The Book of Job

doi:10.1136/bmj.39314.452292.4E

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ comment articles:

From

Limit by

Our online table of contents is updated at least twice each day. Read all articles published in the last 7 days.
Keep up to date with cardiology: Access the latest cardiovascular medicine resources from across BMJ Group.
The BMJ iPad app brings you the best of print and online, including live links to the latest news, blogs, video, and podcasts. Get the BMJ iPad app.
OPEN ACCESS: All research articles are freely available online, with no word limit. Find out more about the BMJ's open access policy. Submit your paper.
Countdown to London 2012: BMJ Group's Olympics portal highlights latest Olympics and sports medicine-themed research, comment and learning

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

John Launer, senior clinical lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic, London, and an associate director at the London GP Deanery

jlauner{at}londondeanery.ac.uk

Many of the books in the Hebrew Bible take the form of histories, while some are collections of poetry or prophecy, and a few are like short novels. The Book of Job, uniquely, is a play. Its brief prologue tells of the catastrophes inflicted by God on the hero, a wealthy and virtuous farmer. These include the deaths of all his children and servants, the loss of his entire livestock, and affliction with a vile skin disease. In the verse drama that then follows, Job bemoans his fate in a series of chilling suicidal laments: “Let the day perish …