Literal Commentary on Job

Again, the literal commentary on the book of Job in brief, a hidden mystery which he spoke at the beginning of the discourse in the second commentary in brief: that Job the righteous was terrified of you; that Job knew a man who was in nature that he might serve God, apart from the law and prophecy. For without the book and the law he knew God, and he kept the natural law and loved God, and he knew that God rewards good things to the good, and to the evil punishment, and not in this world only, but also in that which is to come. And therefore he began to practice virtue and for the sake of that world he performed good deeds. And it is known what he saw among many in his time, that they were priests in the world, and they did not know God. And Moses wrote his book, because they said that Esau was blessed, and not Jacob. Others said that it was concerning the sons of Joktan that he is, for he did not write about his race, just as he did not write about the lineage of Melchizedek and Elijah, of whom they said that he is Esau. They said that Jobab was his name, and he took an Arabian wife and she bore him a son, and his name was called Husham, and the father of Job was Zerah, and his mother Bosora, and he is the fifth from Abraham: Job son of Zerah son of Reuel son of Esau son of Isaac son of Abraham. Asaph the priest, the companion of Ezra, and Arod the scribe of the times, and Jacob of Edessa said that he was from the sons of Joktan, the son of Eber, and he was before Abraham, and until the time of the seventy-two interpreters.

Moses wrote the book so that it would not be changed with the passage of time, and the righteousness and piety of the man, and he recalled Israel, which had stood among the nations as a king, a priest, and a prophet, and that Job shamed the people who in that time did not know God, and he rebuked the rich, that by their own will it was that they were good while they were able, and that Elihu, who was being persecuted, taught from him that they should bear afflictions, and that everyone should know that there is a Satan who envies good things, and that it is right to beware of him, except for the Satan who heals him, because he was not able to sin him through the worship of idols and through lusts. He sought that through the loss of his property and the death of his children and his disease he would cause him to stumble, and because God showed the Satan that it was not because of wealth and children, nor because of the fear that he feared God, that Job was excellent, but rather by his will he left him in the hands of the Satan, who did to him evil and dug a pit, and because of this he did not pursue the wicked, and they complete their lives in good things, while the righteous are persecuted and struck down in the world, and they say to Elihu, who knows that it is not because he is worthy of persecution that he is persecuted, but to show that it is not because he is worthy of persecution that he is persecuted, but rather to teach that the good things of here are nothing, and that there are eternal rewards in pleasures and in torments. For the righteous who know that they are worthy of persecution, he chose for them, knowing that they do not sin.

The life of Job was one hundred and forty-five years before the flood, and after the flood one hundred and seventy years. The book says one hundred and forty-eight, not counting the seven years of the plagues, because he was considered as dead during that time. The seven years of the plagues, what is it? That in six of the years the evil one did not approach you. There was one man, one who said that there was no other like him. In the land of Uz, the son of Shem, he was, and the border of this land, from the border of the land of Egypt as far as Damascus. A perfect man in the worship of God, because when he knew God, he did not lack for nature, but praised and gave thanks to God as to God. And he did not care to be cunning. And on this account he was called perfect, that is, in all virtues and the natural law. And he feared God naturally, as the fear of a judge. And he turned away from evil, on account of the hope of reward, remembering the virtues before the children, because he used to boast and be adorned and before the children before the elders, because by that he was near to nature. He remembered the elders, that he might know how much wealth he had, and that it was a cause for good for him, and not for sin. He was great, and among the children of the east, the virtues of his time, and among all those who dwelt in his eastern regions. They used to make a feast, a custom for his children, that they would eat and drink together, just as Job would come in love and they would be hungry, because with strangers they would not learn the virtues of the children as with one another. And Job would offer up sacrifices on their behalf, not because of the sins of the deeds they had committed, but because they had sinned in thoughts, not in manifest ones.

...whether they counted the years of his life. He knew that food and drink give rise to evil thoughts in hearts. For indeed Moses also said to the people: "Beware lest you eat and drink and go astray from the Lord your God." And it was a day, and the sons of Elohim came. In this regard it is written that angels came. And Mar John Chrysostom said that the angels who came were those who rule over the earth, and the movement of the elements and souls, who strike their servants when they fulfill what they are commanded, because they are sent for service. It is not that a slanderer stood as an angel, but he stood on the earth, as for the sake of the sons of the wicked, and he mingled at times with the angels. This was fitting for service and guardianship, but it was for destruction and ruin. The other sons of Elohim were priests and righteous ones, and they came to Job for the sake of the worship of God and his adoration. They were called sons of Elohim, just as the sons of Seth were called thus, because of their excellence. And priests also were called sons of God, as it was said, "You are gods." And as in the Hebrew Psalm it says, "Before the gods I will sing to you.

Satan came and stood among them, just as he stood at the right hand of Yeshua bar Yozadaq for the sake of the crown, and just as he slipped into the man and the tree. Those scriptures which say that the Lord spoke to Satan and that he rebuked Satan—that was not a question and answer dialogue there, for God does not need to ask as one who is ignorant of everything, nor does Satan need to ask, but rather those who fear him and keep his commandments speak. Rather, it is a narrative device for the sake of the story. I have gone around in all the lands of all the kingdoms, and no one has escaped me without sinning—except Job, because divine righteousness was seeking Satan to consume him. And through question and answer dialogue the book was composed, according to the custom of human speech, as it shows the slanders of the accuser. It is vain that Job feared God, as if he said this evil thing to God, that he does not willingly afflict, but because of zeal, and when evil began to approach, he quickly yielded to zeal as if to a simple thing; he did not stop. And immediately he realized that he had been raised up with Job in righteousness, and in one day he destroyed everything, and even he himself was approached on that day of destruction, but he stopped with righteousness, and it is known that concerning him, "Do not stretch out your hand." He himself did not keep. The heralds had left with the physicians who were bringing good news to Job, and afterwards even they were destroyed; others said that demons were appearing in the likeness of his young men and coming and informing him.

The fire of God fell from heaven, and again the demons brought down fire as they brought down, and they cast it upon the children and the young men; and it burned the house, and the hope of God was destroyed by this. How his anger was stirred against blasphemy: "See your God, on whom you rely, and he will destroy you." And because of the simplicity or the spiritual nature of the demons, they can exercise power so that they destroy all humanity and the beasts in one moment, as they did with the swine, and like the angels who brought down fire upon Sodom. He left the woman, not because he had pity on her, but so that she might be for him an instrument of evil, so that just as he caused Adam to sin through the serpent, so he might cause Job to sin through his wife. She said to him, "Curse your God and die." Jobabysis said that the woman was a widow, and the slanderer was likened to his wife and spoke these words. And it was the will of God that his wife not perish, because he took another wife. Just as Job is one, so his wife is one; just as Adam is one, so the serpent is one; in this many couples are covered. Again the woman was sent to serve before him and to support him. She did not perish again, so that the evil that went out with blasphemy would not rejoice, and it would trouble Job, and it is right that she who suffered with him should rejoice in his good things. Job arose and tore his garment, as if this too were left to him. He added: "Naked I came forth, without coverings and garments, and without sins. Naked I will return to Sheol, without garments and without injustice," like that of Paul: "I brought nothing into the world, nor do I take anything out of it.

He destroyed them in vain, that he destroyed for you bodily so that you would destroy them, and this in vain: without any sin at all, because of which he was delivered to the destruction of the body, just as he was a consolation for his soul. Satan stood with the demons, his companions, and with himself he spoke; with God, when he saw that Job did not blaspheme in the afflictions that befell him, he thought that because of those afflictions he would not endure in patience, and concerning this, that he did not blaspheme, because he did not feel the pain continuing in his body, and because of this he said, that everything a man has he gives for his own sake; he set fire to him, that fire which God had preserved for him without law, along with that which he had preserved for him so that he would not blaspheme. The Lord, because he knew that he would not blaspheme even when struck in his body, delivered him to Satan, and he approached and struck, while he did not refrain from wickedness, and struck him with a pain than which there is none worse, and his soul preserved that it did not give him power to strike him. So that the soul might be separated from the body, and he set fire to him for that reason. Again, his soul preserved that even if a blow came to him from outside with an evil wound, and from within, when he sowed evils and stirred up anger against himself, it would not be permitted that he be destroyed.

He sat upon the ashes, one while humbling himself, and another because of the corruption of his sores and the severity of the blows, so that he was swallowed up in the ashes and did not remain upon the earth, and he was annihilated, so that when the severity of the blows increased, he changed his place; for he was unable to stand or sit, and he had no servants or maidservants to support him. He desired death from God. This was through the agency of the evil one; for he thought that when he desired the name of God, he would die at that very hour. He desired death, and death came to him through the demons. But it was not that the perfect spirit of God, the chosen one, whom many are able to attain and endure without dying, was destroyed. Again, he desired God and remained, so that even naturally he would not have died, but he died in sin, because he also loved the slanderer. His evils: God did not receive them, nor did he bring evils or cause them, he says; but because he was able to consume him utterly. Finally, his evils: because he struck and afflicted the body, in that he appeared in the known good things of man, by which he would be destroyed for him; but because he was the cause of destruction for many. His friends, the heads and kings, drew near to him and came to his visitation; but they did not recognize him, because the forms of his body were changed from what they were.

