job 2:9a,9b,9c, 9d LXX
a. Notice the additional words of Job's wife in
the Septuagint are not found in the Hebrew Masoretic text and date back to
the original translation in 282 BC.
b. No Dead Sea scrolls from Job chapters 1-7 have
been found, so we cannot verify or deny that the world were not in the
Hebrew Bible in the first century.
c. However, the fact these words are in the LXX
indicate that this gloss predated the first century and represent an
ancient tradition.
d. "Even if the translated text of the Book of
Job is shorter than the original, it contains additions or even extensions.
A vivid example is that of Job's wife whose painful words intend to exhort
her husband to curse God (2: 9-10). The Hebrew text contains just one
verse. The translation of the passage (which I have already cited) presents
a more extended text. In this instance, it is the translator himself who is
overflowing with human indignation." (The Book of Job introductory text,
Codex Sinaiticus Graecus 3, G. Galavaris, K. Belezos, E. Pappa, p 19, 2002
AD)
e. To everyone who reads the story, Job's wife
simply didn't say enough to satisfy human curiosity, but that's how the
Holy Spirit left it. The single statement of Job's wife might be viewed
as "test bait" to "abide within the word of God" that some ancient
scribe found irresistible and added the words after he "snapped" under
the midnight full moon. Perhaps the words were added as part of a Greek
pubic theatre play in the margin of the text and later scribes assumed they
were part of the autograph. In the end we simply do not know why or where
the additional words of Job wife originate. What we do know is that they
existed at the time Job was translated into Greek before 150 BC.
f. "In ancient times a wife looked to her
husband for her identity in the community and for her financial security.
If Job had lost everything, so had she. The LXX, which assigns to her a
longer speech, calls attention to her deep sense of loss and her conclusion
that Job is to blame. Some commentators have characterized her as
"Satan's tool" (John Calvin) spared by the tempter in order to use
her in this way against Job (Thomas Aquinas). Others have seen her in the
stereotype of "woman as temptress" found in many biblical stories (Eve,
Delilah, Jezebel, etc.). It is true that she echoes the Satan's words,
"Curse God and die!" But she also echoes the words of God, marveling
that Job was still holding on to (his) integrity. With these words she
reveals that she believes Job has obviously wronged God, and it is only a
matter of time before his inevitable demise. It is therefore foolish to
continue to practice piety since it obviously will yield no blessing in the
face of their great loss. What she is suggesting is a form of theological
euthanasia-suicide by cursing God. If there is anger in her voice there
may also be pity and wish for a merciful end to the whole ordeal. The words
of Job's wife anticipate the conclusion about Job that the friends will
reach: Job suffers because he has sinned. Her words also anticipate the
great sense of alienation that Job will feel when rejected by his friends
and peers. Her suggestion that Job "curse God" only heightens the
invitation for Job to abandon his piety and disavow God." (NICOT, S. M.
Hooks, Job 2:9, 2006 AD)
g. The Text of the Septuagint: Job 2:7-10.
[Additional words of Job's wife in green italic]
2:7 So the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job by grievous sores
from foot to head.
2:8 And he took a potsherd in order to scrape the pus and sat on the
dunghill outside the city.
2:9 And after much time had passed, his wife said to him, "⌊How
long⌋ will you wait, saying,
2:9a 'Behold, I wait for just a little time to receive the
hope of my deliverance?'
2:9b For behold, your memory has been removed from the earth,
sons and daughters of my womb, pangs and labors that ⌊for no purpose⌋ I
labored with hardship.
2:9c And you? You seat yourself among the decay of worms to
pass the night in the open air.
2:9d And I am being led astray and am a servant wandering
from place to place and from house to house, welcoming the sun when it sets
in order that I might stop my labors and pains that now come to me.
2:9 Now say some word to the Lord and die!"
2:10 But looking up he said to her, "You speak like one of the foolish
women. If we accept good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not
endure evil things?" In all these things that happened to him, in no way
did Job sin by his speaking before God.
