In the Holy Christian Bible, we have removed Revelation from the New Testament and all the books of the Old Testament except Genesis, Psalms and Proverbs. The reason for this is that these books all test negative (below 200 on the Map of Consciousness) mostly due to their portrayal of God as being angry and vengeful. However, upon examination it becomes clear that one of the removed books is easily salvageable. This would be the Book of Job.
This is a story that grapples with the question of theodicy - why God permits evil and suffering in the world. The story revolves around Job, a wealthy and God-fearing man living in the land of Uz. Initially, Job enjoys prosperity, but he faces immense suffering when God allows Satan to test him. Job loses his family, wealth, and health. Throughout the book, Job wrestles with the reasons behind his suffering, questioning God’s justice. His friends engage in dialogues, attempting to explain his plight. Ultimately, God responds, revealing His power and wisdom, emphasizing that His ways are beyond human comprehension. The story serves as a profound exploration of faith, suffering, and the mystery of divine justice.
Unfortunately, despite these many strengths, the text only tests at 198. The reason for this is partly due to the beginning of the story in which God treats Job as a plaything, allowing Satan to destroy his life in order to test him. This is not something that God would actually do. The other problem is in the book’s final chapter in which God shows anger, another un-Godlike quality.
The good news is that by simply removing God’s display of anger in the final chapter as well as the conversations between God and Satan in the first two chapters, the text jumps from 198 to 353.
Below you will find our edited versions of these three chapters. With these changes, Job becomes a book truly worthy of being part of the Christian canon.
***
Chapter 1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. There was no one like him in the earth. He was blameless and upright, loved God, and turned away from evil. He was truly God’s servant.
2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.
4 His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
6 A day soon arrived when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
7 that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
8 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
9 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
10 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
11 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
12 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
13 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
14 He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the LORD’s name.”
15 In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.
Chapter 2
1 But Job was soon struck by great misfortune again, with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
2 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
3 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
4 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
5 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
6 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
7 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Chapter 42
1 Then Job answered the LORD:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.
4 You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
7 The LORD was satisfied. He then restored Job’s prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before.
8 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the misfortune that had been brought upon him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.
9 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.
10 He had also seven sons and three daughters.
11 He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch.
12 In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
13 After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.
14 So Job died, being old and full of days.
This is a story that grapples with the question of theodicy - why God permits evil and suffering in the world. The story revolves around Job, a wealthy and God-fearing man living in the land of Uz. Initially, Job enjoys prosperity, but he faces immense suffering when God allows Satan to test him. Job loses his family, wealth, and health. Throughout the book, Job wrestles with the reasons behind his suffering, questioning God’s justice. His friends engage in dialogues, attempting to explain his plight. Ultimately, God responds, revealing His power and wisdom, emphasizing that His ways are beyond human comprehension. The story serves as a profound exploration of faith, suffering, and the mystery of divine justice.
Unfortunately, despite these many strengths, the text only tests at 198. The reason for this is partly due to the beginning of the story in which God treats Job as a plaything, allowing Satan to destroy his life in order to test him. This is not something that God would actually do. The other problem is in the book’s final chapter in which God shows anger, another un-Godlike quality.
The good news is that by simply removing God’s display of anger in the final chapter as well as the conversations between God and Satan in the first two chapters, the text jumps from 198 to 353.
Below you will find our edited versions of these three chapters. With these changes, Job becomes a book truly worthy of being part of the Christian canon.
***
Chapter 1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. There was no one like him in the earth. He was blameless and upright, loved God, and turned away from evil. He was truly God’s servant.
2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.
4 His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
6 A day soon arrived when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
7 that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
8 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
9 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
10 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
11 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
12 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
13 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
14 He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the LORD’s name.”
15 In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.
Chapter 2
1 But Job was soon struck by great misfortune again, with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
2 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
3 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
4 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
5 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
6 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
7 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Chapter 42
1 Then Job answered the LORD:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.
4 You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
7 The LORD was satisfied. He then restored Job’s prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before.
8 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the misfortune that had been brought upon him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.
9 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.
10 He had also seven sons and three daughters.
11 He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch.
12 In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
13 After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.
14 So Job died, being old and full of days.