He cast dust toward the heavens, according to the custom of the region, to show the severity of the blows that were upon him. And he had dust, and as he was being cast about, a certain man said that when he was among kings, they did not trouble him on account of his sores, but brought him to their houses, served him, and healed him. And he said that he did not wish them to do this, just as he thought that he had fled from the physicians and was contending with a man apart from God. Again, because of the harshness of his affliction and his foulness, no man was able to approach him or endure his stench. Again, he made an accusation that he might be hardened against him, so that no man would be found to give him comfort. And until the Messiah, he left a sign like the rational faculties of the powers. Its meaning: thus, until the sign, it is not that he was annihilated by the event, but that when the rational powers are stirred up, there would be for him a cause of blasphemy. And because of his cry, his event was not changed; and if he had blasphemed by means of rational powers, this blow would be foolish. And if he had blasphemed, he would have been found to be without justice. He sat outside, because he endured nakedness and fever, and because it was evident to everyone that the things that happened to him were not due to sins. And if he had dwelt in a house, the air within it would have been corrupted by the harshness of the stench, and the faculties of his event would have been changed. Cursed be the day on which he was born! Satan struck him with a blow from without, and sowed evil thoughts within, and stirred up wrath, so that Job blasphemed. He, however, brought forth wrath to do work, and not to curse God, nor even the womb, but something insensible and non-existent. His entreaties were bitter, cursing the day that was bitter to him, and reviling the day on which he was born.

He cursed the days that were upon him, for he was cast to the ground. He who is cursed on that day and enters the ground with the slanderer is that one called Leviathan. Those who are destined to awaken Leviathan—Leviathan is a twisted serpent, and the one who is destined to awaken him on the day of distress, with the blow of his tail he awakens the tribe of the priests. And he curses the days of his birth. He calls the days accursed to the angels, so that they curse the day with him. He says that those who are destined to awaken Leviathan are perceptibly with him, when they strike him with their fingers, as if he were food for a fierce people, so that the sea would not be broken or destroyed. If he had remained in it, even the animals and creatures in it would have died, and the sea would not have been stirred up for sailors. Spiritually, the angels are those who move and subdue the demons to distress and affliction. Again, the righteous who are of true curse, that is, those destined to follow the wake of the evil one, whose name is Leviathan, or his curse in the pursuit of sins, those who on the days of evil deeds kindle in the fire of the tyrant for Leviathan. There the wicked ceased from the sacrifices of death, he says, until the resurrection, because there is no comfort for the righteous nor rest for the wicked. For in judgment the sides are divided. Before five and seventy years had passed, I remembered the rocks that have no bread, and I was stretched out and wept over them.

And his wrath poured out like water upon the righteous who lacked understanding, because the fear that had come upon him knew that righteousness has an opponent, envy, and that the snares of the slanderer are for grief. And he feared lest his righteousness perish, and he saw that he feared the rod of gold which does not lose its hardness. Thus he who stands in righteousness fears that it might be taken from him, until it enters before God like an offering. He did not cease nor was silent from the practice of good works and alms, and the anger of the slanderer's envy did not come upon the good works. And that envy settled in this anger, which destroys the sea, the rods, and the darkness. Eliphaz the Temanite says, "If I were to cease speaking with you, you would be weary and stumble, and you would not be able to draw breath, and you would be scattered. Behold, you have driven many away by your manner of living in your snares, while you teach that in the path of righteousness the snares are placed in it. And the hands of the weak are strengthened in faith. The sick did not rise up against your words, for they were sick in snares and in faith. When they saw that you were weary and cut off, they did not rise up against your words. It came upon you, and there is no lack or loss, and though you were despised by others, you did not despise yourself. Your fear is what accuses you, because you cursed the day on which you were born. And your hope and your perfection, it is your spirit that judges you. How could a victor be lost in this? He would be ashamed if he were a victor, as I saw that the wicked who overcome are driven by the devil, and they say that they are punished according to their sins.

And the loss of that fear which God poured out upon him, and it became like dust, and then it was known in wrath. The wrath of a lion is comparable to Job as a lion: and in the hours of his wealth and his strength, and his children among the lion cubs, and like lions, when their hours are broken, strength flees from them and there is none who fears them. So also you, and your glory departed from you, because your wisdom diminished and your table was reduced, and your honor and your wealth perished, and a word was answered against me openly in a dream, and from a vision he found a way to the one who spoke falsely. And if this were the slanderer, that like her he desired to cause him to sin, he would also have done so through the mercies of error, as you saw regarding the righteous one. In the fall of the hour, it is deep in the sweetness of the hour. My bones trembled at the terror of that which read. And a spirit passed over my face, a sound like the face of the cloud of the sign. And my hair stood on end at the voice in the vision. And I arose and was not recognized, I did not see where I was awakened, but I heard a voice in silence saying: that a man with God is justified more than with God, he cannot be justified by a head or become pure. Behold, in his works he does not believe, and in his angels, in simple powers, and this is because the intercessors are still and are not perfected in virtue. Wonder is placed upon his works and his vanity, and not his endurance nor his visibility, and even angels are not adorned by his righteousness and stand upon his dispensations and his purity.

The lion that is cast into the pits of the dust of the earth is perfected in the bodies of the dead, the dust is gathered and perfected in the desire of creation: as if they thought that like gods they are able to justify themselves. They humbled themselves before clouds, before death, before judgment, before silence, from morning to evening they humbled themselves, from the beginning of sin and error in the head, and until the end of the world. Because in the sweat of their faces they ate bread and were afflicted with diseases, pains, and death. So that they were not established as inhabitants forever in this world: they did not live forever and perished from God because of their wickedness, for that which they ate and drank is more than that which would be evil, a plague. Behold, this world took their surplus from them and its wealth; again, their surplus is paradise and life. And the rest of them in that they ate and drank are the sinners and the wicked among them, the dead are they in sin, and not in wisdom, because if they were wise, they would die because of nature and the passing of the commandment, but life would be found in spirit and in righteousness. He called, "Woe," if there is a woe for you from the afflicted and the saints, there is a woe for you and he gives you an answer, or peace in the lion that said to you. Because anger and storm kill the foolish, and beware of anger and storm, lest like the foolish they kill you. And they humbled themselves at the door, while they wandered from door to door like beggars to ask for bread. Again, they humbled themselves at the door of the kingdom.

like the one who opens the gate: for the reaper eats, and that other reaper eats them again; for the reaper in this world eats and is not satisfied, and drinks and does not become drunk, and his soul is not filled; and in that which is to come, the market is like that rich man. Because he does not go out with the dust, nor with the humble and the afflicted, but falsehood and iniquity go out. But this one grows and goes out with the evil and the deceitful. Because he was born for labor in the beginning: in this world, because labor and the work of virtue were established, and not that he thought that place was one of pleasures in the world, as David said: in the labor of men there is no rest. And the birds of the air raised their wings, and the high ones who are inflamed, and despise, and boast, and snatch in the likeness of demons. Yet Job accuses God, teaching in these things, that his works know that he does great things without limit, and these wonders of his in creation, which through Moses, through the Messiah. He gives rain, and that is known. On the earth, the heart of man. And he sends water upon the face of the market, the washing of mercy, to those who thirst in sins, like the markets of cities, to place lowliness in height, in heaven, lowliness in sin, or in wickedness, or in humility. And the humble are enriched, like those whose blessedness is for the humble and the poor in spirit. He nullifies the thoughts of the wise, of demons and the wise of the world, so that their hands do not pass over wisdom, which did not enrich their wisdom for the world, and again their teaching was not found to be fitting for the gospel. The teaching of the little ones, demons and the scribes of the Jews, and the sons of Israel when they crucified the Messiah.

in the days of the Lord, the darkness that had covered the world was dispelled. He loosed the sword against the apostles who were called the poor, and against the people of the Jews, or against the nations like demons. And for the poor there was hope of the living Christ, the resurrection. And iniquity shut its mouth, and the people of the Jews stumbled. Blessed is the man who hid himself after these things, and turned to that which is after Job, and filled his mouth with the blessedness that came to him who endured the rebellion against God, and was nourished by it. For he did not break and grieve, because he who endured has a reward, and the things prepared for him in the beginning are six and the rest. And like the wild beast of the desert, your standing was established in the likeness of a rock of stone, and it set you up so that you would no longer fear them. And the wild beast of the desert was delivered to you; the demons that contended with you yielded victory to you. And know that peace is able to knock at your house as before, and your dwelling will turn your house into a turning without sin, for your former things. And you will enter peacefully into the grave that has satisfied you for your days. Like the passing of an event in its time, you will enter the grave like a treasure into a treasury, and like a heap into storehouses, so that it may again be revealed and rise from the earth in which it was hidden. And this is in a small measure. And thus is the hearing of it, which is of a rational nature. And you who have entered, O Job, you are turning, O Job. For my anger, which was in measure, is also in proportion. Because now he has made for him a way from the salt of the seas, in proportion.

Because of the words of Eliphaz, because God is not angry, and he does not kill the believer: for when he had not yet understood, Eliphaz said, "From the Lord, and at the time of God, his mighty deeds were arranged." In another place, in my prayer to God, it was arranged, for there is no one who permits me to say that Eliphaz lied, because every witness testifies that God is pure, and it is not possible that they did not understand, lest a locust climb upon a threshing-floor. Or, as the ox upon the hot ashes, which does not need the threshing-floor nor the threshing-sledge, and just as these do not flee from those because life is bitter for them, so also I was not able to be patient and ask for death, and I did not curse the day of my birth, if my soul were not bitter, and I were not wearied by the multitude of affliction. And you, O Eliphaz, who are pure and fair of speech, and like a locust you climb upon the threshing-floor, and you are tranquil and you are not patient, and you do not grieve and you do not become ill, and you do not complain; but I, like an ox that is shorn from the hot ashes and complains, so I complain because of my limbs that are not shorn, because of the pains of my members. How long will you hang for me that my request may come? My first ones have turned me over, and I am filled with the power of God. For I did not lie in the word of the holy one, who knows that Eliphaz said, "Not because I sinned, O Lord, have these things happened to me," and how great is my strength that I endured because my servants struck me with force. And what is this end, that I should hire a spirit? Not when he blasphemed did Eliphaz say this, but when he wished to teach the end of the vengeance that is upon Eliphaz, as the endurance of patience is established, because of hope. But I am not a stone or a piece of wood, but painful and destructible flesh. And because my helper is pressed from me, behold, I am silenced.

of peace from his companion, the fear of the Most High ceased. Or he said this to him: that he was angry and did not speak with him in peace; but he was angry because of his sins, for he was not yet rebuked, and he was not righteous. And he knew what came after. For the brothers who revealed themselves like the saved, and like those who were filled with love in the likeness of the saved who are filled with heat. They were afraid of the cold that came upon them, much snow, that is, the cold that came upon them, much snow, that is, the cold of the saved that freezes and melts. And it is hard and moves with the change of the air. Thus is my compassion for them, for the strength of their love was poured out in my members. In another place, that is, of the saved and the trembling in the time of winter, they are full. Thus in my sickness they were attached to me. And as in the time of heat they are filled, thus in my members they were healed by me. They were afraid of the cold, that is, the fear. They looked to the ways of Tamar and to the paths of Sheba, that is, in those who hinted at wealth, for in that they trusted in something because everything ends in destruction. Before you saw the movement of their fear, that is, like that of Eliphaz, which is of fear, cold and trembling, if you were moved in weakness, how much more should you fear from this movement in which I stand. Again, before you saw, when you saw in me nothing worthy of a wicked man, you placed upon me, or you wronged me, or Eliphaz, who in your deceit acted and said to me that your fear is your wrong. How much will you be wronged, you, who when your body did not move and your deceit did not reach, you were agitated and afraid.

