Jemimah or Jemima ( ; ) was the oldest of the three beautiful daughters of

Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...

, named in the Bible as given to him in the later part of his life, after God made Job prosperous again. Jemimah's sisters are named Keziah and

Keren-Happuch Keren-happuch ( ''Qeren Hapūḵ'', , "Horn of kohl") was the youngest of the three beautiful daughters of Job, named in the Bible as given to him in the later part of his life, after God made Job prosperous again. Keren-happuch's older sisters ...

. Job's sons, in contrast, are not named. Job treated his daughters better after his suffering due to gaining the perspective that his daughters were receiving unjust

suffering Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence (psyc ...

at his own hands, like Job was experiencing with

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

. First, Job's sons only received birthday feasts, with an extension to attend for the sisters
Job 1:4
. This social inequality may be attributed to the larger

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

narrative of the time. Second, Job's social status lowered significantly as he suffered, as there was a societal assumption that Job had

sinned In religion, religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act ...

and was receiving justice from

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. As a result, Job gains empathy for his daughters "for being excluded through no fault of one's own". With the prologue and epilogue of Job, the

ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

evolution of Job can be experienced through his evolving relationship with his daughters. As a natural narrative and ethical conclusion to personal and societal injustices, Jemimah and her sisters were granted

inheritances Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially ...

by her father, Job, and described as the most beautiful women in the land (). Apart from these brief references at the end of the

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

, Jemimah is not mentioned elsewhere in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. The name Jemimah means "

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

". In

42:14 ( ESV):

And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.

References

{{Book of Job Book of Job people Job (biblical figure) Women in the Hebrew Bible