Reflections on the Text of the Book of Job

Abstract

A critical edition of the book of Job requires the presentation of the most important ancient witnesses to the text, especially of the pre-Tiberian Hebrew witnesses, of the Old Greek, the Vulgate, the Peshitta, the Targum and relevant material from the Dead Sea scrolls. In the case of Job we are fortunate to have the text of important witnesses available in published form. These authorities must be weighed and in particular, the relationship between M and G needs to be clarified. The Greek Job is about one-sixth shorter than the Hebrew Job, which is also true for the Coptic Sahidic version and for the Vetus Latina. It is seen that the use of the Greek text of Job for 'correcting' the Hebrew one would be a hazardous undertaking. The twentieth century has in fact provided with new tools with which to tackle the apparently refractory text of Hebrew Job. Keywords: Coptic Sahidic version; Greek Job; Hebrew Job; pre-Tiberian Hebrew; Vetus Latina