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Journey of a Passage

Job 1:21

"The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away"

Job's response to his losses is stable across the versions. The Greek adds "as it pleased the Lord, so it has happened."

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JobPoem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Job
Aramaic
    Greek and its daughters
    1. Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)Printed Septuagint; translated 1872Translated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen
    Latin
    1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 390s, from HebrewTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    Every witness, in order

    1. Poem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)

      Original Job

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. Small Hebrew fragments of Job are known from Qumran (2Q15, 4Q99–101).

    2. c. AD 390s, from Hebrew

      Jerome's Vulgate

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      et dixit: Nudus egressus sum de utero matris meæ, et nudus revertar illuc. Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est. Sit nomen Domini benedictum.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Job

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      וַיֹּאמֶר֩ עָרֹ֨ם יצתי יָצָ֜אתִי מִבֶּ֣טֶן אִמִּ֗י וְעָרֹם֙ אָשׁ֣וּב שָׁ֔מָה יְהוָ֣ה נָתַ֔ן וַיהוָ֖ה לָקָ֑ח יְהִ֛י שֵׁ֥ם יְהוָ֖ה מְבֹרָֽךְ׃

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

    5. Printed Septuagint; translated 1872

      Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Et il dit: Nu je suis sorti des entrailles de ma mère, nu aussi je m’en irai; le Seigneur m’avait donné, le Seigneur m’a ôté, il est advenu comme il a plu au Seigneur; béni soit le nom du Seigneur.

      Greek via Giguet's French (filled-out printed text); not checked against Ziegler's critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    "Naked shall I return thither" (to the womb of the earth) uses the image of burial as return to mother earth (compare Ecclesiastes 5:15; Psalm 139:15). The verse is read at Jewish funerals and has shaped Christian consolation.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedJob blesses the LORD after his losses in every version.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • A Man in the Land of Uz →Job of Uz is blameless and upright, rich in children and flocks, and offers sacrifices in case his children have sinned. In the heavenly council the accuser (ha-satan) asks whether Job's piety is only payment for his blessings. God allows him to take everything but Job's body. In one day raiders, fire and wind destroy Job's flocks, servants and all ten children. Job tears his robe, shaves his head, falls to the ground and worships: "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."