The version of Job found in the Septuagint, Masoretic Text, and Peshitta, all appear to be copies of a standardized version of the Book of Job that was circulating in Judea under Greek rule, and during the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties. Fragments of it have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, written in Paleo-Hebrew (Hebrew written in the Phoenician), Hebrew, and Aramaic, dated to between 330 BC and 44 AD. The Phoenician texts appear to be the oldest, generally dated to between 330 and 140 BC, while the Hebrew and Aramaic fragments date to later times, generally dated to between 140 BC and 44 AD. Unlike most of the books in the Septuagint, the Septuagint's translation of Job appears to have been made from a Phoenician (Paleo-Hebrew) version of Job, as it uses transliterations of words based on their Canaanite spelling instead of their Aramaic spelling.

Nevertheless, the surviving Hebrew translation of Job includes many Aramaic loanwords, which indicates the Paleo-Hebrew (Phoenician script) version of Job was translated from an Aramaic text. One of the more obvious pieces of evidence of the Aramaic source text is the name of Elihu (