Guide
What Is the Testament of Job?
1st Century BCE–1st Century CE
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Written in Greek, the Testament of Job recounts the story of the biblical Job in the form of a speech to his seven sons and three daughters before his death. The work is a product of Hellenistic Judaism, reliant on the Septuagint translation of Job and emphasizing themes such as dualism, asceticism, and the promise of immortality, characteristic features of Hellenistic Jewish thought. It survives in Coptic, Greek, and Old Church Slavonic.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
Job’s Daughters
Testament of Job 46–50
His [Job’s] property was brought forth and divided among his seven sons, but he did not give anything to his three daughters. Very…
Primary Source
Laments of Eliphas and Nereus for Job
Testament of Job 31:7–32:12; 53:1–4
And so, after he [Eliphas] had wept with a loud wailing, he called out a royal lament while both the other kings and their troops sang in response.Hear then the lament of Eliphas…
Primary Source
Lament for Sitis, Job’s Wife
Testament of Job 25:1–8
Who is not amazed that this is Sitis, the wife of Job?
Who used to have fourteen draperies sheltering her chamber and a door within doors, so that one was considered quite worthy merely to gain…
Related Guide
What Are the Pseudepigrapha?
ca. 200 BCE–200 CE
Related Guide
What Is the Book of Job?
ca. 5th–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.