If, for I said to you, "Give to me," if I had been silent in that request, I would have been wronged by you. My teaching and my word would have been silent, if in one of those I had not spoken to you. For this reason, my word of truth is thrust away from you. Behold, he is magnified over the orphan; he called him an orphan because he was orphaned from many things, and it was fitting that he not rebuke him, but that he console him. He, however, because he did not wish to be silent, spoke to him like the wicked. Be reconciled and look; return now and establish in you a right mind. Return therefore and conquer; hear my word and my command. And if my mouth does not speak, behold, truth has conquered you. Behold, that fire for men on earth; it is known that this fire in heaven is not destined to be fire, but perpetually. And like the days of a hired laborer are you; for this reason he was placed in this world. And like his labor, he receives his wage, like this which the Lord went out to hire workers. Again, behold, that fire for men; a small fire serves me and you on earth. Therefore, do not sin because death is destined to come, and recompense is given to each according to his deeds. Thus I have inherited months and empty things and nights; before the end, the work of excellence was not completed, which is mine, as if I had labored and was rewarded. If you lie down, you did not care for the master concerning the end, nor concerning the thought of tomorrow that remained with me. Again, if you lie down, those long thoughts remained with me for the master of tomorrow, which I did not have. And I did not think until dawn, nor did I, in wakefulness, spread out the time of lying down.

clothed my flesh in worms, because I was free from death and worms and maggots and the turning of dust, and because I was able to rise up from these, I was considered a fool. And because of this, my days were few, like the thread of a spider's web, I was considered as one whose days would not be long, like a child who is near to being weaned. For my soul, like a good weaver, quickly wove an end to my days. And they ended when there was no hope, and this because there is no hope that a man will live again in this world in the same way. And because of this, I hastened to depart. Again, they ended when there was no hope for one who is healed from his afflictions. Remember that the spirit is a living thing, a rational and knowing soul, that lives in wonder. Again, remember that while the soul is still in the body, it dies in pains, but still it has not been separated from it. Turn my eyes to see good, and know that God does not immediately strike me down, because I am destined to be saved. And your eyes are few upon me, you, Eliphaz, look upon me after a little while, and you see that I am not one who falls and rises upon the ground, but like a sword that passes through and goes, thus from the time I fell, that according to your expectation I am not destined to rise from these, but I am destined to pass from Sheol to life, and not from afflictions to solitude, but from death. But even I do not spare my mouth, that is, I do not restrain my mouth from words of falsehood. My spirit speaks in my afflictions, and I speak in my afflictions all that comes to my mouth, blasphemy, and no one is found to restrain me after you. That is, what profit is there in restraining my mouth from blasphemy and from curses?

the sea, and you placed a mountain upon me. The sea is surrounded by mountains, and the sea is full of pains. And the mountain, when it dies in the sea, because its scent does not reach the islands and it does not corrupt the air and it does not kill the wild beasts and the worms with the rottenness of its body, therefore you raised it up in clouds and made it wander in regions, as if you gave food to a mighty people. So also to me, as a rebel, you scattered my limbs in pains. Because I said that you would test me, you rejoiced in my pains, because I thought that I was destined to be tested by you. And behold, you have moved me in my dreams. For Eliphaz says to him, "Not even in the hour in which rest is given to the laborers did I have peace and quiet, for with Satan and the persecutor, and I was thinking that you were filling my heart with hope and bringing me good news. But you, in the visions of my dreams, and I considered myself more than those who are being tormented. I have had enough of your words and your dreams. You have cut me off with your words, and you have ground me and struck me with your words." And he says to God, "What is the beginning of his destruction? And you command in the morning and in the evening to examine him. In your judgment, you will choose him openly, and the day you kill me, and you set in your heart to command him in the morning of health and to examine him openly in judgment, and until when will you not leave me, so that here there is death and the cross, and there judgment and torment?

Do not leave me until I swallow the spittle. If you sin, what will destroy you? Will it become a hundred for you? What? You begin, you leave. You turn your gift. I made you know what is with your creation, that I may meet you in your knowledge. When I saw your face, I stood before you. And now I have become a burden to you, or I have become a disgrace in my end. You have enslaved me in vain through your mysteries. And when will you leave my debts, and you not remember my follies? For now, behold, I lie down, and you seek me, and I am not. And Bildad answered and said: Until when will you speak a high wind in your mouth? Because he said, "I placed you to return against you." For is it not against God that he is evil? Or does he teach that Job was chastised justly? Because of his sins and the sins of his children, when there is no evil in his knowledge. He seeks from God, or he teaches this: that if a man sins, he should entreat and be hidden from him, and his end will be greater than his beginning. He asked about the first generations, or it remained that no man learned or taught: that apart from sins, a man is chastised in his head. For is the marsh abundant in the land? Or in the marsh and in the desert, he compares something to the plagues of God, and he says that where there are no sins, there are no plagues. If a man runs after the one who has become rich, his father who hears is disgraced, and you also, through the death of your beloved, heal yourself. Like that moisture before the sun, or the house of the wicked before the heat of the justice of God. And concerning the rolling of his roots, or the wicked, he compares in bodies and in the dust that quickly passes and burns. And the house of stones stands firm in its humility. And if they uproot it from its place, or from this world.

He blasphemed against him and said, "By God, in that world," and he said, "I have not seen him, and I have not lied concerning your commandments and your laws. Behold, all his ways are revealed, because follies and sins are not hidden from him." And from one dust another sprouts; when it is mixed with one dust, another is found: a meek one in place of a harsh one, a seeker in place of a violent one, and a good one in place of an evil one. God does not despise the perfect, for if you are perfected, you are not perfected, and if you do evil, you are not evil: the things that are prepared for you are those. Job said, "One out of a thousand does not approach him if God wishes to contend with him; one out of a thousand principalities of the head does not approach him if God wishes to contend with him; one out of a thousand follies does not approach him." There is no one to oppose him for a human being. He who said to the sun, and it did not set, was in Egypt for three days, while above the earth it was moving for Egypt, as if it did not set, it was seen. And the faces of its stars were sealed with dark clouds, and it trod upon the strength of the sea, dividing it before the Hebrews, when it crossed before. If it crosses over me, I do not see it, because of its covering and its extent. God does not turn his wrath; there is no one who stands before him except repentance, which turns it away. His many helpers are humbled, men of fire and demons are renewed under him, and he does not believe until he hears my voice: he does not cease from petition until he is answered. If my mouth conquers my sins, if I conquer, for I have honest conduct, my mouth condemns me with boastful words.

I was perfect and I did not know that I was perfect with myself, and I did not know him with me. How did I think that I was? I despised my life, for when I was victorious in that. I have no joy, and when I was perfect in trembling, I cast and I did not know that if my perfection is obstinacy or indeed deceit towards him. This one thought I had, that every man is a liar before him. For the righteous and the wicked he was supplying with affliction and judgment. And concerning the folly of the victors, he was distressed in that the victory of the victors is not to be sought for him but for that one, and if not, their victory: his tribe cast me down, killed that one, when no profit at all was their victory to that one. The earth gave its body. In the descent of the wicked he was deviating, and the faces of the judges were covering the mercies of the wicked from me. My days were shortened, as with runners, when a runner begins to run, until he reaches the end of his run. Thus my days were shortened and went in brevity and did not see good. With the bitters of three my story was spread, with the thickness of petition and the meditation of grief that was profitable to me, because of the bitters of the soul. If I leave my thoughts, and if I open a little of fear, I was, or if I announce concerning your rebellion, that one would be to me like that one who did not think about him, that one who magnifies him. And if I am condemned in judgment in the place, or in sins, and if I am distracted in waters, in repentance and in tears of righteousness, until he says that there is no iniquity in my hands, then in the pit you will sink me because you were confident in righteousness. Remove from me my garments, the better ones, and the body.

I was perfect and I did not know that I was perfect with myself, and I did not know him with me. How did I think that I was? I despised my life, for when I was victorious in that. I have no joy, and when I was perfect in Then he said, "There is a hidden thing in my matter, the middle of which cuts off the truth, and I spoke in the bitternesses of my soul, not being permitted, for when my secrets speak, I am silent." And he said to God, "Do not condemn me in this which I have asked. Make me know concerning what you are to me, for on account of what did I err without? For Job did not know that for which he was worthy of blows. Concerning the running of his blows he was erring, he said, 'Make me know.' Not as though I am complaining to you that you are to me because you destroyed the members which you created without error. And to the thoughts of the wicked you have sharpened, and you are trusting with their wickedness; and if you are gentle, you appear harsh against me. Are your eyes like the eyes of flesh, that in this you raise up from that which is of what is like in its nature to man? In this that you are high with creation, and he said, 'Thus, as you are not like your creation, so also it is not right that you should be disturbed with her when she is being disciplined without error.' For you are pursuing my debts and my sins, that debts and sins may be found in me. And I know that I am victorious, and when you know me as victorious and oppressed, and you cause me to sin, or to the righteous and to the wicked that you know that which is not possible. Your hands are upon me and my deeds, in this he reminds him, that if I have no deeds by which I can be saved, and I remember you in your creation, for in goodness you created me, and you destroy in anger. Enough. And to dust you turn me, apart from Moses teaching concerning the creation of Adam and decreeing the judgment upon him. Your commandments my spirit kept, I was not idle with that which you created me. And these are hidden in your heart, that you created me and formed me.

