The Book of Job by Anonymous

"The Book of Job" by Anonymous is an ancient poetic and philosophical text, likely written in the early to mid-1st millennium BC. The work poses deep questions about suffering, justice, and the nature of God, focused around the central character, Job—a righteous man subjected to tremendous, unexplained misfortune. Through dialogues between Job and his friends, the book explores the limits of human wisdom, the reality of innocent suffering, and the search for meaning in pain. It is regarded as a profound meditation on faith and endurance, making it both a foundational religious work and a literary classic. The opening of "The Book of Job" introduces Job as a prosperous, upright man deeply devoted to God, with a large family and great wealth. Satan challenges Job’s integrity before God, suggesting that Job’s virtue is only a result of his blessings. God allows Satan to strip Job of his possessions, children, and eventually his health, yet Job refuses to denounce God. As Job mourns in misery, three friends arrive and begin a series of poetic dialogues, trying to explain his suffering through conventional wisdom. Job, however, laments his existence and ardently questions God’s justice, insisting on his innocence and longing for understanding, while his friends repeatedly assert that suffering is a punishment for wrongdoing. This opening sets the stage for a profound exploration of faith, despair, and the complexities of human suffering. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Read or download for free

How to read Url Size
Read now! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.html.images 248 kB
EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.epub3.images 2.2 MB
EPUB (older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.epub.images 2.2 MB
EPUB (no images, older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.epub.noimages 246 kB
Kindle https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.kf8.images 2.6 MB
older Kindles https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.kindle.images 2.6 MB
Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75778.txt.utf-8 158 kB
Download HTML (zip) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/75778/pg75778-h.zip 2.7 MB
There may be more files related to this item.

About this eBook

Author Anonymous
Author of introduction, etc. Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936
Illustrator Tongue, C. Mary
Title The Book of Job
Original Publication London: Cecil Palmer & Hayward, 1916.
Note Reading ease score: 78.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.
Note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Job
Credits Carla Foust, Brian Wilson, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
Language English
LoC Class BS: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: The Bible, Old and New Testament
Subject Bible. Job -- Illustrations
Subject Bible. Job
Subject Bible. Job -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Category Text
EBook-No. 75778
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 640 downloads in the last 30 days.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!