Job — The canonical wisdom-literature interrogation of undeserved suffering. A prose frame enclosing three cycles of dialogue, a late Elihu interrupt, and a whirlwind theophany that does not answer the question — it relativizes it.

Author

Anonymous. Talmudic tradition names Moses (Bava Batra 14b); internal features (patriarchal setting, no Mosaic Law reference, Job sacrificing as family head, *qesitah* currency of Gen 33:19) suggest patriarchal-era composition or at least tradition-origin.

Date

Traditional: patriarchal period, c. 2000–1800 BC. Critical proposals scatter across pre-exilic to post-exilic. §7.9 surfaces; Pastor Marc's drawer takes the position.