Job 1 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 1
Job’s integrity and the loss of his household
Source chapters: [BHS1] Hebrew; [LXX1] Greek.
Verse 1:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:1 A man lived in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:1 A certain man lived in the land of Ausitis whose name was Job. That man was true, blameless, righteous, and God-fearing, keeping away from every evil deed.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek expands the description with true and righteous and specifies every evil deed; the geographical forms are retained.
Verse 1:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:2 He had seven sons and three daughters.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The number and sexes of the children agree.
Verse 1:3 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:3 His livestock numbered seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of cattle, and five hundred female donkeys, and he had a very large household of servants. That man was greater than all the sons of the east.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:3 His livestock numbered seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen, and five hundred grazing female donkeys. He had a very large body of servants and great enterprises in the land. That man was of noble standing among those from the sunrise.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds great enterprises and grazing, and noble standing differs from Hebrew greater than all. Household service is collective in both; a precise legal status is not specified.
Verse 1:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:4 His sons would go and hold a feast in each one’s house on his day. They would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:4 His sons would gather with one another and hold a drinking feast each day, taking their three sisters along to eat and drink with them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew assigns each son his house and day; Greek describes their gathering each day without that distribution.
Verse 1:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:5 When the days of the feast had gone their round, Job would send for them and consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did this continually.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:5 When the days of the drinking feast had ended, Job would send for them and purify them, rising in the morning and offering sacrifices for them according to their number, and one calf as a sin offering for their lives. For Job said, “Perhaps my sons have conceived evil thoughts toward God in their minds.” So Job did this continually.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek includes a separate calf as a sin offering; Hebrew specifies burnt offerings. Hebrew berekhu, formally blessed, is rendered cursed as a contextual euphemism; Greek spells out evil thoughts. No original manuscript euphemism history is claimed. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 1:5 [RJ1], identifies blessed as a reverential euphemism and includes both sons and daughters in the offering count. This explains the contextual rendering cursed without changing the Hebrew verb’s ordinary sense.
Verse 1:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before YHWH, and the accuser also came among them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:6 When that day came, look, the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Sons of God and the accuser render Hebrew bene ha-elohim and ha-satan; Greek explicitly has angels and diabolos, the devil. Later identities are not inserted into the Hebrew. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 1:6 [RJ1], associates this day with Rosh Hashanah and the assembly with judgment. This calendrical identification is attributed interpretation; the running verse itself gives no festival name.
Verse 1:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:7 YHWH said to the accuser, “Where have you come from?” The accuser answered YHWH, “From roaming about the earth and walking around in it.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:7 The Lord said to the devil, “Where have you come from?” The devil answered the Lord, “I have come after going around the earth and walking through the world beneath heaven.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek expands the geographical scope with beneath heaven; the roaming answer agrees.
Verse 1:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:8 YHWH said to the accuser, “Have you set your heart on My servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:8 The Lord said to him, “Have you paid attention in your mind to My servant Job? For among those on earth there is no man like him—blameless, true, God-fearing, keeping away from every evil deed.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The unique commendation agrees, with Greek true and every evil deed in its own wording.
Verse 1:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:9 The accuser answered YHWH, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:9 The devil answered before the Lord, “Does Job worship God for nothing?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek sebetai emphasizes reverence or worship; both challenge whether Job’s devotion is without benefit.
Verse 1:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:10 Have You not put a hedge around him, around his house, and around everything he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have spread through the land.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:10 Have You not fenced in what is outside him and what is inside his house, and everything around all that belongs to him? You have blessed the works of his hands and made his livestock numerous in the land.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly contrasts exterior and interior, while Hebrew repeats around. Greek multiplication and Hebrew spreading are preserved.
Verse 1:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:11 But stretch out Your hand now and touch everything he has; surely he will curse You to Your face.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:11 But stretch out Your hand and touch everything he has; surely he will curse You to Your face.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both contain an emphatic challenge. Blessed in Hebrew and eulogesei in Greek are rendered cursed contextually, matching the accusation rather than ordinary praise.
Verse 1:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:12 YHWH said to the accuser, “Look, everything he has is in your hand; only do not stretch out your hand against him.” Then the accuser went out from the presence of YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:12 Then the Lord said to the devil, “Look, everything he has I give into your hand, but do not touch him.” And the devil went out from the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek makes giving explicit; both set a restriction protecting Job himself.
Verse 1:13 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:13 One day his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:13 When that day came, Job’s sons and his daughters were drinking wine in the house of their elder brother.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Eating is absent from this Greek verse, though present at Greek 1:18; no text is supplied from there.
Verse 1:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:14 A messenger came to Job and said, “The cattle were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing beside them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:14 Look, a messenger came to Job and said to him, “The pairs of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing beside them.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The agricultural scene agrees; Greek calls the cattle pairs.
Verse 1:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:15 Then Sabeans fell upon them and took them, and they struck the servants with the edge of the sword. I alone escaped to tell you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:15 The raiders came and carried them away, and killed the servants with swords. I alone was saved and came to report to you.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew names Sabeans; Greek has captors or raiders without an ethnic name. Hebrew escape and Greek being saved remain distinct expressions.
Verse 1:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:16 While this one was still speaking, another came and said, “Fire of God fell from heaven and burned among the sheep and the servants and consumed them. I alone escaped to tell you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:16 While this one was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and likewise consumed the shepherds. I alone was saved and came to report to you.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew explicitly calls it fire of God; Greek does not. Greek names shepherds rather than the broader servants. The report is the messenger’s description.
Verse 1:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:17 While this one was still speaking, another came and said, “Chaldeans formed three companies, raided the camels and took them, and struck the servants with the edge of the sword. I alone escaped to tell you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:17 While this one was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “The horsemen formed three companies against us, surrounded the camels and carried them away, and killed the servants with swords. I alone was saved and came to report to you.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Chaldeans become horsemen; Greek explicitly has surrounding and against us. The three companies agree.
Verse 1:18 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:18 While this one was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:18 While this one was still speaking, another messenger came, saying to Job, “While your sons and daughters were eating and drinking with their elder brother,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek omits wine and house at this point and continues the temporal construction into 1:19.
Verse 1:19 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:19 Then look, a great wind came from beyond the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on the young people, and they died. I alone escaped to tell you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:19 a great wind suddenly came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. The house fell on your children, and they died. I alone was saved and came to report to you.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly says your children and suddenly; Hebrew calls them the young people. Both describe the fatal collapse.
Verse 1:20 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:20 Job rose, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and bowed in worship.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:20 Then Job rose, tore his garments, and cut off the hair of his head. He fell to the ground, bowed in worship, and said:
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek has plural garments and places said here; Hebrew places the speech verb in 1:21.
Verse 1:21 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:21 He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. YHWH gave, and YHWH took away. May the name of YHWH be blessed.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:21 “I myself came out naked from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart there. The Lord gave; the Lord took away. As it seemed good to the Lord, so it came to pass. May the name of the Lord be blessed.”
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds the explicit sentence about what seemed good to the Lord. There retains the compressed womb-and-return image without explaining it within the translation.
Verse 1:22 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:22 In all this Job did not sin or attribute folly to God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:22 In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin at all before the Lord or attribute foolishness to God.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The narrator’s judgment agrees; Greek explicitly adds before the Lord and the happening to Job.