Does Job Have Two Wives?

How Many Wives Does Job Have?

The confusion here comes from a book with a similar name. There are two books, the "Book of Job" (the book in the Bible) and the "Testament of Job". The latter is a text made around the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD and is not canonical according to any of the three branches (i.e. Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism). The book teaches that one of Job's wives died (Testament of Job 1:6) while the other survived. This book labels his wives as being named Sitis (Testament of Job 6:10) and Dinah (Testament of Job 1:5); however, the Bible does not tell us either of these names. These names are seen commonly in writings by Jewish Rabbis, but we do not have much reason to accept this. We should take this text with extreme caution due to its late date and likelihood of being a forgery.

Works Cited:

Dr. Legaspi, Michael C. “Job’s Wives in the ‘Testament of Job’: A Note on the Synthesis of Two Traditions.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 127, no. 1, 2008, pp. 71–79. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/25610107. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.

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Read the Testament of Job here