If I sinned, I did not know it, because I knew in a pure manner that it was not fitting for me to sin. And if I was justified, I did not lift up my head, I was not exalted in my righteousness, because I had no love for this. And what shall I do? I do not know: sins and woe, and righteousness and shame. And you turned and you became strong against me, when I was thus ready to be an enemy to you, because of my creation. But lip and eye did not see me, nor was I such that you would not be destroyed, and eye did not see me, and my eye did not see that I would be a cause of anger to you. And from the womb to the grave they carried me, that is, that I would die, and when I existed, I would be as if I did not exist, and you would not be angry. And I rested a little from afflictions and sufferings, to the dark earth, to the grave. There are no successions of generations in it, of belly and child and generation after generation. Zophar the Naamathite said: Behold, upon your words the dead are silent, that is, those who do not perceive endure the folly of your words. But I am alive, I am not silent to you. You speak, and there is none to stop you; you think that there is no word that can confound you and cover you. And if you are deep, there is none to cover you; you think that there is a companion like you, who knows what you speak, and refutes you. And this is because of this, that I thought that you were not being led in purity because of your nature. But when he did, he gave and the rest, that is, of his revelations to you, the hidden mysteries of God, and the great abyss of his knowledge which are not known to you. There are keys to wisdom, that is, a mystery without limit; and when these are revealed, I knew that God had forgiven you your sins.

The knowledge of God can be known through these things that are not known to God. And neither are his creatures measured, nor can any person know the limit of the heavens, or the depth of the abyss. If he passes, takes, and subdues, who can turn him back? In another hour, if he passes, takes, and subdues all peoples to his judgment, what then? And no one from among the angels knows the time and the hour in which judgment occurs. And the dead who rise in that judgment do not perceive that there is no one who knows the depth of wisdom, because he knows when the time of the resurrection and judgment occurs. And he sees the iniquity that rages when he has a complaint and judgment, when he seizes and subdues all the tribes. And there is no one who turns back the one who established the worlds by his goodness, and the one who knows everything according to his works. And pure men are clothed in him, those who became strong and helped those who were in repentance. For this is what makes known that a man who becomes strong helps. There, and here, in the time of the mystery, as one is clothed. And if you had set your heart, if it were thus, you would not have been persecuted in your mysteries. And if there were iniquity, and if I were iniquitous, I would have left you, because of your repentance and your prayers. And I would not have allowed iniquity to dwell in your dwelling, when there was no iniquity in you; then I would have raised your hands in trust. And with affliction you would not fear, nor with death. And like passing waters you would be led, those things that carry away the clouds in their wings and raise them to the high heavens; thus also you would be raised with afflictions, and those things that are yours would be spread out for you.

And what is the sign that the digger digs for the sake of afflictions? The sign is for good works, as he who does and brings forth like the light of your righteousness. Again, what is the sign? It is of patience and good works, and blasphemy does not stand before him. The digger is the shame of the slanderer, and darkness like the morning is for afflictions and rebellions that surround you. Lights before you for the sake of the ways of righteousness and victories, and your darkness turns to light, and your grief to joy, and you trust that there is hope for your end when these things happen to you. Then you trust that there is a God who is a rewarder who raises and saves. And you sleep and rest, not that he may trouble you, nor do your afflictions distress you, because of which you cry out. And as when you sleep, all fear of disturbance departs from you. And many faces seek you, the faces of the peoples of the land who were and who will be, and they desire to see your face, and the eyes of the wicked are darkened, those of the slanderer and of demons are darkened by your victory. And the hope of their souls is vain; their hope they hoped that through these things they would sin against you and distance you from God. Job answered and said: In truth you are a people who understand and know, and with you wisdom dies, because there is none wise like you. I also have a heart, wisdom. Why do these things happen, that they were chosen for afflictions like me? And he called to God and cried out, his calling in these afflictions that he might beware in me that I not transgress and blaspheme and err, because he knew that those who despise and anger God have no God in their heart.

He asks of the beasts, and their nature teaches that all creatures, each one of them, from it and to it, learn that there is a work like the heavens, which proclaim the glory of God. For in his hands are all souls and spirits, both sentient and rational, in his hands they are; for he made and created them. Without him they would not exist. The ear hears words, and the palate tastes food. The name is for you: wisdom and understanding. And it is right that you be instructed in the truth, that not when something is lacking from you—taste, goodness, and intelligence—you should be without understanding. For if the palate and the ear, what do they distinguish? This, then, is the hearing; thus, and not so that the thought might be, that you might know and understand that God is wise and rules over all, and that from him it is, that which bears affliction. For if he rebukes with waters, they become dry, like that which happened at the time of Moses at the Sea of Reeds, and in the days of Joshua son of Nun at the Jordan. And if he sends them, it is like the flood in the days of Noah. He guides kings; in these things he teaches concerning the authority of God and his power, by which kings and priests were governed in the days of Job. He guides priests with wonder, that they might marvel at his wonders, and not seek his victory. And he humbles the rich, like those who were in the days of Israel from the beginning until the coming of the Messiah. He makes the speaker pass from the faithful; in these things he teaches that those who knew God and sought to be guided by him, all these things cling to them. He also rages against demons; he also rages against the descent of the Messiah to earth and to Sheol, and the abolition of the dominion of demons.

But he speaks to the wicked man, and he speaks because he knows that he speaks the truth; and you have no word of healing for yourselves. Hear my concealment: he conceals from him because he wronged him by his hope. Because he sinned, behold he is judged. Again, for it is the sin of his friends that came to his affliction; or his concealment does not speak against God, but you speak evil against God, and you show that you know. Job's desire is greater than that of any other, as if he were not in a pit, or he conceals my reason: as it was in the end. Why have you taken my flesh in my members as a sign of the severity of pain? If I were able to consume my flesh in my members until I were destroyed, then I would have rest. My soul is placed in his hands because there is no solid body. If you kill him, that one who helps him confesses to his killing, for he knows whether he killed him or struck him, because he knows that he is sorrowful and compassionate, and upon him he relies, as when he is sick he is strong. My ways before him are my righteous acts of my life. No substitute enters before him, for he does not change when he repays good for evil; he knows that he is the victor, for a witness stood against me now and accuses me before you that I was silent and did not speak. But two things do not pass from me: neither the good of this world nor that of the future. Finally, if I have passed the good of time from me, that of the future world you shall not pass it, and before you in another world and of reward you shall not seek what you have opened when you open your door, remember me. And do not save me by your wisdom. And your fear shall not forget you.

I called to him from Sheol, from the grave, from the judgment. For he who goes out from judgment is a spirit when he asks for judgment. Or I speak, and my judgment is a word. How many are my debts and my sins? How many are my debts and my sins, because of which you are angry with me without mercy here and there? And how many are your mercies more than my sins? And I considered you an enemy. How, when you created me with mercies, now you consider me an enemy, and by your judgment you have oppressed and driven me? To a dry leaf that you have trampled, when God is your shepherd, and I am a creation and a thing made, how can I stand before you and prevail, when not even a leaf stands before him who tramples it? You have placed my feet in a snare of pains and afflictions. And you have blocked all my ways, as if I were able to flee from before you, and you are like a garment of restraint. And upon the strength of my feet, see, as if I were able to make you stand in lightness, and go and hide from you, because you have placed me in a snare so that I cannot flee, and something behind you in flight and in concealment, and because of which God's goodness endures for him, and he says to him, and he says to him, that even upon this you have opened your eyes, and to him you go to judgment. What is pure from impure? Not even one. There is no distinction in man, and not one pure who is able to enter into judgment with God, and you see that from impure no pure is found, and thus also not in evils does one prevail in judgment, and when you have prevailed over this, that victory is yours. If his days are cut off, they are short and are measured in decay. You have made a law, you have placed a law, a boundary that no one crosses, because no one lives forever.

Like a hired man his days are, because it is known that the days of the labor of this world will be completed. Again, there is no one who passes from him; let him run as a hired man until the end of the times. And when his labor is finished, then he receives his wages. Because there is hope for the wood, the living wood of humanity: hope, that is, he says, concerning the wood that is cut down, there is hope for the children of men who know and change, and it is cut down by death. Again, it changes by resurrection when he stands. Again, if the wood is felt when it is cut down, its hope is not cut off when it changes. One like a man when he receives according to his works from God, to immortality and incorruptibility, the Messiah turns him. And his pains are not counted, because this soul is life; even if the body remains for a long time because it is loosed, yet it is buried in the earth. And his pains, even if the living one is cut down because of wickedness, yet the afflicted and the righteous are not cut down because of goodness. Again, his pains, and he stands before him as from the beginning, and if he grows old in the earth, his root is, even if he remains a long time in the dust, yet it is known to God, because he is destined to raise him. Again, and if he grows old in the earth because of the burden of the times, and in the dust he dies with the channel of water. With the scent of water, that is, first the scent of baptism and of teachings, which is held in the living humanity in the Messiah. Again, with the scent of water, the sounds of that spring of life, the Messiah who raises the dead. Again, with the scent of water, when the channel of water receives, it gives its leaves and its branches to the heights of the tree as if newly planted.

