We meet Jabez, a man in his nineties, who has traveled through the deserts of Judah to tell the story of his life to his great-grandson. Why is Jabez's lineage missing from the Bible, though his prayer is mentioned? How can an impotent man father a child? Why did his mother call him "Jabez", which is the Hebrew word for "pain"? (Prologue, Chapters 1 - 2)