myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Job 1:6

The sons of God and the satan

The Hebrew says "the sons of God (bene ha-elohim) came… and the satan (ha-satan) came also among them." The library's Greek (Giguet) reads "the angels of God… and the devil." The Vulgate and KJV make "Satan" a name.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

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 it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ 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).

      Quadam autem die, cum venissent filii Dei ut assisterent coram Domino, affuit inter eos etiam Satan.

    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.

      וַיְהִ֣י הַיּ֔וֹם וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים לְהִתְיַצֵּ֖ב עַל־יְהוָ֑ה וַיָּב֥וֹא גַֽם־הַשָּׂטָ֖ן בְּתוֹכָֽם׃

      and the day came, and the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and the satan also came among them

    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).

      Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

    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.

      Or, un de ces jours-là, voilà que les anges de] Dieu comparurent devant le Seigneur, et le diable vint avec eux.

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

    What changed, and why

    The article (ha-) marks a role: "the adversary" in God's court. The Greek translators used diabolos ("slanderer"), the source of English "devil," and interpreted the sons of God as angels. Both renderings are early interpretations of the same Hebrew. See the investigation "Who Is the Accuser?"

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe Hebrew has ha-satan with the article.
    • Independently documentedThe library's Greek has "the devil" and "the angels of God."

    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."
      • Investigation: Who Is the Accuser? →In Job 1–2 the figure who challenges Job's piety is ha-satan, "the adversary," a member of the heavenly court who acts only with God's permission. The Hebrew word satan is used of human opponents, of the angel of the LORD blocking Balaam, and of a court accuser in Zechariah 3. Only 1 Chronicles 21:1 may use it as a name. The Greek translators wrote diabolos, "slanderer." Later Jewish writings (Jubilees, the Dead Sea Scrolls) and the New Testament developed a personal Satan, the devil, opposed to God. Job stands early in that history.