The Greek version, which is considerably shorter than the Hebrew, is not of much help as regards textual interpretation; nor are other early

Transcription

1 Job Introduction Old Testament wisdom literature normally takes the form of maxims, proverbs and sayings designed to convey a message or teaching. The book of Job, however, is a piece of wisdom writing in the form of a continuous narrative the story of one man who, although he was faithful to God, suffered misfortune after misfortune. The book takes its name from the central character, an upright man, a native of the land of Uz, to the south of Edom, a man who suffers a whole series of terrible reverses in which he loses his property, his family and even his health. In these reduced circumstances, he engages in a discussion with three friends. They try to reason with him and show him where he has gone wrong. After they have made all their points, God himself joins in and shows Job that he has a lot to learn. At the end of the book, Job is acknowledged to have been upright in every way, and he is blessed with a new family and with a fortune greater than the one he lost. After a long and happy life he dies, like an ancient patriarch, surrounded by esteem and honor. Within the canon of the Bible this book is set among the wisdom writings. The Talmud mentions it immediately after the Psalms which is where it is found in the Alexandrine codex; however, as early as St Cyril of Jerusalem, St Jerome and others we find it positioned just before the Psalter; and the Council of Trent gives it that position in its list of canonical books. Of all the wisdom books in the Old Testament, Job and the Psalms have been the most influential. In fact Job is one of the most commented on, be it by Jewish or Christian commentators. The Letter of James (Jas 5:11) offers Job as a model of patience, presumably because of the serene way he accepts adversity as evidenced in the prologue (cf. Job 1:21). St Gregory the Great wrote a long commentary on the book, drawing many moral conclusions. St Thomas Aquinas interpreted it as being a long lecture on the subject of divine providence, and Fray Luis de León made a famous translation of the book into Spanish, adding a detailed commentary. 1. STRUCTURE AND CONTENT This book is regarded as a literary masterpiece and one that deals with hugely important themes. However, it raises all sorts of questions. From the textual point of view it is extremely complicated, and it is often far from easy to decipher quite what the text means. This is due, partly, to the fact that it may contain Aramaic expressions not very well transcribed into Hebrew or which echo an ancient dialect for the most part lost; another reason may be that the text has suffered at the hands of copyists over the centuries. It is very likely that all these factors have played a part. The net effect is that, along with the book of Hosea, this is the most difficult book in the Bible to interpret textually. 1

2 The Greek version, which is considerably shorter than the Hebrew, is not of much help as regards textual interpretation; nor are other early versions, Syriac or Latin, for they provide only a literal, word-for-word translation. The text is also very complex from a literary point of view; part of it is in prose, and part in verse; and the two parts are very different one from the other. Many of the sections which go to make up the book could have existed in their own right as separate pieces of writing, either all by the same author or by different authors. However, taken as a whole the work does have certain unity. In its make-up we can identify five distinct parts: 1. Prologue, in prose (1:1 2:13) 2. Speeches by the leading characters, in verse (3:1 31:40): Job s lament (3:1 26) Job s exchanges with his friends (4:1 27:23) A hymn in praise of wisdom (28:1 28) Job s lament (29:1 31:40) 3. Elihu s intervention (32:1 37:24) 4. Speeches of the Lord (38:1 42:6) 5. Epilogue, in prose (42:7 17). 1. THE PROSE PROLOGUE (1:1 2:13), together with the epilogue (42:7 17), may derive from an ancient, orally transmitted account. Egyptian and Babylonian narratives have come down to us which tell of a just man who loses his property and recovers it later; but the Job story has very little in common with them except for the basic story-line. The story of Job contains elements specific to it which alter the ancient anecdote and orient it towards profound teaching about God. For example, the two scenes set in heaven (1:6 22 and 2:1 10) indicates that the theme of the book is more to do with the nature of God than with man; it is more about God s attitude and actions in regard to human suffering than about man s reaction to his own misfortunes. This is the only part of the book in which the name of the God of Israel (Yhwh) appears: in the poetical sections God is mentioned by his generic name ( El) or is called the Almighty (Shaddai). The Satan figure appears only in the prologue and gets no other mention, not even in the epilogue which shows that the entire book hinges really on God. The main protagonist, Job, is introduced in a very sketchy way: we are not told his ancestry or when he lived. We simply hear about his moral traits: in the first, prose, part (1:20; 2:10) he is depicted as an upright man who stays true to God despite the reverses he suffers; but in the dialogue section (3:1 31:40) he comes across as a man with a mind of his own. Job is a literary creation, a character who in some way embodies the author of the book and gives voice to his inmost doubts and concerns. 2. THE VERSE DIALOGUES (3:1 31:40) making up the wisdom section of the book take the form of a learned debate in which each character is able to expound his views in a orderly way and in keeping with the style of the time: 2

