
Job's wife is an unnamed biblical figure mentioned in the
Book of Job
The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...
.
Biblical narrative
Job's wife appears only in
chapter 2, when
Job
Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...
is afflicted with sores. She says to him in verse 9, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die" (
ESV). The word translated "curse" actually means "bless", but almost all English translations view it as a
euphemism
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
.
Job then rebukes his wife in verse 10, and says to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak."
Job's wife is never heard of again, except for passing mentions in 19:17 (when Job says, "My breath is strange to my wife") and 31:10 ("then let my wife grind for another"). In
chapter 42, Job gets more children (verse 13) but there is no mention of whether it is with the same wife or a different one.
Tradition
In the apocryphal ''
Testament of Job
The ''Testament of Job'' (also referred to as ''Divrei Lyov'', literally meaning "''Words of Job''") is a book written in the 1st century BC or the 1st century AD. Some Midrashic parallels in the work indicate that it was a production of the pre-C ...
'', Job's wife occupies a more prominent role and is given the name ''Sitis''. The children born at the end of Job's suffering are to a different wife, who is identified as
Dinah
In the Book of Genesis, Dinah (; ) was the seventh child and only named daughter of Leah and Jacob. The episode of her rape by Shechem, son of a Canaanite or Hivite prince, and the subsequent revenge of her brothers Simeon and Levi, commonly ...
, daughter of
Jacob
Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...
.
Evaluation
Job's wife is usually viewed negatively.
S. G. De Graaf argues that she ridiculed Job "because he continued to trust in the Lord".
Abraham Kuyper even suggests that she is Job's last trial: "Satan knew he could use her as an instrument with which to grieve and torture his victim, and for that reason he permitted her to live." Other commentators point to the fact that she, too, lost her children.
Ilana Pardes appeals to 19:17 in saying that "she too, after all, is a victim of these divine tests in addition to being pained by exposure to his afflictions".
Some scholars view Job's wife positively. Pardes says, "Much like
Eve
Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
, Job’s wife spurs her husband to doubt God’s use of divine powers. In doing so she does him much good, for this turns out to be the royal road to deepening one’s knowledge, to opening one’s eyes." She also notes that Job "comes close to doing what his wife had suggested."
Carol A. Newsom calls the words of Job's wife "radical and provocative" and notes the
ambiguity
Ambiguity is the type of meaning (linguistics), meaning in which a phrase, statement, or resolution is not explicitly defined, making for several interpretations; others describe it as a concept or statement that has no real reference. A com ...
in the word "integrity": she could be suggesting that Job's righteousness has not done him much good so far, or she could be suggesting that Job continues in his honesty even to the point of cursing God. Newsom concludes that "Job's wife is the prototypical woman on the margin, whose iconoclastic words provoke defensive condemnation but whose insight serves as an irritant that undermines old complacencies."
See also
*
List of names for the biblical nameless
Some people who appear to be unnamed in the Bible have been given names in history and traditions.
Hebrew Bible Serpent of Genesis
Revelation 12 is thought to identify the Serpents in the Bible#Eden, serpent with Satan, unlike the pseudepigraph ...
References
{{Book of Job
Book of Job people
Women in the Hebrew Bible
Unnamed people of the Bible