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Book of Job
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===Authorship, language, texts=== The character Job appears in the 6th-century BCE [[Book of Ezekiel]] as an exemplary righteous man of antiquity, and the author of the Book of Job has apparently chosen this legendary hero for his [[parable]].{{sfn|Fokkelman|2012|p=20}} The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonian [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]] influences, indicates it was composed during the [[Persian period]] (540–330 BCE), with the poet using Hebrew in a learned, literary manner.<ref>{{cite book | title = Job: A New Translation | translator = Edward L. Greenstein | publisher = Yale University Press | year = 2019 | isbn = 9780300163766 | page = xxvii | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=W8KmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR27 | quote = Determining the time and place of the book's composition is bound up with the nature of the book's language. The Hebrew prose of the frame tale, notwithstanding many classic features, shows that it was composed in the post-Babylonian era (after 540 BC). The poetic core of the book is written in a highly literate and literary Hebrew, the eccentricities and occasional clumsiness of which suggest that Hebrew was a learned and not native language of the poet. The numerous words and grammatical shadings of Aramaic spread throughout the mainly Hebrew text of Job make a setting in the Persian era (approximately 540-330) fairly certain, for it was only in that period that Aramaic became a major language throughout the Levant. The poet depends on an audience that will pick up on subtle signs of Aramaic. }}</ref> The anonymous author was almost certainly an [[Israelites|Israelite]]—although the story is set outside Israel, in southern [[Edom]] or northern Arabia—and alludes to places as far apart as [[Mesopotamia]] and Egypt.{{sfn|Seow|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOn3ZK2n0UUC&pg=PA24 24]}} Despite the Israelite origins, it appears that the Book of Job was composed in a time in which [[wisdom literature]] was common but not acceptable to Judean sensibilities (i.e., during the [[Babylonian exile]] and shortly thereafter).<ref>{{cite book |last=Kugel |first=James L. |year=2008 |title=How to Read the Bible: A guide to scripture, then and now |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0743235877}}</ref> The speeches of Elihu differ in style from the rest of the book, and neither God nor Job appear to take any note of what he has said; as a result, it is widely believed that Elihu's speeches are a later addition by another author.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elihu |title=Elihu (Biblical figure) |publisher=Encyclopedia Brittanica |date=2009-10-20 |website=Encyclopedia Brittanica |access-date=2025-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Alter |first=Robert |year=2018 |title=The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary, Volume 3 |publisher=W. W. Nortion & Company |isbn=978-0393292497}}</ref> The language of Job stands out for its conservative spelling and exceptionally large number of words and word forms not found elsewhere in the Bible.{{sfn|Seow|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOn3ZK2n0UUC&pg=PA17 17-20]}} Many later scholars, down to the 20th century, have looked for an [[Aramaic]], [[Arabic]], or [[Edomite language|Edomite]] origin, but a close analysis suggests that the foreign words and foreign-looking forms are literary affectations designed to lend authenticity to the book's distant setting and give it a foreign flavor.{{sfn|Seow|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOn3ZK2n0UUC&pg=PA24 24]}}{{sfn|Kugel|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iyjzHjnEJ8AC&dq=%22give+the+work+a+foreign+flavor%22&pg=PA641 641]}}
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