h. Muslim/Islamic tradition of Job's wife in the
Koran: Beat her 100 times with a stick:
i. "And remember our servant Job when he called upon his Lord
that 'the devil has touched me with toil and torment!' 'Stamp with
thy foot, this is a cool washing-place and a drink.' And we granted him
his family, and the like of them with them, as a mercy from us and a
reminder to those endowed with minds,-'and take in thy [Job's] hand a
bundle [ie sticks], and strike [Job's wife] therewith, and break not thy
oath!' Verily, we found him patient, an excellent servant; verily, he
turned frequently to us." (Koran 38:40-44)
ii. "This is explained on the supposition that Job, in a moment
of anger, swore to give his wife a hundred stripes if he recovered. Muslim
commentators are vague as to what the wife's offense may have been, some
even suggesting that she may have stayed too long on an errand." (AYBC,
Marvin Pope, Job 2:10, 2008 AD)
iii. "that he was of the race of Esau and was blessed with a
numerous family, and abundant riches; but that God proved him, by taking
all that he had, even his children, who were killed by the fall of a house;
notwithstanding which he continued to serve God, and to return thanks as
usual: that he was then struck with a filthy disease, his body being full
of worms, and so offensive, that as he lay on the dunghill none could bear
to come near him: that his wife, however (whom some call Rahmat the
daughter of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and others Makhir the daughter of
Manasses), attended him with great patience, supporting him by what she
earned by her labour; but that the devil appeared to her one day, after
having reminded her of her past prosperity, promised her that if she would
worship him, he would restore all they had lost: whereupon she asked her
husband's consent, who was so angry at the proposal, that he swore, if he
recovered, to give his wife a hundred stripes: that Job having pronounced
the prayer recorded in this passage ["Verily evil hath afflicted me: but
thou art the most merciful of those who show mercy"], God sent Gabriel,
who taking him by the hand raised him up; and at the same time a fountain
sprang up at his feet, of which having drunk, the worms fell off his body,
and washing therein he recovered his former health and beauty: that God
then restored all to him double; his wife also becoming young and handsome
again, and bearing him twenty-six sons: and that Job, to satisfy his oath,
was directed by God to strike her one blow with a palm branch having a
hundred leaves." (Koran G. Sale, Sura 21:83, p 247, comment on 21:83,
1889 AD)
iv. Of course wife beating is commanded in the Quran and is
common in the Islamic world today, even though Imam's in western cultures
lie by saying such is not true which causes feminists to embrace Islam as
the perfect religion of peace for all women everywhere: The Koran says:
"Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to
excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women
are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as
to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them
alone in their sleeping places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not
seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great. (Shakir's version of
the Koran, Quran, 4:34)
5. Gloss Addition: scribal note added to the ending
of Job 42:17,17a-17e in the LXX
a. Job 42:17a-e is clearly a scribal note NOT intended
to be considered scripture by the fact that it references "the Syriac
Bible" for information.
b. This is gloss is quite helpful and gives us great
insight into how the Septuagint translators knowingly mixed scripture with
commentary. While the modern reader finds their methods unacceptable
because there are no demarcations between the sacred and human words, the
translators did not consider these glosses and additions to be scripture.
The Septuagint translators therefore viewed these glosses and additions,
including several complete apocryphal books, the same way Christians view
the Bible maps, comments and notes throughout their "Study Bible".
c. "And Job died an old man and full of days. And it is
written that he shall rise again with the ones whom the Lord shall raise
up. This man is described by the Syriac Bible as dwelling in the land of Uz
on the borders of Edom and Arabia. And his name before was Jobab. And,
having taken an Arabian wife, he beget a son, whose name was Enan. And he
himself had as father Zerah, from of the descendants of Esau. And his
mother was Bosorra, so that it made him fifth from Abraham. And these were
the kings who were ruling in Edom, which country also he himself ruled:
first, Bela, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And
after Bela, Jobab, who was called Job. And after this, Husham, who was
serving as leader from the country of Thaiman. And after this, Hadad, son
of Bered, who destroyed Midian in the field of Moab, and the name of his
city was Avith. And the friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the
descendants of Esau, king of the Temanites; Bildad, the sovereign of the
Shuhites; and Zophar, the king of the Naamathites." (Job 42:17-17e)
6. Details on the textual variants in Job:
a. "Differences due to factors in translation. Many
differences between the resultant translation and original source text are
due to the task of translation and do not constitute real textual variants.