3 Job s lament (3:1 26) is an outspoken monologue in which Job curses the day he was born and searches in anguish for the meaning of his misfortunes. He makes great complaint about his physical affliction, but what disturbs him most is his utter perplexity: I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest: but trouble comes (3:26). In the dialogue or debate between Job and his friends (4:1 27:23), Job s opponents take their parts in a series of separate speeches. But the main voice is Job s: he is given ten speeches, to two or three for each of the others. Because there are three friends involved, some scholars divide the speeches in this section into three cycles, with Job intervening three times in each cycle 1) Eliphaz-Job, Bildad-Job, Zophar-Job (4:1 14:22); 2) Eliphaz-Job, Bildad- Job, Zophar-Job (15:1 21:34); 3) Eliphaz-Job, Bildad-Job, (Zophar)-Job (22:1 27:33). However, to make this division work, the text as we have it would need to change somewhat attributing to Zophar (hence the bracketing of his name above) some verses that the book attributes to Job (27:13 23); the theory also means that Job s last reply would be the monologue he delivers in chapters Other commentators suggest that there are just two cycles, each containing four speeches; this is in line with the text as we have it, and it means that the person whose speech opens each cycle is the same as closes it: 1) Eliphaz-Job, Bildad- Job, Zophar-Job, Eliphaz-Job (4:1 17:16); 2) Bildad-Job, Zophar-Job, Eliphaz-Job, Bildad-Job (18:1 27:23). But this way of dividing up the text is somewhat artificial, and it does not help to make it clearer. So, because there is nothing in the book itself that proves it contains either two or three cycles, it seems to make more sense to take it that the friends speak one after the other, according to no fixed pattern, and that Job replies to each speech in turn. When the sacred writer feels that the friends have expounded all their ideas clearly, he brings the series of exchanges to an end, even though Zophar has had one speech less than the others and even though Bildad s last speech is much shorter than the previous ones. The hymn in praise of wisdom (28:1 18) is placed on Job s lips, even though its content is peripheral to his main concerns. It is very strategically positioned in the book, as a colophon to the debate between Job and his friends. The hymn describes wisdom as a treasure more valuable than gold or precious stones, but a treasure outside man s reach; he does not know where it is to be found, or what route he must take to find it. Many commentators have suggested that this chapter is a later addition to the text, but there really are no clear grounds for this theory, given that the vocabulary and style of the passage are very like those of the rest of the book. It is more probable that the sacred writer composed this beautiful poem to make the point that lies at the heart of the book that man has a very limited capacity to understand the mind of God and to indicate that fear of the Lord (28:28) is the best way to draw closer to Him. This message brings to a close the dialogue of the wise men, but its main function is to prepare the ground for, and anticipate, the Lord s teachings that are to follow. Job s last monologue (29:1 31:40) acts as a kind of conclusion to the debate, just as his first speech (3:1 26) initiated it: both laments are very typical of poems of lamentation found in wisdom literature. In this particular one we find Job s most emphatic appeal to God to solve his personal problem: Oh, that I had one to hear me! (31:35). 3

