Mourning Activities
Mourning activities, Thebes, Egypt, ca. 1380 BCE. Sitting on the ground and putting dust on the head are expressions of mourning, as in this mural showing a widow with the mummy of her husband. Biblical depictions of personal grieving include Job’s mourning for his children in the book of Job, chapter 2 and King David’s adoption of mourning practices during the mortal illness of Bathsheba’s newborn son.
Credits
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1930. www.metmuseum.org. CC0 1.0 Universal, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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Job Curses His Birth
Job 3
Afterward, Job began to speak and cursed the day of his birth. Job spoke up and said:
Perish the day on which I was born,
And the night it was announced,
“A male has been conceived!”
May that day…
The Dialogues between Job and his Friends. The First Cycle
Job 4–14 (selections)
Then Eliphaz the Temanite said in reply:If one ventures a word with you, will it be too much?But who can hold back his words?See, you have encouraged many;You have strengthened failing…
The Dialogues between Job and his Friends. The Second Cycle
Job 20–21 (selections)
Zophar the Naamathite said in reply: [ . . . ]Do you not know this, that from time immemorial,Since man was set on earth,The joy of the wicked has been brief,The happiness of the impious…
Job’s Final Speeches
Job 29, 31 (selections)
Job again took up his theme and said:O that I were as in months gone by,In the days when God watched over me,When His lamp shone over my head,When I walked in the dark by its light,When…
Elihu Speaks
Job 32–34 (selections)
These three men ceased replying to Job, for he considered himself right. Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was angry—angry at Job because he thought himself…
God Speaks
Job 38 (selections)
Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest and said:
Who is this who darkens counsel,
Speaking without knowledge?
Gird your loins like a man;
I will ask and you will inform Me.
Where were…
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Related Guide
What Is the Book of Job?
6th–4th Century BCE
The book of Job asks why bad things happen to good people, as an entry point into questions about the relationship between God and humans.
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Job Curses His Birth
Job 3
Afterward, Job began to speak and cursed the day of his birth. Job spoke up and said:
Perish the day on which I was born,
And the night it was announced,
“A male has been conceived!”
May that day…
The Dialogues between Job and his Friends. The First Cycle
Job 4–14 (selections)
Then Eliphaz the Temanite said in reply:If one ventures a word with you, will it be too much?But who can hold back his words?See, you have encouraged many;You have strengthened failing…
The Dialogues between Job and his Friends. The Second Cycle
Job 20–21 (selections)
Zophar the Naamathite said in reply: [ . . . ]Do you not know this, that from time immemorial,Since man was set on earth,The joy of the wicked has been brief,The happiness of the impious…
Job’s Final Speeches
Job 29, 31 (selections)
Job again took up his theme and said:O that I were as in months gone by,In the days when God watched over me,When His lamp shone over my head,When I walked in the dark by its light,When…
Elihu Speaks
Job 32–34 (selections)
These three men ceased replying to Job, for he considered himself right. Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was angry—angry at Job because he thought himself…
God Speaks
Job 38 (selections)
Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest and said:
Who is this who darkens counsel,
Speaking without knowledge?
Gird your loins like a man;
I will ask and you will inform Me.
Where were…