Testament of Job
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The Testament of Job is a book written in the 1st century BCE or the 1st century CE (thus part of a tradition often called "intertestamental literature" by Christian scholars). In folktale manner in the style of Jewish haggada [1] (http://www.library.uu.nl/digiarchief/dip/diss/2004-0205-103455/c3.pdf), it elaborates upon the Book of Job making Job a king in Egypt and giving the narrative a framing-tale of Job's last illness, in which he calls together his sons and daughters to give them his final instructions and exhortations. The Testament of Job contains all the characters familiar in Job, with a more prominent role for Job's wife, given the name Sitidos, and many parallels to Christian beliefs that Christian readers find, such as intercession with God and forgiveness. The earliest surviving manuscript is Coptic, of the 5th century; other early surviving manuscripts are in Greek and Old Slavonic.
At the end of the 5th century, the Testament of Job was relegated to the apocrypha by the decree associated with Pope Gelasius, concerning canonical and noncanonical books. Subsequently the Testament of Job was ignored by Roman Catholic writers, until it was published in 1833 in the series edited by Angelo Mai (Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio vol. vii pp. 180-191). Mai's manuscript had a double title: "Testament of Job the Blameless, the Conqueror in Many Contests, the Sainted" (which seems to be the older title) and "The Book of Job Called Jobab, and His Life, and the Transcript of His Testament."
A bilingual Greek and English edition, edited by Robert A. Kraft, was issued in New York by the Society of Biblical Literature in 1974 with ISBN 088414044X.
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia: (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=332&letter=J) Testament of Job
- Early Jewish writings: (http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/testjob.html) Testament of Job
- [2] (http://www.library.uu.nl/digiarchief/dip/diss/2004-0205-103455/c3.pdf)
Reference
- R. P. Spittler, Outside the Old Testament,
- R. P. Spittler, "Testament of Job", in: J.H. Charlesworth, editor, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volume I Garden City, New York etc.: Doubleday, 1983
- Raymond F. Surburg, Introduction to the Intertestamental Period,