4 3. ELIHU S INTERVENTION (32:1 37:24) comes out of the blue and, in a way, it breaks the thread of the book, given that Elihu is not mentioned anywhere else, not even in the epilogue when the Lord takes Eliphaz and his two friends (42:7) to task. Many commentators think that the Elihu passage is a later addition, inserted after the book was completed, to round off the views propounded by Job s three friends and even to fill out the speeches of the Lord. The Elihu passage does provide a new interpretation of human suffering namely, that God can use suffering to punish the wicked (which was the rationale the previous speakers proposed: cf. 34:11) but he can also use it as a means of testing and chastening the just man (cf. 36:15 16). So, even if the Elihu passage was inserted after the first edition of the book, it does fit where it is positioned and it prepares the way for the Lord s intervention in the proceedings. 4. THE SPEECHES OF THE LORD (38:1 42:6) are the climax of the poetical part of the book. They describe all sorts of created beings, in their natural order and in line with the style of wisdom narratives the heavenly bodies and the sources of weather as understood by people at the time; exotic birds and animals; and finally two monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan. The descriptions serve to make the reader appreciate the wisdom and power of God. The underlying lesson is clear: all these created things have their part to play, as do all positive and negative experiences that man may have. So, even human suffering has its usefulness: it fits in with the harmony of the universe. Job takes the point and has nothing more to say (cf. 42:1 6). 5. THE EPILOGUE (42:7 17), as already pointed out, is closely connected to the prologue. In these verses God takes center stage which helps to underline the theological character of the book and to show that God takes special care of those who are faithful to him. 2. COMPOSITION As is often the case with other works of wisdom literature, biblical or otherwise, we do not know who was the author of the book. Although Job was someone regarded as a hero and a model of virtue, (Ezekiel mentions him, along with Noah and Dan(i)el as an example of the righteous man (Ezek 14:14 20)) and although the book bears his name, he was not the author. Given the style of the book and the author s familiarity with the traditions of Israel, he must have been an Israelite of considerable learning. It has sometimes been argued that the author of Job was not a member of the chosen people. It is, indeed, rather strange that he scarcely ever uses the Lord s name (Yhwh), but this is probably an indication that the writers of spiritual books sought a readership extending beyond Israel and among people already interested in the sort of theological and anthropological questions raised in the book. The dating of the book is something else we cannot be sure of. The prose passages set Job in patriarchal times when the head of the household was responsible for his family and relatives and offered sacrifices on their behalf, since there were neither priests nor temple. For these reasons, ancient rabbinical tradition (with some exceptions) puts the date of 4

5 composition back in the twentieth century BC. However, the earliest Christian commentators and many Church Fathers were of the view that the book could not have been written earlier that the reign of Solomon. In modern times, scholars have identified clues which would seem to suggest a more recent date, between the seventh and the fourth century BC, probably during the Persian period (fifth-fourth centuries BC). That was the time when, after the Jews experience of exile in Babylon, they pondered deeply over the problem of pain and suffering: how could God allow an innocent person or an innocent people, the people of Israel, to undergo such a traumatic experience? Besides, it was in that period that the use of Aramaic became widespread and it was, moreover, the time when wisdom literature flourished. Also, the figure of Satan as a supernatural tempter may owe something to Persian influences (cf. Zech 3:1). 3. MESSAGE There is more than one message in the book of Job. In general terms, we can say that it deals with questions about the wisdom and justice of God, about man s attitude to suffering, and about man s relationship with God. 1. The themes to do with God are very much to the fore. St Thomas Aquinas saw the book as a detailed and profound explanation of divine providence. Modern commentators see it as an attempt to marry divine wisdom as evidenced in nature with the justice that God dispenses to men or, more specifically, as an attempt to make sense of the suffering of the innocent that is, to understand how God s justice can permit, and often directly cause, an innocent person to experience suffering and misfortune. The book provides three answers to this paradox: a) In the prologue, the author uses the ancient Job story to show that God puts the upright to the test: they need to prove that they fear God for naught (1:9) that is, not for any personal advantage they might gain as a reward for good behavior; and they must show that if adversity strikes they will not turn around and curse God (cf. 2:5). If the Lord consents to test Job with suffering, he does it to demonstrate the latter s righteousness. The suffering has the nature of a test. (John Paul II, Salvifici doloris, 11) Job passed the test, he stayed true to God; he blessed God despite his plight (1:21), and no complaint passed his lips (2:10). b) In the dialogue between Job and his friends, the solution to the problem of suffering is less clear. On the one hand, God does not punish the wicked and reward the good in an automatic way: the fact that someone experiences misfortune does not mean he is guilty of sin, nor does prosperity prove that a person is good. While it is true that suffering has a meaning as punishment, when it is connected with a fault, it is not true that all suffering is a consequence of a fault and has the nature of a punishment. (Ibid.)However, the three friends fail to solve the problem, and Job s replies to their speeches are really an appeal for God himself to provide the answer. 5