He made leaves, the leaves of faith and knowledge in Christ, and in his likeness he was formed in Paradise. Again, the leaves are not mortality nor corruption, which he put on in the resurrection. Again, for if a tree has hope that when it is cut down it will sprout, a man who dies and wastes away does not lose his reward nor is he hindered. A man who dies and wastes away is in the state of being made and is seen; but those who come after him do not leave the root of the tree, which is not destined to stand, and it is a witness. Again, when a man dies, at the head of death the living are cut off; and it is cut off and is no more. And the waters are made to pass in this indication. And all of them are abolished and dissolved. Again, the waters are made to pass from the sea, for the waters of the sea diminish in time, and again they return to their former order, and the rivers dry up and become parched. And a man who lies down, at the head of death, does not rise and become and come to these lives. Again, a man who lies down does not rise; every man lies down and dies alone, and to rise alone he is not able, but he rises collectively with those who are awakened and glorified, when the heavens are worn out. For when the heavens are worn out, those ones will know and be awakened at their hour. And that this is so, this is a witness, that which he said: "When I was hidden in Sheol, I wished that I would not rise and be hidden in Sheol, and that I would not rise before you when you come to me. I hid until your wrath passed, that is, yours. And I set your covenant and I remembered that you would see me, that you would save me, that you would not condemn me." And this is said in the sense of the fear of the judge. If a man dies, by those who turn away from this world, after death there is nothing.

All the days of his youth he is able, until his old age comes, because in the time of old age he knows that he will receive the wind of death, and with toil he knows that there is no escape from death, and he is able for it. And because of this he is disturbed and his life is embittered with the fear of death. And if you call me, I will answer you, because I know that you are awake in your thought, and my soul is free for you and does not sleep with your request, and because of this I am able to answer you. And concerning the work of your hands, it was considered under your hand, it was stored up, and your hand is glorified in me. Because my ways now are not hidden from you, and my ways are manifest. And do not conceal my sins from me, but hide my faults under a seal, so that they may not be seen before you. Truly, a hard mountain is like a hard mountain that does not fall; thus also for you, my Lord, my sins are not lacking, for a hard mountain does not fall as you fell with your shoulder, and you are not a mountain, but a dry leaf that falls with your strength. Water wears away stone, and as these cannot become, so also my hope is now lost in the blow; but you are destined to make me strong forever. With the shame of his face they cast him down, for you were a mockery to my true friends, with healing to the place of joys. Again, if you destroy his hope, he goes with shame of face, and before you you cast him down. And if his faults increase, he does not know whether many or few, and he is troubled by them. Yet his flesh pains him, that which pains him in a fleshly way, and his soul is mournful from divine blows, because he knows that he has been cast down from God, not in one house nor in wealth.

Again, the hope of man is that he hopes that by the strength of his own soul he stands; for it is he who has troubled himself for ever. The word of Eliphaz: Wise of heart, cunning in knowledge, is he, and hidden and concealed. And his belly is filled with wrath like a serpent. Also you are one who abolishes fear; you are brave in your afflictions, and you abolish the fear of God, and you speak before him without fear, and you boast in righteousness, and your mouth is filled with sins, and when virtues appear in you as purity, you yourself justify yourself. Were you born before that man, or are you that first man who entered the world? For you speak as if you alone exist in the earth, and there is no one to cover you, and like beasts are considered before you. Restrain your mouth from the words of God, for as many as your words are, so many are your blows. And speak gently with yourself, with yourself against yourself. Why has your heart been lifted up, because you say that you are wronged by the Creator? And you raise yourself up to God, you compare yourself with God, while you are at the head of the nature of evil men. A son of woman is not justified: behold, among his saints he does not believe; there is no likeness or comparison for him among the saints of heaven and of earth. And heaven is not pure, angels are not pure before him, when there is none who compares to his purity. Also the man is perplexed and floats in the afflictions of the wise; they showed and did not conceal from their fathers; he receives teaching from them. To them alone was the earth given, because of their purity, at the time of the house of the spirit. And a stranger did not enter their house in the passage of the tomb with that side for this: with the wicked, and not one was saved.

of the wicked is stirred up by his own tremors, and it does not turn back. And the multitude of his years is cut short for the wicked one, for him who has sinned in the world, so that he may pay the penalty for wickedness. The voice of the earthquake is in his members, as the approach of the trembling of the world overtakes him. And he is not able to escape, and in peace he comes in fear, when he thought that he was in peace and quiet. The day of the death of the world came upon him. He does not believe that he has turned from the darkness, nor did he think that his dark deeds would be spread abroad; but he thought that he had gone before him in his iniquity. He saw the sword and fled from the battle of the world, as if he could hide under the hands of God when the time came for him to receive his punishment from him. The day of darkness is that of the world. Like a king who prepares for battle, the day of the world comes upon him with all the array of heads and demons. Because he raised his hand, and also Israel rose up at the end against the Lord. And he covered his face with his dust: his face was hidden by tremors, like that which Israel heard and was troubled, like that which in his wickedness he passed over in shame from his face. And that the feet of even the servants of God cannot change and pass over. And he made a covenant above with the perversity, the covering of hearing: a covenant above with his wings. And he placed ruined villages, his ordinances, which naturally grew rich in wealth against his gift, all the evils. Or Jericho, whose ruins are cursed, which cannot be inhabited, even the idols of the ruins. And in this he prepared for battle with God, and because of this his strength does not remain nor stand, but is scattered, his wealth is laid waste, and his kingdom is destroyed. And he does not cast words upon the earth, nor does he command commands, nor does he place a world in the earth.

and they do not remember from the darkness, that is, from shame and sin. The flame of the wrath of the persecutors dries up. Elihu, who speaks and declares that he is faithful, raves in spirit. He does not believe in deception; the error is that he does not believe in wealth, which is deceptive and false. His sides are fixed because his strength was from the beginning, and they were distressed and idle in place. And not in his days did his iniquity dry up, nor by the will of God; and his hands are not found, nor is there in him the power to help himself. He is uprooted like a vine in his flesh; his children, who were in his flesh, are like him. And he casts his strength like an olive; it is beaten with rods, which are placed on the heads. And this is because the face was destroyed. And the fire of wrath consumed the iniquity of the wicked who bore the sign. Job says: The wicked come to you as a covering over his mercy, a sign of the wicked who come, because when they came to his visitation, and before him Elihu, whom God had sent, from the rising of the wicked, that is, the shame above from the addition of the yoke to him. Because of this, he covers him: Elihu is God in the mystery of his being, who is to me, and he raised me up, and I was a witness, that is, Elihu, who was stirred up in me from his mysteries, witnesses in the visible, because iniquity was avenged. And the rising in me was my lie, when he knew that he was not lying, but because he speaks with God, he considered it a lie, in the coals of the truth of God, who is unspeakable. The earth does not cover my blood when it cries out against the side, like that of Abel. And there is no place for my cries, something that stops the cry, from that which God does not hear my groanings.

Now behold, in the heavens are my witnesses, the good works and the treasures of alms which I have placed in heaven, like that treasure which you have placed in heaven with God, who is hidden in mystery, as in heaven. Again, a man says: the souls of the afflicted and the righteous who are saved and satisfied. The witnesses to his righteousness are the afflictions of his years which come when he dies: it is known how long he lives. For there is no falsehood with me; for this reason, the stroke of Satan and the demons did not spare me, because they found no falsehood in me. And in their bitterness, under my spirit, are the bitter herbs and sinews which are with the demons. Place, then, my skin with you, he says to God, for now that you have uprooted my skin from the earth, and burned the house and dwelling, place for me in heaven a house; build for me in heaven with you. He knew that God is good, and therefore he asks to be rewarded in heaven. They chose these, for I have my own courses. What is this that he endures like me? But the friends of the covered one do not become angry. For this reason, Job does not exalt himself against God. For this reason, Job does not exalt himself against God. The darknesses are dark. I placed a good man among the peoples, because he was not left behind, and he endured like me; the laughter, however, remained for the demons. The hard eyes of the heart which troubled Job are the help which does not know a man for its cause. Job is bound, and the rest is because everyone thinks that this is the resurrection on account of sins. The wonder, however, and the rest are for the angels or for the righteous. The righteous one who was left behind is Job; for the faithful, he is Job. Job is divided, Job is divided: that is the investigation, and not a placing on the head. Nevertheless, behold, all of you are with you in the discourse.

They were justified, and your words were divided, your thoughts were divided. Night and day they placed for that which is left because of righteousness; because of iniquity, events happened to him. These things your words said. And I am not able to bear your words, and I am not able to turn back; I am confined in the street as in Sheol. In the depth of the sea, I called you father because of the hardness of the sea, which is able to be loosed and seeks him, and that which is able to these things, what hope is there? But that which is of strength, and this is not yet revealed. Or my good deeds, see that I am now circumcised from all of them. Baldad the boaster turns upon him. Until when will he not cease from the words of this man who understands, that the majority of them are hidden from Job, and from them are curses and the standing of the wicked? Because the foundations of Job are not like Baldad supposed, which are seen in deed; and also indeed that curse and standing are for the wicked, but because in Job they were seen with these many things. Therefore he has concealment.

Job answered, without the covering that belonged to him, and he asked him, and he asked when he said, “My friends, my friends, perhaps you have had mercy on me, and you have not left me, and you have stirred up his anger with covered words.” And he adds and says, “Let my words be written down,” for he knew that it was not as his friends had supposed because of his sins that he was being judged. For it was true in his regard that he was being tested, and because of this he was asking that his words be written down, for he knew that after a little while the former things would be changed. For he was relying on hope, for he knew that God is good and merciful. And when he was not distressed by those things that were being said by his friends, whether he had done something or thought something, because of this he wanted those things that he said to be written down, so that when he came out with the answer, his friends would remember his words and know that he was true and they false, and so that the truth of this, that he was true and they false, might be known. Behold, he adds and says, “For I know that God is without end, whose judgments are not to be turned aside nor comprehended, and the depth of his governance is not to be fathomed.” “That which was established on the earth, that which turned my former things.” And he stands up to the trial that belongs to him, to that body which endured all these afflictions, when it was brought to him with pains and diseases and answers, and he took and bore these things. Concerning another resurrection he did not fear with truth.

