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Protest and patience
A good man who lost everything, held on to God, and was restored.
▶ Watch the three tellingsUndated · as tradition places itThe name in three scripts
One-minute snapshot
Job (peace be upon him) was a good and prosperous man who lost everything: his children, his wealth and his health. His friends insisted he must have sinned. He protested his innocence and demanded an answer from God, who spoke to him out of the whirlwind. In the Qur'an Job calls to his Lord in his suffering and is restored, a model of sabr, patience. All three faiths hold him up as a sign that suffering is not proof of God's anger.
Watch
Each told by its own community, in its own words, side by side. More on F-ILM.
A Jewish telling
Doesn’t all the evil in the world show there is no God? Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Templeton Prize · Templeton PrizePlays on “When people blame God” →A Christian telling
A Muslim telling
A good man loses everything: his children, his wealth, his health. He does not let go of God. Jews, Christians and Muslims remember him, for his protest and for his patience.
Job (peace be upon him) has everything: a large family, flocks, respect, a good name. In a single day messengers arrive one after another. Raiders have taken the oxen; fire has burned the sheep; the camels are gone. Then a great wind strikes the house where his children are feasting, and they are dead. Then his body breaks out in sores from head to foot. He sits in the ashes and scrapes himself with a piece of pottery.
Three friends come and sit with him in silence for seven days. That is the best thing they do. When they start talking, they explain his suffering: he must have done something wrong. Job refuses to accept it, and demands an answer from God. The book of Job has been called the greatest poem of the ancient world. The Qur’an remembers him in a few verses as a man of extraordinary patience. Both are true to him.
“And Job, when he cried unto his Lord, (saying): Lo! adversity afflicteth me, and Thou art Most Merciful of all who show mercy. Then We heard his prayer and removed that adversity from which he suffered, and We gave him his household (that he had lost) and the like thereof along with them, a mercy from Our store, and a remembrance for the worshippers.”
Qur'an 21:83–84 · Pickthall (1930)
The Qur’an’s Job does not complain against God; he simply names his pain and names God’s mercy, side by side. The Hebrew book has Job’s first response to loss, words still said at Jewish funerals: “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21, JPS 1917).
Job lives in “the land of Uz”, somewhere to the east of Israel, perhaps in Edom (southern Jordan) or northern Arabia. He is not described as an Israelite, which is one reason the book feels universal. Scholars date the book in its present form anywhere from the seventh to the fourth century BCE; its prose frame may be older than its poetry. Its Hebrew is among the most difficult in the Bible, with many rare words.
Job is not the only ancient text to ask why good people suffer. One Babylonian poem is known by its opening words, Ludlul bel nemeqi, “I will praise the lord of wisdom”. It tells of a righteous man struck down by illness and abandoned by friends. In the end the god Marduk restores him. Another, the Babylonian Theodicy, is a dialogue between a sufferer and a friend. Clay tablets of both are in the British Museum. Job stands in that tradition and goes further: God does not explain, and the friends who defend God are rebuked.
When God finally speaks “out of the whirlwind” (Job 38–41), he does not answer Job’s questions. He asks his own, about the natural world. “Canst thou bind the chains of the Pleiades?” (38:31). The Pleiades are a real cluster of young stars about 444 light years away, held together by gravity for now. Astronomers expect it to drift apart over a few hundred million years. “Doth the hawk soar by thy wisdom, And stretch her wings toward the south?” (39:26). Many birds of prey do migrate south each autumn, some flying thousands of kilometres. The speeches invite Job, and readers, into wonder at a world vastly larger than any one life.
Places across the Middle East remember Job. At Şanlıurfa in south-east Turkey there is a cave and a well where tradition says he suffered and was healed. In Oman, near Salalah, and in Lebanon, at Niha, there are shrines of the Prophet Ayyub visited by Muslims, Druze and Christians.
“And he 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.”
Job 1:21 · JPS 1917
In the Hebrew Bible, the story begins in heaven. The Adversary (ha-satan) says Job is good only because God has blessed him. God allows him to be tested. After his losses, Job blesses God; after his illness, his wife tells him to curse God and die, and he refuses. Then the poetry begins, and Job curses the day he was born. For thirty-five chapters he argues with his friends, demands a hearing, and insists he is innocent.
God answers from the whirlwind with questions about creation. Job, having seen something he had only heard of, falls silent: “I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; But now mine eye seeth Thee” (42:5). Then God tells the friends that they “have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath” (42:7). Jewish tradition values that: honest protest is more faithful than pious excuses. The rabbis even debated whether Job really lived or was a parable (Bava Batra 15a). Rabbi Yannai taught that it is not in our power to explain the suffering of the righteous (Pirkei Avot 4:15).
Job’s friends shaped one of the gentlest Jewish customs. When someone dies, the family sits shiva, “seven”, at home for seven days, and neighbours come to sit with them. The Talmud teaches that visitors should not speak until the mourner speaks first. It learns this from the friends who “sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him” (Job 2:13; Moed Katan 28b).
“Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
James 5:11 · WEB
Christians read the book of Job as part of their Old Testament. Its words are said at many Christian funerals, and Handel set them in Messiah: “I know that my redeemer lives” (Job 19:25). The letter of James holds up Job’s endurance as an example: “You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome” (James 5:11).
Christian thinkers have found in Job a companion in suffering rather than a solution to it. Pope Gregory the Great wrote a vast commentary, the Moralia in Job (about 590), while ill himself. Many Christians read Job alongside the Cross, where Jesus also cried out to God. In both they see a God who does not stand far off from pain.
“And (it was said unto him): Take in thine hand a branch and smite therewith, and break not thine oath. Lo! We found him steadfast, how excellent a slave! Lo! he was ever turning in repentance (to his Lord).”
Qur'an 38:44 · Pickthall (1930)
The Qur’an names Job (Ayyub) among the prophets and tells his story briefly, as a model of sabr, patient endurance. His prayer is short and gentle: “And Job, when he cried unto his Lord, (saying): Lo! adversity afflicteth me, and Thou art Most Merciful of all who show mercy.” (21:83, Pickthall). In Surah Sad, God tells him: “(And it was said unto him): Strike the ground with thy foot. This (spring) is a cool bath and a refreshing drink.” (38:42, Pickthall). Then He gives him back his family and more. God says of him: “And (it was said unto him): Take in thine hand a branch and smite therewith, and break not thine oath. Lo! We found him steadfast, how excellent a slave! Lo! he was ever turning in repentance (to his Lord).” (38:44, Pickthall).
Muslim tradition adds that Job was tested for many years and never complained against God, and that his wife stayed faithful to him through it all. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) said that after his healing, while Job was bathing, a shower of golden locusts fell on him, and he gathered them. God asked whether He had not made him rich enough. Job said, “Yes, but I can never do without Your blessing” (Bukhari 279). For Muslims, “as patient as Ayyub” is still a common saying.
All three faiths honour Job as a righteous man who lost everything and held on to God, and who was restored in the end. All three use his story to teach that suffering is not proof of sin. They emphasise different things. The Qur’an remembers his short, patient prayer and calls him an excellent servant. The Hebrew book keeps Job’s long, raw protest and God’s answer from the whirlwind, and praises Job for speaking rightly. James praises his perseverance, and Christians read him in the light of the Cross. Protest and patience can both be faithful responses to suffering, and many people need both.
A moment to reflect
A Yale lecture on Job and other biblical responses to suffering.
Doesn’t all the evil in the world show there is no God? Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Templeton Prize · Templeton PrizePlays on “When people blame God” →Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on whether evil in the world shows there is no God.
Dr Omar Suleiman on why innocent people suffer, drawing on the prophets’ patience.
Job’s friends sat with him for seven days. Talk together about how your traditions support the bereaved, from shiva to wakes to the Muslim days of condolence, and offer to sit with someone who is grieving.
If a Jewish neighbour or colleague is sitting shiva, you may usually visit during the hours the family gives. Dress simply, sit quietly, and let the mourner speak first. Your presence matters more than anything you say.
Read Job 38:4–11 and 38:31 outdoors at night. Find the Pleiades (visible in autumn and winter). Each person writes one question about nature they cannot answer.
Listen to “I know that my redeemer liveth” from Handel’s Messiah and a recitation of Qur’an 21:83–84. Talk about how each sets Job’s words to sound.
Three quick questions. No score, nothing saved.
1. What was the best thing Job's friends did?
2. What did the friends say caused his suffering?
3. How does God answer Job?
Side by side
Quotations: Torah and Hebrew Bible, JPS 1917 · New Testament, World English Bible (British Edition) · Qur'an, Pickthall (1930). Translations and sources
THebrew Bible · Torah
In Jewish tradition's own words.
The Talmud debates when Job lived, and one sage says he never existed but was a parable (Bava Batra 15a).
Words from Job 1:21 are said by Jewish mourners on hearing of a death.
Key passages: Job 1–42; Ezekiel 14:14, 20
GThe Christian telling
In Christian tradition's own words.
“You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”James 5:11 · WEB (British Edition)
Gregory the Great's Moralia in Job (6th century) is one of the great Christian commentaries.
Key passages: James 5:11
QThe Qur'an
In Islamic tradition's own words.
“Lo! We found him steadfast, how excellent a slave! Lo! he was ever turning in repentance (to his Lord).”Qur'an 38:44 · Pickthall (1930)
While Job (peace be upon him) was bathing, golden locusts fell on him and he gathered them, saying he could never do without God's blessing (Bukhari 279, paraphrased).
The branch of 38:44 is read as a way for Job (peace be upon him) to keep an oath gently.
וַיֹּאמֶר עָרֹם יצתי [יָצָאתִי] מִבֶּטֶן אִמִּי וְעָרֹם אָשׁוּב שָׁמָה יְהוָה נָתַן וַיהוָה לָקָח יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְבֹרָךְ׃
And he 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.
וַאֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי גֹּאֲלִי חָי וְאַחֲרוֹן עַל־עָפָר יָקוּם׃
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, And that He will witness at the last upon the dust;
Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
۞ إِنَّآ أَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَيْكَ كَمَآ أَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَىٰ نُوحٍۢ وَٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦ ۚ وَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ وَإِسْمَٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحَٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَٱلْأَسْبَاطِ وَعِيسَىٰ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُونُسَ وَهَٰرُونَ وَسُلَيْمَٰنَ ۚ وَءَاتَيْنَا دَاوُۥدَ زَبُورًۭا
Lo! We inspire thee as We inspired Noah and the prophets after him, as We inspired Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon, and as We imparted unto David the Psalms;
وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ ۚ كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا ۚ وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِهِۦ دَاوُۥدَ وَسُلَيْمَٰنَ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُوسُفَ وَمُوسَىٰ وَهَٰرُونَ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ
And We bestowed upon him Isaac and Jacob; each of them We guided; and Noah did We guide aforetime; and of his seed (We guided) David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron. Thus do We reward the good.
۞ وَأَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُۥٓ أَنِّى مَسَّنِىَ ٱلضُّرُّ وَأَنتَ أَرْحَمُ ٱلرَّٰحِمِينَ
And Job, when he cried unto his Lord, (saying): Lo! adversity afflicteth me, and Thou art Most Merciful of all who show mercy.
فَٱسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُۥ فَكَشَفْنَا مَا بِهِۦ مِن ضُرٍّۢ ۖ وَءَاتَيْنَٰهُ أَهْلَهُۥ وَمِثْلَهُم مَّعَهُمْ رَحْمَةًۭ مِّنْ عِندِنَا وَذِكْرَىٰ لِلْعَٰبِدِينَ
Then We heard his prayer and removed that adversity from which he suffered, and We gave him his household (that he had lost) and the like thereof along with them, a mercy from Our store, and a remembrance for the worshippers;
وَٱذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَآ أَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُۥٓ أَنِّى مَسَّنِىَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ بِنُصْبٍۢ وَعَذَابٍ
And make mention (O Muhammad) of Our bondman Job, when he cried unto his Lord (saying): Lo! the devil doth afflict me with distress and torment.
ٱرْكُضْ بِرِجْلِكَ ۖ هَٰذَا مُغْتَسَلٌۢ بَارِدٌۭ وَشَرَابٌۭ
(And it was said unto him): Strike the ground with thy foot. This (spring) is a cool bath and a refreshing drink.
وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ أَهْلَهُۥ وَمِثْلَهُم مَّعَهُمْ رَحْمَةًۭ مِّنَّا وَذِكْرَىٰ لِأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَلْبَٰبِ
And We bestowed on him (again) his household and therewith the like thereof, a mercy from Us, and a memorial for men of understanding.
وَخُذْ بِيَدِكَ ضِغْثًۭا فَٱضْرِب بِّهِۦ وَلَا تَحْنَثْ ۗ إِنَّا وَجَدْنَٰهُ صَابِرًۭا ۚ نِّعْمَ ٱلْعَبْدُ ۖ إِنَّهُۥٓ أَوَّابٌۭ
And (it was said unto him): Take in thine hand a branch and smite therewith, and break not thine oath. Lo! We found him steadfast, how excellent a slave! Lo! he was ever turning in repentance (to his Lord).
Common ground
Said plainly, ranked never
Era and place
Gallery
Go deeper
Bava Batra 15a–16b gathers the rabbis' opinions on when Job lived, and whether his story is history or parable.
James 5:11 makes Job the model of endurance. Gregory the Great's Moralia and William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job (1826) are landmarks of Christian reading.
Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Ibn Kathir, on 21:83 and 38:41, tells of Job (peace be upon him)'s long illness, his wife's faithfulness, the healing spring, and the golden locusts of the hadith.
۞ وَأَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُۥٓ أَنِّى مَسَّنِىَ ٱلضُّرُّ وَأَنتَ أَرْحَمُ ٱلرَّٰحِمِينَ
And Job, when he cried unto his Lord, (saying): Lo! adversity afflicteth me, and Thou art Most Merciful of all who show mercy.
وَٱذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَآ أَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُۥٓ أَنِّى مَسَّنِىَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ بِنُصْبٍۢ وَعَذَابٍ
And make mention (O Muhammad) of Our bondman Job, when he cried unto his Lord (saying): Lo! the devil doth afflict me with distress and torment.
4 films and talks, chosen for this page. They play here.
The Book of Job: Whose Test is It? (Class 1)
myjewishlearning · 56 min
Reasons to Love... The Book of Job
Bible Society · 2 min
Bible Society: reasons to love the Book of Job.
Coronavirus and the book of Job with John Walton
BioLogos · 60 min
Stories of the Prophets EP16: Patience
Qalam Institute · 13 min
Qalam Institute: Stories of the Prophets, patience.