Job 2 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 2:3
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 2
Job’s bodily suffering, his wife’s speech and the friends’ arrival
Source chapters: [BHS2] Hebrew; [LXX2] Greek.
Verse 2:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:1 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before YHWH, and the accuser also came among them to present himself before YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:1 When that day came, the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came among them to stand before the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: As in 1:6, sons of God and accuser differ from explicit angels and devil. The publisher prints an asterisk and closing mark around the final Greek standing clause; it is translated as displayed, without claiming apparatus or manuscript collation.
Verse 2:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:2 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)
2:2 The Lord said to the devil, “Where are you coming from?” Then the devil said before the Lord, “I have come after traveling through the world beneath heaven and walking through all of it.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly describes the whole world beneath heaven.
Verse 2:3 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:3 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. He still holds firmly to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to swallow him up for nothing.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:3 The Lord said to the devil, “Have you then paid attention to My servant Job? For among those on earth there is no man like him—innocent, true, blameless, God-fearing, keeping away from every evil. He still holds to innocence, but you said to destroy his belongings for nothing.”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew explicitly says you incited Me against him to swallow him up; Greek says you said to destroy his belongings. This changes both the object and the description of divine involvement; the readings are not harmonized.
Verse 2:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:4 The accuser answered YHWH, “Skin for skin! Everything a man has he will give for his life.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:4 The devil replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! Whatever a person has, he will pay for his life.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The exchange saying is preserved without inventing its historical origin.
Verse 2:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:5 But stretch out Your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh; surely he will curse You to Your face.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:5 But indeed, stretch out Your hand and touch his bones and his flesh; surely he will curse You to Your face.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both repeat the challenge from 1:11; blessed is again read contextually as a euphemism for cursed. Greek bones is plural.
Verse 2:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:6 YHWH said to the accuser, “Look, he is in your hand; only preserve his life.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:6 The Lord said to the devil, “Look, I hand him over to you; only preserve his life.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek makes the handing over explicit; both prohibit taking Job’s life.
Verse 2:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:7 The accuser went out from the presence of YHWH and struck Job with a grievous boil from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:7 The devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with a grievous ulcer from his feet to his head.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The source terms describe severe bodily lesions; no modern medical diagnosis is asserted.
Verse 2:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:8 He took a potsherd to scrape himself with while he sat among the ashes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:8 He took a potsherd to scrape off the discharge, and sat on the dung heap outside the city.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek specifies discharge, a dung heap and a location outside the city; Hebrew has ashes and scraping himself.
Verse 2:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:9 His wife said to him, “Do you still hold firmly to your integrity? Curse God and die.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9 After much time had passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you persist, saying,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek begins a much longer speech, displayed as 2:9 and 2:9a–e. The whole Hebrew verse is translated once here; its concluding command corresponds to Greek 2:9e. Hebrew bless is the contextual euphemism rendered curse.
Verse 2:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No separate Hebrew source unit; Hebrew 2:9 is translated above.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9a ‘Look, I will wait a little while longer, expecting the hope of my deliverance’?
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: This is the wife’s quotation of Job in the expanded Greek speech; it has no separately corresponding Hebrew clause.
Verse 2:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No separate Hebrew source unit; Hebrew 2:9 is translated above.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9b For look, your memorial has vanished from the earth: sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, for whom I labored in vain with hardships.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The wife’s maternal grief and vanished memorial are explicit Greek additions relative to the aligned Hebrew verse.
Verse 2:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No separate Hebrew source unit; Hebrew 2:9 is translated above.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9c You yourself sit amid the decay of worms, spending the night in the open air,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds Job’s exposed nighttime condition and worms.
Verse 2:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No separate Hebrew source unit; Hebrew 2:9 is translated above.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9d while I am a wanderer and a hired servant, going from place to place and from house to house, waiting for the sun to set so that I may rest from the hardships and pains that now hold me fast.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek gives the wife a first-person account of wandering, servitude and painful labor. These clauses are retained independently.
Verse 2:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
— [No separate Hebrew source unit; Hebrew 2:9 is translated above.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9e But say some word to the Lord and die.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: This concluding clause corresponds to the command already translated in Hebrew 2:9. Greek says some word to the Lord, without an explicit curse verb. The Hebrew absence notice here prevents duplicating its verse.
Verse 2:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:10 He said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we receive the good from God and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:10 He looked at her and said, “You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we received good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not bear the bad things?” In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin at all with his lips before God.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek adds his look and before God, and distinguishes receiving good from bearing bad; Hebrew repeats receive. Both qualify the verdict with his lips. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 2:10 [RJ2], infers inward sin from the qualification with his lips. That inference goes beyond the narrator’s explicit statement and is kept out of the translation.
Verse 2:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:11 Job’s three friends heard of all this calamity that had come upon him. They came, each from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They agreed together to come to grieve with him and comfort him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:11 His three friends heard of all the bad things that had come upon him and came to him, each from his own country: Eliphaz king of the Temanites, Bildad ruler of the Shuhites, and Zophar king of the Minaeans. They came to him together to comfort him and visit him.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek gives the friends royal or ruling titles and identifies Zophar with the Minaeans rather than Naamathites. Greek visit differs from Hebrew grieve with. Tyrannos is ruler here, without importing a modern assessment of tyranny.
Verse 2:12 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:12 They lifted their eyes from a distance and did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept; each tore his robe, and they threw dust toward heaven over their heads.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:12 When they saw him from far away, they did not recognize him. Crying out loudly, they wept, each tearing his own robe and sprinkling earth upon himself.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The Greek sprinkling is shorter and does not explicitly mention heads or heaven.
Verse 2:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:13 They sat beside him seven days and seven nights, and none of them spoke, for they saw that his affliction was terrible and exceedingly great.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The shared silence and duration agree; Greek describes the affliction rather than naming pain. Rabbinic: Rashi, Job 2:13 [RJ2], explains the friends’ sitting on the ground as sharing Job’s pain, an ethical reading of their initial solidarity.