The Lord knows me, that I am of the Lord’s testing, and I am confident that I shall see the well-known signs of the testing that is, and not the standing, and all the Lord knows that I am completed in the depth as in truth, for the completion of the righteous is in virtue and in the love of God, the testing of the senses, this which leads to perfection, and reaches the divine depths. That is the depth of Abraham’s Lord is named. Now you say that what he said before him is because you do not know the covering of the cause of the blow that is mine. You see this which is seen, and you do not know what you say. Be silent from the covering, fear from something that hides, and do not add concerning that which you do not know the cause of, lest it not be as you suppose and you be confuted. Zophar’s answer, in which he demonstrates the punishment of the wicked in this world, while in Job it is fitting to his words, and he was able, that because of this, these have not come upon you because of your wickedness. And at the beginning of his words he said, “I thought that the turning and the rest would not be, that these which are seen in you, God would not leave to happen in you because of weeping, but because of testing.” You, however, can take the rest of his words also concerning the wicked, concerning the last judgment and the abolition of wickedness, the totality and the hiddenness which with the sweetness of the kingdom you will know that because of the standing of the wicked, Zophar’s word is. Behold, Job answers him and says.

Hear my words, O Lord, Job says, for there were many wicked in the world and nothing happened to them like what I have said; but they died in their wickedness as they lived. And the Psalmist also wrote this: and what is the reason that I alone, because of my wickedness, have seen God who is angry with me, and He leaves others alone? For if this is so, there is something hidden from you, that you do not know it. And you do not pursue the wicked when you seek the resurrection of their dead, and even in this world they die in their wickedness, but this is preserved for them. From here it is understood that many wicked are in this world, and no punishment for their deeds comes upon them. Thus also there are many righteous who are tormented in this life while their reward is preserved for another life. And if this were not so, it would be right that here the wicked and also the righteous be rewarded. And again, for the truth of what I have said, that it is so, Job adds and says: that another died with bitterness of soul and the rest.

In the Peshitta, this is the death of a bitter soul, when he eats nothing good. Likewise, the righteous and the wicked lie down at the door. By means of death, and he is punished because of the mercy of those who are upon him, who said to him that because of his wickedness he was punished. He teaches them that they asked the passersby, and their regions were not known to you, the afflicted and the righteous who were in the world. And also the prophets who are destined to arise because of the life and punishment of the world that is destined, they were broken in this world which is called a passage. And likewise the wicked who were not punished. And from this which is seen in the world, the breaking of the righteous and not the punishment of the wicked, they understood that not in this world is that judgment, but for the judgment that is destined, the punishment of these is preserved. That which is called the Day of Judgment and of destruction and of wrath, because they were not punished here when they both went to the graves, the wicked and the righteous, but these are preserved for the market. That which chance calls a feast, but this is for consolation. But now Job asks concerning this which is seen in the world, also concerning the prophets and their books and the Gospels, and from them he learns concerning the wall of these which are seen in the world. And from these and from that which is established, he learns that the passage is that of this world, which leads to another place, that in which punishment occurs, because this world is that of separation, and also of selection in separation, and it is fitting that in another world punishment should occur, as the words of Job and of the prophets and of the New Testament make clear.

After these things, Eliphaz openly rebukes him: that it is not, as you supposed, a trial of endurance, but rather the punishment for his sins. And he says to him that if he would repent, he would be accepted. And after this, Job answers, knowing that he is victorious. And he shows that if God had spoken with him or revealed himself, or if he had seen him or come to him, he would certainly have conquered and been exalted over him in wrath. But God is not apprehended nor seen. Yet he says that he knows that he keeps his laws and does not commit iniquity, but he is not able to contend against him. In the matter of the sins of his sons, however, he says that many wicked men have not been punished in this world because of him, and that there is no iniquity in that. And when he comes to those things which the wicked have done, he laments for them. Bildad turns upon him and says: There is nothing in creation that can stand against God, because of his power. And how can you say that you were able to speak with him and conquer? Job answers and confesses the mighty deeds of God, and shows that he knows him more than Bildad, but that he who is thus strong and mighty is compassionate and not one evil word is heard about him, except that he is compassionate. Again, "to what are you likening?" this he says to Bildad. That one whose power is great is God. To what are you likening him? And you are not able again to liken God, nor to be like God, but you are contending with God. Because of the strength of his power, to what have you likened him? And you have not yet learned from him. And how do you wish that I should be a teacher? I have not yet learned these things about God which are greater than those which you have said, that perhaps kings are born beneath the waters and of the neighbors which are his.

The nakedness of that Sheol, where souls are borne, is not seen, but to him it is revealed. And there is no covering for the abyss, and the bodies of those who perished and were dissolved are revealed, the bones of those men, and the skulls mixed with dust. That which is suspended to the north is upon nothing, by means of one of the four directions which He established; and also the other directions, and the firmament, and the earth, and the world which is in the middle, are suspended upon nothing. He suspended the earth upon nothing, by His command and by His power. From the beginning until the end, the earth is suspended in the air, and in the fire, and in the heavens, which encompass it. For there is no void among these, but they stand upon nothing, without wandering from one another. For the air does not wander from the earth, nor the fire from the air, nor the heavens from all of them. He binds the waters in the clouds, so that when the clouds wander to the waters, and in winter there are waters that descend below, they do not ascend and rise up, but by command the floods are directed, and gently one after another they descend, and there is nothing that wanders to the clouds and to the waters that are in them. That which holds the form of the throne is that which, in the place of the throne, is called the firmament; that which the Lord of the heavens calls it, and commanded that it not be named in the heavens, because that throne is of God. He indeed holds the form of this God, in that when it is placed upon nothing, it naturally moves it upon its axis, and to a place not possible from that motion by which it is moved, neither to the right nor to the left, nor upward nor downward. In another manner, it holds the form of the heavens, because it does not allow that which is above it to be justified or revealed.

Again, he turned his face because he moved her, and she is not moved naturally. He spread his clouds over him, covering him with clouds from time to time, because of the abundance of water. He set a command over the face of the waters, over the two boundaries of the sea—this one within and that one beyond the farthest ends of the earth. He set a boundary that they should not cross, and they should not cover the earth or dry up from that side, and they should be destroyed. And this command that he set is the circuit of the surrounding sea, and like a crown it encircles the inhabited world. The pillars of the sky flew and thundered from his own sign. He alluded to the angels who are in heaven, and he called them pillars because they are not material and not mortal, and they fly spiritually, being known by wings. Those by whom service is rendered to God, they thunder from the sign of God when he strikes the slanderers and demons, and he pursues and casts them down. Again, the pillars of the sky: he called the sun, moon, and stars, which flew from the elements and ascended on the first day, and were mixed in the first light; and on the fourth day they were separated from each other by command, and in the firmament they were established and stood; and now they are like pillars, that they may not be dissolved by the nature of motion. They thunder from his own sign, meaning from the book, that even over the irrational, a sign and thunder are placed; and as it strikes the sea and dries it up, and destroys the cities.

And he was in the mountains and the valleys. For how long does the earth and the mountain appear, all the fullness of the word from God, when the seasons of their own are completed? That which was accomplished in the sun and the moon at the time of Jesus son of Nun and Hezekiah, and in the crucifixion, is again destined to be seen at the end, when the sun, moon, and stars are darkened. By his power he rebuked the sea, so that it would not rise up in its waves and drown the earth. By his knowledge he established the canon, that is, the creature in the sea, so that it is equal and calm in its place, and when it is moved in that entire greatness, its whole season does not disturb, nor uproot, nor move the sea. The bolts of the heavens, which are fearful of him, if he were to take hold as in the days of Elijah, who would open? And if he opened as in the days of Noah, who would take hold? And to the firmament, which enters and is just in it, or which cuts off from it, who is able? By his command he put to death the rebellious creature, that is, the one that is perceived, and that one which is known, which erred against Adam and killed him through sin. Behold, these are the signs of the ways of his own, that is, the works of his own and the wonders of his own in creation. And again, the abundance of the word of his own is heard in him; that is, it is destined to be heard and seen with his wisdom and his word, other works and actions of his own of the word, and these are prepared for action when the word is revealed and descends like abundance upon the treasure and dwells in the days of the righteous. As for the power of the thunder of his own, who is able to do it? That is, when he acts, even the invisible and the knowledge, this is that which is mixed in the clouds, the high work. But because, as in the judgments, it was said concerning the thunder of the Gospel, the revelation of the preaching.

And he adds [] by oaths that did not commit sin [] he committed, and by the perfection that preserves, he preserves: [] he adds: and he curses in words his enemies [] after that, for the wicked, the Lord did not care []: and as that one was wicked: and the confession that makes known, that there is with God what he does with the wicked, and he knows them and understands, and he confesses that thus God rewards those who err against him and rebel, and for the righteous he increases their reward according to the hope that was held in time: and he adds that there is a place for poison and gold and the rest: but where are they: and by this he teaches that not only [] is the cause of these, but also in the wicked [] as they learn to extract how these are for the place of poison and stone and iron, and it was right that they also know the works of these and not be ignorant. He set an order for darkness: that at times it holds in the swiftness of light and gives rest to labors, and at times it ceases, and not only this: that it was hidden. And for every end, he knows that not everything knows, for the evil will: and the slanderer is he whom he calls stone and darkness and the shadow of death, evil intention and desire that cannot be removed came from her: through the mediation of earthly desires, which are these for which they are called earth, which are all these by which they were led astray from the righteous path, and were erased from what they were in good deeds, and when the earthly cause and the cause of all good things fell, and for this they knew and became wise, and from her to her creator they did not understand.