6 c) Finally, the speeches of the Lord point the way to a definitive answer; they allow us to see that every part of creation has a role to play, even the elements that determine the weather, even the fact that rain falls in uninhabited places, or that the ostrich fails to sit on her nest. The speeches do not give an in-depth explanation of suffering, but they set it in the wider context of creation as a whole. This explanation, typical of wisdom writing, will probably not satisfy the individual sufferer, but it does imply a considerable advance on earlier thinking, by showing that suffering has a place in the mysterious purposes of God. 2. From the anthropological point of view, the book also has things to say about the attitude man should adopt with regard to his own suffering; he needs to see himself in the context of all creation and the greatness of God. The book of Job is not just about moral integrity, loyalty and faith or about the on-going tension between a just man s sense of loyalty and the difficulties God himself sends him: it really has a much deeper message namely, that no created being, and certainly no human being, is alien to God. God provides man with wealth or poverty, health or misfortune, the company of friends or isolation. Whatever the circumstances, the individual person may find herself or himself in, God never neglects that person. The book does not go much further than this, but it does give the impression that man is a privileged creature, one who can appreciate the attributes and the reason-for-being of all created things, and one who can see that everything that happens to him personally is part of the divine plan. 3. The clearest teaching in the book has to do with man s relationship with God. Right through the debate with his friends, Job repeatedly calls on God to act as the judge of his own situation. The dramatic tension built up over the course of the debate eventually leads to the theophany in which the Lord addresses Job out of the whirlwind (38:1). After all his speeches, Job now realizes that they didn t amount to much; and he decides to hold his tongue (cf. 40:3 4), not so much on account of what God tells him but rather because God has deigned to listen to him. So, a person is able to share ideas with his equals, but he can also communicate with God; he will not thereby be able to resolve all his doubts or solve all his problems, but he will get a good reception from the One who knows all things and can do all things. 4. THE BOOK OF JOB IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Clearly, in the book of Job the Old Testament does lift the veil that shrouds the mystery of suffering; but it is only in the New Testament, in the light of Christ s suffering on behalf of others, that we are able to see that divine justice is not undermined by the phenomenon of human suffering: in fact, suffering is something fruitful; it is a sign, indeed, of divine justice: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (Jn 12:24). Hence the book of Job has come to be seen as heralding the passion of Christ. It raises the subject of suffering in a moral context how can it be good? and says that the argument that suffering is punishment for sin is an inadequate one. Christ s passion 6

7 enables us to see the meaning of suffering in terms of the Love of God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16). But in order to perceive the true answer to the why of suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists [ ]. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the why of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love. In order to discover the profound meaning of suffering, following the revealed word of God, we must open ourselves wide to the human subject in his manifold potentiality. We must above all accept the light of Revelation not only insofar as it illuminates this order with Love, as the definitive source of everything that exists. Love is also the fullest source of the answer to the question of the meaning of suffering. This answer has been given by God to man in the cross of Jesus Christ. (Ibid.) Even so, no particular attention is given in the New Testament to the book of Job or to Job himself. As indicated at the start of this introduction, the only reference is in the Letter of St James when he praises Job (cf. Jas 5:11). However, Christian tradition has interpreted Job as making reference to the after-life and announcing the resurrection of the dead. The Latin Vulgate, for example, interprets this famous passage of 19:25 in a messianic sense: scio quod Redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die surrecturus sum ( I know that my Redeemer lives and that on the last day I will rise from the earth ). The liturgy of the dead changed the opening word to credo ( I believe ), thereby making the verse an act of faith in the resurrection of Christ and of all the dead. 1:1 2:13. This prose prologue to the book, in addition to introducing Job and his family, also raises the theme of the exchanges between Job and his friends how can it be that God permits an innocent man to suffer? There are three linked scenes in the prologue a) we are introduced to Job and told about his qualities and comfortable circumstances (vv. 1 5); b) there is the conversation between Satan and God, and the severe test that Job is put through (1:6 2:10). In this scene we can discern two symmetrical stages, each with the same elements Satan s evil plan and the Lord s allowing him to implement it (1:6 12; 2:1 7a), the execution of the plan (1:13 19; 2:7b), and Job s reaction (1:20 22; 2:8 10); c) the arrival of Job s friends, determined to raise his spirits (2:11 13). Accounts of just men who experience suffering, petition the gods and are released from their misfortunes were common enough in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Examples are to be found in Canaan, in Ungarit, to be precise, from where they could easily have found their way into Israelite circles. The sacred writer may well have taken his narrative line from that source. But he simply uses it as a prologue or introduction to his theme the problem of the innocent sufferer set in the context of the faith of the people of God. In this passage, he refers to God as Yhwh, a name unique to the God of the Covenant, whereas in the various speeches in the book he uses the name of El, or other names common in Canaan, to designate God. The prologue 7

