1:6–12 · The scene: the heavens. Amid an assembly of divine beings, the Adversary and God consider Job’s behavior. Contemplating the Adversary’s challenge about Job’s motivations, God agrees to allow Job to be tested.

A council composed of divine beings is on the stage here. NIV’s “angels” too easily misdirects the modern reader. The idea of a divine council of deities is systemic throughout the ancient Near East. As but one example, the ancient West Semitic deity El presided over such a council (COS 1.86:241–74). A divine council underlies other texts in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 22:19–23; Isa. 6:1–8; Ps. 29:1; 82:1, 6; 89:5–7; Dan. 7:9–14), though the NIV’s translation of the passages arguably shrouds, at times, the Hebrew’s rhetoric and affinities with the cultural parallels.

One of …