Beneath her the earth was overturned like a pot, her beneath the earth, and within her were overturned the affairs. By the mediation of the crown for the blasphemer, by divine power: and he was casting the stone of the lowly and the dwelling of the magicians, for the paths of the sea, which are like those fillings of the sea, for the wisdom by which those birds and animals were made, they did not know; nor again the splendors of men and beasts and those resembling animals. In the manner he extended his own hand, the wise man who was the cause of the carving of the forms because of many reasons, either for houses or for dwellings or for the abode of the sea, [] in them: the summit, however, of many splendors in the world, which were not all from the beginning, but the making by the mediation of wisdom accomplished many things like those. All, however, is honored from those which were the cause of these: or from those which are on earth and in the sea and on dry land and in the air, in which the honor of God is for men. The depths of the splendors reveal, that he knows the sin which is with the affairs in the depth of those with animals, and with those which do not themselves appear like pearls, he shows, however, his own power in the light, by the mediation of the light which is perceived: he does all of them; or in the light of knowledge in which he shows his own power, by perceptible makings.

Again he showed his own power in the matter of the light, that he knew the cause of the light of the moon, that it is from the sun; and the cause of all light is that light. And after these things, when he marvels at that wisdom which is seen in creation as hidden, and in that matter which is in the midst of knowledge and the Word, he became the cause of the emergence of this wisdom which is seen in creation in deed, saying: How was wisdom found? And he placed in the creatures this wisdom which is seen and which examines deeds. And behold, it is God who brought out and revealed the hidden matters by the wisdom which he found. What place is this knowledge? In the head, in a place it is not. For you cannot say that it is in a place, or that it was found in one of the creations, and became known after it was seen, or in what place it is. And it emerges that the head does not know the way of its own, not in that which it knows where it is, nor in creation. And if this is so, where then is the creator of this, that a man might dare to boast? Nor, moreover, is it found in the creatures naturally, for it is not in matter, nor in creation. The deep says that it is not in these perceptible things, nor even in the wisdom of the creatures, and in them wisdom is hidden. But that which they know, that in the wisdom of the creatures or in matter there is wisdom, it is not given to the head alone. Come, follow after all these precious things which are in the world, and explain them by that which he says: that they are full of all these things, those which are hidden in darkness until they come forth to deed: silver, gold, pearls, sapphires, crystals, rubies, seals, precious stones, and the rest.

And he adds that wisdom was found, and by this it is shown that the incomprehensibility of God, who is true wisdom, and again the incomprehensibility of many of the things that are in creation, which human wisdom has not yet been able to comprehend. Again, one can say that not only are there many incomprehensible things in creation for the human mind, but also among the birds of the sky, that is, the angels, there are many things incomprehensible to them. He said that destruction and death, whose name he did not hear, said this, not that death nullifies the wisdom of the wise, by the separation of the soul from the body, for the beginning of this is in the earth, for behold, it is not wisdom, but he indicates that even in death, which is destruction, wisdom is found, because he was destined to destroy and be dissolved in order to arise for the praise of God, and he who is mixed with dust [] by the wisdom of God, preserved [] not hidden in the elements, [] and concerning that they are not [] of the word and speech that is fitting [] that he is not in death and dissolution [] and also they are destined [] for his own praise, when the limbs are cast down, and he who seemed to have perished is sought. After that, he shows that the Lord also knows the balance of the earth, like the cause and maker of all things that are seen, and not only does he know the natures as the creator of them, but also their balance and the nature of those that are not measured, and that he saw these from the beginning perfectly, and he interpreted them, by making known and teaching about them naturally and profoundly, and when he completed them, he interpreted that in them, by wisdom, his knowledge and his heel follow after his cause.

And he adds again and says like Job, that the fear of God is wisdom, and the removal of evil things is knowledge. For this reason, because a person is also made wise for all knowledge of creation, when this does not ascend to works, he is not wise. And he who does ascend to all these works, and is made wise by the practice of these, by means of these wise men were created, and wisdom was found in creation, which is this: to know the Creator, and when they know the Creator, what advantage is there in knowing Him, if death releases him? But also in man himself and in the whole world of evils, virtue is praised and evil is blamed. These things it is right to pursue with wisdom, and when they pursue virtue, they find that not only is God the sole possessor of wisdom, but also the life of the soul after the end, and resurrection and judgment, for the sake of which it is right to fear the Lord and to flee from evil, in that wisdom, as Job said, because He does good works for you, and judgment awaits, and God unites you. And I have placed in the remainder of what was previously a sign, as it was before the signs, in righteousness and good works towards the poor, and also in the obedience of his servants and in the abundance of his mercies. And now, because he was seized and struck, he was stripped by the strippers, and his works and his coverings were confused, and these were revealed to him, because God opened his case and judged him.

And he casts his arrows, the afflictions and the rest, and he comes to the things that are seen in the deed, and he asks for death, as if he were able to kill him, he would have killed him; and if he were able to kill him, he would have killed him; and if there were another, when he commanded him, he would kill him. With this he does not cease, and he says, when he mixes in the word of afflictions with the good things that he did and that with all his powers he wept and was troubled over the sufferings of others; and he cursed him afterwards. Is it that he strayed from the straight path of the Lord, or hid gold in his own courtyard, buried it in the earth, or relied on heavy stones, or rejoiced in wealth, or sought from the Lord love and likenesses? After these things, Elihu enters and makes a reply to Job’s three friends, and he says that because he was silent in the speeches, he did not speak now, and that the speeches are not those of speakers, but that wisdom is that which God hid in the soul; and he rebukes Job’s friends because they did not answer him, because Elihu thought that Job boasted in righteousness, and that it was revealed that they were confuted by him, and he confesses that he is angry with him and does not confess, and he rebukes Job because he said that he is righteous; and when he is not righteous and not just, these things came upon him from God, and Elihu said that this is not possible: that when he is a righteous man, God does not punish him.

And again he adds, because Job says that Elihu does not listen to any word of his own discourse, as if Job wanted that, one by one, from the things he speaks, he should respond to him. And Elihu says that in one thing he speaks: "God, the one time, the Lord spoke with you. In your manner, which your speech has made you, a free man, a master of the house, rich, and a king like them, and again he does not speak with you concerning the things that you yourself wish that he should respond to you, one by one, of which in you a response is seen. You yourself know whether it is right that he should respond to you from God, because you know his will and the sorrows of his judgments. And it is not necessary that he speak with you, because he speaks in you, since he taught you his judgments." And he adds that in this, that the two worlds and the rest, that is, the afflictions that are in you now, because of your sins he chastises you with them. A dream you bring, because like a pestilence he chastises you with them, these passing things, and you have no refuge; or is it that you have a refuge, that the envy of God chastises you with them? For these, like a night, are passing, and in them and because of them your state is revealed to you, that you bring sorrows, for in these are the causes of your turning from injustice, as Elihu said: "For fear, he feared that he might approach or respond, or turn from iniquity and sin." After these, he comes in speech to the things that are seen in Job in deed, and he again makes a response in the midst of these, concerning the things that he heard from Job and that trouble him, in the hope of a response, if he is the one who desires.

And he blames him because he says that it is not fitting to strike and that God is just and that he repays everyone according to his deeds. And when he speaks many things and because the deeds of God are not understood, the justice of his judgments and his righteousness which is seen [] he indicates that he who is over the rulers [] was able to be angry and also to be deceived, because he blamed the ruler, and said to him, "You did not act justly with me," and thus in the beginning with God, because he who is righteous and upright in his judgments, after these things the Scripture continues and says that the Lord said to Job through the whirlwind and cloud. And it is known that when his friends were near and were hearing, these things that the Scripture continues and says, that the Lord said to Job through the whirlwind and cloud. And because after Job spoke and complained to the Lord, the Lord acted with him at that time in a full manner with his friends; through the mediation of the whirlwind and cloud the Lord spoke with him, and not in a gentle voice of speech as with Elijah, because as with his own covering and that of his friends the Lord speaks. And it is right that Job feared and trembled at the vision. For these things were also said to the person of Job. But Job did not hide anything, but revealed everything. Therefore, these things that were said to his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were with the Lord, when they heard all of them. And it is known that these things were thus, because when Job blamed the Lord afterwards, he said to Eliphaz: "I have sinned and you and your companions have erred, because you did not speak the truth before me, like my comforter Job." The Word of God.

He says, “If you are like a man of strength, and if you have the power to rise up against me and prevail, behold, I have revealed myself to you as you wished. Speak and listen, if you will.” But Job did not have this power, because he said to his friends that it was not fitting for him to contend with me, or that it was revealed to him, and I was disputing with him about my own affairs. And behold, God brought this matter to pass, and he was not able to withstand this power, and he asks him about the works that are seen in the creation, and about the nature of the power that is in them—that which exists from that which does not exist with that which does exist, and he is confused about them, and they depend on him. When I was establishing the earth upon its foundations, which are not divisible, when I was separating this from the waters and the rest of the elements, and I was establishing those and making something as is now seen, that it supports the dry land and the rest. Do you know, then, if you know wisdom, or are you wise about the nature of those things? Where did I place their measure? Do you know its length, its breadth, its depth, and its height, its form, its heights, its depths, and its sphericity? Again, where did I place its measure? Its making, that it should be measurable, and from it that which supports habitation, and from it that which is not inhabited, and from it the mountains, and upon it also the seas.

Or rather, that the cord passed over her. It is known that it was God. And He it is who made the heavens like the arches of a building. The cord, of which it is said that it passed over her, this is the axis, so that it is evident that the heavens and the arches are established and supported by the mediation of the cord. Thus God, without these, placed the earth in the middle of the circle by means of the cord. And it is the middle, so that it does not go up high from the middle, nor does it go down low, nor does it incline to the sides. Upon the waters of the deep, which are its own, it is fixed. Since, therefore, the earth is in the middle of the circle, from its sides waters surround it, and above and below are air and fire, and the whole firmament surrounds them circularly and spherically. And if someone says that the elements are wandering, he lies, because there is nothing that wanders from anything except by divine power. And if one element overcomes another, the heavens are for the one that is created. For this one, what? But there is nothing to say except that it is divine power that holds this one and that one, and it wanders over all of them while they are not heavy upon it. Or rather, the one who threw a stone at the head of the foundation upon her, that its foundation is upon nothing, and its foundations are from all sides, so that they do not totter upward from the foundations. When the stars are in the firmament, when light was separated and there came from it the sun, the moon, and the stars. The angels praised over this, that it is known that in all the six days it was established, and because of all the works the angels praised, because they were confirmed in the fullness of their works.