8 also gives the reader the key to the problem of the suffering of the just man: it is a test of his fidelity. Job does not know this nor do his friends: it is something known only to God and to the angelic world around him. Hence the questions it raises in man s mind. Job s virtues (vv. 1 5) and his submissiveness (1:21; 2:10) in the face of calamity inflicted on him by God show him to be a sort of patriarch and a prototype of the pious Jew, and not merely of the righteous man who suffers. 1:1 5. The teaching that comes across from the historical books and from traditional wisdom as recounted in the Proverbs and Psalms is basically that prosperity is a reward for upright living; so, if someone shuns evil and fears the Lord he will be blessed with wealth and heirs. In line with this thinking, Job, the protagonist, is depicted as living in very comfortable circumstances and as the head of a large family because he is a model of the good-living man (v. 1). The number of children is a sign of perfect fatherhood, three and ten both being symbols of perfection. In the epilogue the Lord restores to Job double the property he had before, but the number of sons and daughters is unchanged (cf. 42:10 15). The custom of meeting for a meal in each other s houses (v. 4) shows just how well off they all were and also how united the family was; particularly noticeable is Job s religious devotion: he made peace offerings to atone for any offence his children may have done to God (v. 5). These few brush strokes tell us all we know about Job his virtue, and his family and its customs. There is no mention of Job s background, maybe because the author wants to depict him as a model for all; and we are not told much, either, about where the action takes place. The only thing we know about Uz is that it was an Edomite area/tribe in southern Canaan. Nothing is said about the tribe, either. All this means that Job is an example for Israelites, and for Gentiles as well. He is a model that people can imitate no matter where or when they live. 1:6 12. Yahweh is anthropomorphically represented as an Oriental monarch seated on his throne receiving the reports of his servants and issuing his commands. These servants, the agents through whom he governs, are the sons of Elohim, originally conceived as lesser divinities but in Israelite theology reduced to the rank of Yahweh s ministers. Among them is the Adversary ( the Satan ; not to be treated as a proper name), the prosecutor who spies on men s wrongdoing and reports it to his master (cf. Zech 3:1ff.). He is not yet the devil of later Judaist and Christian theology; to identify him as such distorts the understanding of the book (A. Lods, Fest. R. Dussaud [vol. 2; Paris, 1939] ). Still, he is an unpleasant figure, and his cynical attitude toward human possibilities of good contradicts the optimistic estimate of Yahweh himself. When the latter, with evident pleasure and even a kind of pride, draws his attention to my servant Job (a title of high honor) as an example of perfect human loyalty to himself, the Satan skeptically interprets Job s virtue as mere self-interest. 1 1 Brown, R. E., Fitzmyer, J. A., & Murphy, R. E. (1996). The Jerome Biblical commentary (JBC)(Vol. 1, p. 514). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 8

