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Journey of a Passage

Job 13:15

"Though he slay me": written and read

The consonants in the Hebrew text read lo', "not": "Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope." The Masoretic marginal reading (qere) is lo, "to him": "I will hope in him." The library's Hebrew prints both. The Vulgate and KJV follow "in him"; the library's Greek follows neither.

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).

      Etiam si occiderit me, in ipso sperabo: verumtamen vias meas in conspectu ejus arguam.

    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.

      הֵ֣ן יִ֭קְטְלֵנִי לא ל֣וֹ אֲיַחֵ֑ל אַךְ־דְּ֝רָכַ֗י אֶל־פָּנָ֥יו אוֹכִֽיחַ׃

      Behold, he will slay me; [written:] I will not wait / [read:] for him I will wait; yet my ways I will argue to his face

      The library's Hebrew prints the written form (unvocalized) followed by the vocalized read form.

    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).

      Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

    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.

      Quand même le Tout-Puissant m’écraserait, puisqu’il a commencé, je ne laisserais pas de parler, et de m’expliquer avec lui.

      Even if the Almighty should crush me, since he has begun, I would not stop speaking and arguing with him

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

    What changed, and why

    Both readings are ancient: ketiv (what is written) and qere (what is read) preserve two traditions. The context, Job arguing his case even if it costs his life, fits either. Modern translations divide (KJV, NIV "I will hope in him"; NRSV, NJPS-type renderings "I have no hope"). The site shows both without choosing one as original.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe written Hebrew has "not" and the read form "to him."
    • Conflicts with current evidence"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" is the only ancient reading.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Though He Slay Me →Job tells his friends they are forgers of lies and worthless physicians; their silence would be their wisdom. Will they speak falsely for God? He will take his life in his hand and argue his case: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" in the familiar translation, or "Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope" in the written Hebrew. He has prepared his case and knows he will be vindicated. He asks God to remove his hand and his terror, and to name his sins.
      • Investigation: Why Ancient Jobs Differ →There is no single ancient Job. The Hebrew survives in fragments from Qumran and complete in medieval Masoretic codices. An Aramaic translation (11Q10) from Cave 11 preserves large parts of chapters 17–42. The Old Greek translation was about one-sixth shorter than the Hebrew; in the 3rd century Origen filled the gaps from Theodotion's Greek and marked the additions with asterisks. Later Greek manuscripts and printed Septuagints often keep the filled-out text without the marks. The Sahidic Coptic version preserves the shorter Greek. The library lets you see some of these differences.