narrative appears in the prologue (1:1–2:13) and epilogue (42:7–17). By using both forms of literature, folktale and poetry, the book presents a totality of suffering, an overwhelming portrait told from outside by a third person narrator in the prose and from the inside in the poetic testimony of Job and his friends. The prose describes Job’s external losses, while the poetry portrays Job’s more internal sufferings. Poetry is particularly suited to the task of spiritual struggle because its dense