... The Book of Job is a star example. The earliest Greek translation of
Job is about one-sixth shorter than the Hebrew text of MT. For nearly a
hundred years the consensus was that the Greek translator had used a
different parent text, and some thought that the MT was derivative and
secondary to the Hebrew base of the Septuagint. Yet painstaking comparison
of our Greek and Hebrew texts clearly showed that the differences were due
to a functional equivalence approach to translation in which many of the
long, windy speeches were made more manageable for a Hellenistic
readership. Consider, for example, Job 20:2-4. ... Six lines from MT have
been condensed by the O(ld) G(reek) Translator of Job into three." (The
Text of the Old Testament, Peter J. Gentry, Journal Of The Evangelical
Theological Society, 52/1, p38, March 2009)
b. "The Greek text (LXX) is essentially a faithful
translation of the Hebrew. A few variant readings bear witness to a
different Hebrew text; but many of these variants are attempts to cope with
an obscure text. Though the translator fluctuated between literal
renderings and paraphrases, in an extensive analysis of the LXX Orlinsky
has demonstrated that its translator strove to render the Hebrew into Greek
as accurately as possible. His work leads him to reject the view that the
translator was frequently governed by his theological bias in his
translations. Nevertheless, this translator, like any other, was influenced
by his theological outlook, e.g., on occasion he slanted the translation
toward God's exalted, unassailable perfection. The most remarkable
feature of the oldest Greek text is that it is shorter than the MT by some
400 lines. ... One explanation for these omissions is that the book of Job
had been translated into Greek before its development was complete. But
because the number of omissions increases significantly in the trite third
cycle and in the wordy Elihu speeches, and because many of the lines
omitted are recurring lines and thoughts, a more likely explanation is that
the Greek translator abridged the speeches intentionally." (NICOT, Job,
J. E. Hartley, p 3, 1988 AD)
c. "The ancient versions of the book of Job, while
occasionally useful, are often of little help in clarifying obscure words
and details of the Hebrew text. Interestingly, the Greek translation (lxx)
is considerably shorter than the Hebrew text (by about 400 lines!). Most
scholars have concluded that the Greek is a shortened version of the
Hebrew, rather than an older version of the text that was later expanded.
Often the lxx omits difficult or repetitious texts and on occasion appears
theologically motivated in its alterations. The Aramaic Targum to Job
generally follows the Hebrew text closely and expands at points with
historical and theological explanations. The oldest such Targum, the
fragmentary 11QtgJob from Qumran, is usually dated to the second-century
b.c. This early paraphrase largely follows the Hebrew text. Other versions,
including the Syrian Peshitta (fifth-century) and the Latin Vulgate
(fourth-century) are translations from the Hebrew and occasionally offer
insights to the original Hebrew. But, for the most part, the Masoretic
Hebrew text, carefully preserved by generations of scribes, remains our
primary witness to the text of Job." (UBCS, Job, G. H. Wilson, p 5, 2012
AD)
d. "There are, for example, more hapax legomena (words
that occur only once) in Job than in any other book of the Old Testament.
There are places in the book where the Hebrew text evidences heavy
influence by Aramaic and Arabic, two related Northwest Semitic languages.
So different is the language of Job from other Old Testament books that it
has led some scholars to propose that the book is a translation of a
non-Hebrew original. Edomite, Aramaic, and Arabic originals have all been
suggested as the basis for the Hebrew version of Job." (College Press
NIV, Job, S. M. Hooks, p 21, 2006 AD)
e. "The Greek version (LXX) of Job generally follows
the Masoretic Text (MT), but in some places there are significant
differences. Most notable is the fact that LXX is some 400 lines shorter
than MT.30 While it is possible that LXX had a different Hebrew text than
MT as its basis, it is more likely that the Greek translators intentionally
abridged certain parts of the book. This seems especially so in the
speeches of Elihu (chs. 32-37) where many of the lines omitted in LXX are
duplications and repetitions in the Hebrew." (College Press NIV, Job, S.
M. Hooks, p 21, 2006 AD)
Conclusion:
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 is 400
lines shorter in the LXX because the translators sought to simplify the
Oriental poetic style text into a "Cole's Notes" dynamic equivalent
for a target Greek audience. Much of the reduction was the removal of
reparative and redundant sentences. The extra words of in 2:9 of Job's
wife that are found in the Septuagint but not in the Masoretic may be
original or may come from an imaginative Hebrew scribe (possibly Ezra)
unsatisfied with the brevity of her comments. The concluding gloss after
42:17 is clearly scholastic foot notes never intended to be viewed as
scripture the same way Christians view the Bible maps, comments and notes
throughout their "Study Bible". None of the variants change any Bible
doctrine. The 400 lines of missing text do not change the story and the
additional words of Job's wife can be easily inferred and provide nothing
new.
In the final analysis, we can be certain that we possess the word of God!
This is what Jesus meant, when He said: "Scripture cannot be broken"
(Jesus, John 10:35)
"My word will accomplish what I desire and succeed in the purpose for which
I sent it." (Isa 55:11)
The Septuagint LXX
"Scripture Cannot Be Broken"
Start Here: Master Introduction and Index
Six Bible Manuscripts
1446 BC
Sinai Text (ST)
1050 BC
Samuel's Text (SNT)
623 BC
Samaritan (SP)
458 BC
Ezra's Text (XIV)
282 BC
Septuagint (LXX)
160 AD
Masoretic (MT)
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Steve Rudd, November 2017 AD: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections
By Steve Rudd: November 2017: Contact the author for comments, input or
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