9 Like Abraham when he was required to sacrifice his first-born son (cf. Gen 22:1 12), Job does not realize that his faith in and fear of the Lord are being put to the test. Yet in both cases, Abraham and Job, the initiative lies with God: he will not allow Abraham to perform the sacrifice, nor will he allow Job to be tested beyond the limit (v. 12). The sons of God (v. 6), which the Septuagint translates as the angels of God, are those who are subject to his commands. 1: Satan puts his plan into operation in just one day (v. 13) and Job s world crashes down around him. There are four separate calamities, each worse than the previous one, and in each case there is only one survivor left to tell the tale. First Job loses his oxen and asses, then his flocks, his camels, his children. All his property has been taken from him and he has no means of recovering it, and no children to help him. From being a wealthy, respected man, he has been reduced to utter misery. The fire of God (v. 16): this has no particular religious significance; it is just a popular expression for a bolt of lightning. 1: Job expresses his feelings in actions and words. As we can see elsewhere in the Bible (for example, in the case of Joseph, cf. Gen 37:34, and David, cf. 2 Sam 1:11; 13:31), rending of garments was a sign of profound sorrow. The words in v. 22 very poetically describe the human condition, its fragility and impotence. Job experiences complete deprivation; he is conscious too of the absolute sovereignty of God, who alone has power to give and to take away; and he fully accepts the will of God. St Gregory the Great draws attention to Job s good disposition when he comments that If all the goods we have at our disposal in this life have been given to us by him (God), why should we complain if the same Judge asks for the return of what he has so generously granted to us? (Moralia in Iob, 6, 31). Just before the words blessed be the name of the Lord (v. 21), the Septuagint and the Vulgate add As it has pleased God, so is it done probably a later addition to draw a general lesson from the particular case of Job. In Job s few words in v. 21, God s own name of Yhwh is mentioned three times; this indicates that the writer has a deep faith in the God of the Covenant and sincere respect for God s plans. The first scene ends with Job the clear winner: Satan thought he would curse the Lord (v. 11), but in fact he openly praises him (v. 21). The sacred writer comes out on Job s side when he states that Job committed no sin nor even raised his voice against God. Satan has been proved wrong. 2:1 10. The second scene is shorter and more dramatic. God puts it on record that Job is blameless, Satan proposes one more test and Job is afflicted with sores over his entire body, the sort of disease that calls for the victim to be isolated (cf. Lev 13:45 46). Job is so disfigured that even his wife recoils from him. He must have done something terrible, to deserve this treatment, she thinks. 9

10 Job reacts wonderfully well: he really is a very fine person; and his wisdom must be his greatest virtue: he dismisses his wife s remarks as foolish rather than sinful, and he points out that what she says makes no sense; his words read like a maxim from a sage: If we accept good things from God, why should we not also accept suffering? (v. 10). As at the end of the first episode, the sacred writer comes down in favor of Job s innocence: In all this Job did not sin with his lips (v. 10b). He thus opens the way to the dialogues which follow and in which the facts are clear: Job committed no sin and yet he has contracted a horrible and grievous illness. How can such a terrible situation be explained? 2:4. Skin for skin : a popular expression meaning fair exchange. Here it would mean that Job remains a just man not because of his own virtue but thanks to the God who gives him life (cf. 1:6 12). 2:9. Not Job but his wife reacts as the Adversary had expected. She interprets the situation somewhat as the friends will do; but she takes her husband s side. God has now shown himself to be Job s enemy; the latter should express that fact before he dies.10. Job s second speech is a parallel to 1:21. His rebuke is kindly but firm (and the plural shows that he is sensitive to his wife s distress; she has, after all, suffered the losses with him). It excludes any obligation on God s part toward his creatures. Man can never say to him, You ought not to treat me thus. Thus, Job is now very literally fearing God for nothing. Yahweh s trust in his servant is vindicated, and the Adversary s skepticism is disproved (he is not mentioned again in the book). The original story probably went on from this point (or even from 1:22) to tell of Job s consolation and restoration, as in 42:11ff. (A. Alt, ZAW 55 [1937] ). But the inspired author chose this point to insert his long and profound analysis of what a man like Job might experience, while this desperate situation lasted. (Ibid. JBC P. 515) 2: Job s wife did not speak very wisely (maybe affection got the better of sense) and Job reproached her for being foolish (2:10) but it went no further than that. Her reaction is reported to highlight Job s piety and wisdom. His friends, on the other hand, are depicted as being wise and learned men, well able to show compassion and to offer considered opinions. They act very properly: seven days of silence made up the period of mourning for a dead person. Their behavior shows respect, but there is no sign of the heartfelt affection shown by Job s wife. The speeches they will make are cold and dispassionate more like scholarly addresses than words of comfort. 2 2 Adams, M. (Trans.). (2004). Wisdom Books (pp ). Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishing. 10