She barred the sea with doors, so that it would not pass over and flood the inhabited world, on this side and on that, so that it would not be scattered; and she dug depths for it beneath the earth on which it rests. When he was born from his mother's womb, he came forth to the eternal knowledge of God and to the glory of these things; by his knowledge in the womb, the mother is finished. As for the clouds and the vapors, he says that they cover and darken, while he is above these things; and manifestly these things are found in him. But one can also say that one of the doors and bolts of this is the clouds and vapors, because these do not allow the multitude of waters that enter it from the rivers to increase and pass over the boundaries from the beginning. For as much as is added to it from the rivers, the clouds and vapors that rise from it are equal to it; and over the whole surface of the earth they are poured out, as it were. Again, bolts and doors were placed over the four elements from the beginning; for this is the divine power, which does not allow any of them to increase or decrease from the quantity of the beginning, nor to pass from this to that, nor to move from its natural place, neither upward nor downward nor sideways; and when they are all bound together, and there is nothing intermediate between one and another, like doors and bolts, there is something over each of them that does not mix with the others, which is the Word, as it were, in a bodily way, and he says: "I said that until this comes, it will not pass over," and the rest. And the morning light, before the sun appears, its rays are seen.

Very quickly, very quickly, the moon is eclipsed in it, so that it is not obscured when it emerges from darkness toward the full moon of its light. The morning star, however, sees its own order in the whole heaven and in each of the constellations. There are stars which, when they begin to rise and become visible, appear in the morning. These have names among the astronomers, and each of them has a fixed time, by which, when it appears in the morning, it indicates the morning like itself; and all of them, by the edges of the earth, rise and set by its edges; and those that are above it are awakened, and they also indicate signs and times, as Scripture says: to frighten the wicked. For this entire order, beauty, hour, wakefulness, light, and darkness are not only for the good who live and for those who benefit, but also for the wicked, as much as for the good. And you, when you took dust, you are not the creator of the beginning. The balance, however, and the wicked, he calls the slanderer and the demons that fell from the beginning from the known light of the angels, because they were weighed down. Concerning the depths of the sea, you are able to perceive the natural cause that does not allow it to be diminished or to come upon it in ships until you reach its ends. The gates of death are opened to you in fear; you are able to raise the dead from death. Or the gates of Sheol, when they see you, tremble; you are able, when you yourself descend to Sheol, to cause Satan, the demons, and the souls imprisoned in Sheol to flee from you, as also that one, when he wished, did this, which was completed by the rashness of the son.

and he begins to show you: how many stadia, or miles, or cubits the whole world is in breadth. This is something that no one can know: by which hand the earth turns the light. When it is above you, you know how much of the earth over which it turns. Likewise, when it moves away from you, you know it, as it is said: and before it comes to you, you know by which hand the earth is darkened, and by the turning of the darkness, and over how much of it it turns. The darkness, however, by which hand? That place? Not even this can anyone know, because darkness is not confined to a place, nor does it have a place, since it is not a body when the light goes out. If you give me the boundaries of their own, or if you tell me: when light is spread over you and it is day, up to where on the earth in length, breadth, and depth the illuminated place is bounded, just as by this it is known, so also the boundary of darkness. Then you know also their own paths, to determine the paths of light, which now is in the earth, and the stadia of darkness, one by one. For then you would have been born knowing your limit, when you were born or came near to yourself as now, or how much you were about to know. And he makes known to you afterwards, that not even how snow and hail are formed in the clouds can be seen, and that it is not possible for them at all whenever he wishes, that God does these things: when with enemies he wishes to arm or to strike.

the earth is, and not how the hail is formed, nor how the wind or the cause of rain is generated, nor the nature of thunder and lightning and the rest of the phenomena of the frost and hail and of those things by which the air is disturbed, or whether it ascends toward the stars and the heavens and then descends, so that by these things it is impossible for him to know the bond, and then the quantity of these things, and not the courses of the fixed stars from place to place, or how by the change of the movements of the sun and the movement of the stars the seasons of summer and winter and the rest occur; and again not even the nature of the wisdom that is placed in the earth, by which trees, plants, and seeds are nourished, and the shoots of all these and the rest of the living things that God has made; there is no other who does these things like him. For even to the animals and to the birds God extends his care, so that by these things he humbles Job and shows him that his power and knowledge are small, when he perceives the nature of the properties that are seen in these things, and when he comes to the beginning of created things, they lead to a beginning that is not created, when they lead to submissive sins, and they lead to things that are not submissive. The glorious chapters are completed in the book of Ecclesiastes. I multiplied questions and she did not, and also Ecclesiastes gave birth to sons and raised apostles, and they left her and were sons of the church. She laughed at the horse and at its rider, she died on the cross and in Christ who rode upon it. You gave to the horse the strength, the mystery of the holy people, a sign in those things that are written about this. He conquered the enemy of the bird, he is adorned with the staff against the enemy of the saints, the mystery of the Lord who was raised on Golgotha.

The pores of the blood are like a sieve, and by its strain the nations are refreshed, the pores of Christ. That which is destined to take hold of the leviathan is called Leviathan and the serpent, and more than all the animals of the wilderness God placed on the earth and also in the seas, both spacious and small, it cannot dwell except in the ocean that suffices for its transformation. And more than that, God established measures according to the quantity of the body, each one of them, and a measure of ninety and four hundred cubits, and one of the ancients passed a measurement, to come to miles, and miles are seven measures and a half. This is laughed at by the angels, according to the word of David, and only God is able to comprehend it, according to the word of Job, which is laughed at by the angels. This is what is wondered at concerning the greatness of the thought that is occupied with animals and is distressed and suffers. The slanderer is the one destined to be confounded and bound by Christ at the end. The claws of the griffin are its flight, and it has power and is hidden from the abyss, and it gives birth in its eggs on the earth and they are broken, so that its young do not increase on the earth, and it destroys with its talons and with its power the horse and the rider upon it, snatching and going, and it dwells in the regions of the Indians. And when it seizes with its claws something, it is not able to extract its foot, many ships are lost when it falls into the sea, and when they wish to capture it, they bring a cow and throw upon it a heap of stones and tie oxen to it, and when it descends, it casts its claws into the ox, it cannot lift it because of the weight of the cow, and its claws are not extracted because they have entered under the bones of the ox, and immediately they capture it.

Behold, the beast of the field is with you. This beast that is with you, of which it is said: its name is the flea, and it is heard among the Hebrews as Behemoth, many beasts. Behold, it eats grass like an ox, while it destroys the seed. And it exerts force upon its covering, and upon the firmament, like the weakness of its belly, and it casts itself upon rocks and thorns. And it is not hindered and it glides. And it raises its tail in the form of a cedar, and it leaps upon the earth like walking beasts, and it flies like strong birds. And the body of its limbs is strong, and its wings are like twisted sinews, and its ribs like a serpent, and the bone of its back like iron. And it is the chief of the creatures of God, because in its form it is sent and goes forth before all the groanings and travails of the field, and it grows little by little. Behold, it makes war against the enemies and beasts, while it seizes their form, and God placed it for wonder and for astonishment and for joy for those angels who govern it, and it does not turn from its nature. And to one side it makes its discipline in the form of water that flows to one side. And it comes upon the back of the mountains that have received it, and it is not covered, and it makes joy for the beasts. When they are nourished by it, and also for the reptiles when it falls into a pit and marshes, and it lies under trees and alders and willows, and upon trees, and crows and birds are entwined around it, all of them with it. Nor is it covered by the light, except when it is walking. It knots and is rolled up, like a bridge, and it passes its strength like a bridge without disturbance.

...is said that it is confident that it will receive the covering of the light, opposite its face it swims, and opposite its eye like the word of Scripture. Concerning this flea, God says to Job that you are not able, by your own strength, to overcome it, and this you did not conquer, just as you are not able to speak against God. After these things, Job answers and says that he has understood, and by these things he shows the smallness of his own strength, and the greatness of the divine power that has covered him, and he shows his own weakness, that he is not able to return a word to God. And the Lord turned and said to Job that he should confess his humility: Do not speak thus, but gird your loins like a man, take heart and be strong, if you are able. When he asks you, answer him and show by his word that because of this he revealed himself to him and spoke with him, that he might teach him that he is not able to overcome the divine power in argument. And also because of this he revealed himself to him, that he might show him to be righteous. This is what he said to him: that you have an arm like God. Then, when these things that were previously spoken are confused, and also changed in word, he teaches him by these things that he is not able to become like God. Others read Behemoth as Leviathan, and that which is said to them, that they are the chief of God's creation, they interpret it concerning the great whale, which is larger than all the animals of the sea and the land, they call it thus, or because it was created on the fifth day, before the animals of the hour were created on the sixth day, or because it was created for wonder, on account of its greatness. And the angels laugh at its wonder, saying that that which is thus difficult, the clouds raise it up to the regions within Cush, that it might be food for a difficult people.

Again, the laughter at the two kinds is established in Scripture, like a joy, and like a constriction and wonder, as much as here, and like that which is not fitting, that its laughter was wondered at, that how this is possible, and the Lord covers its laughter, that is, its wonder, and says: that it is a possibility. The peoples who are instructed in it are the Phoenicians. And he adds that Job is not able to place his hand upon it, and if according to its nature it were to move, that Leviathan, it is not in the sea that it would be able to dwell with its strength, nor on the dry land if it came out, because it was created in the sea: in the sea, because it would not be possible that a greatness like this would be on the dry land; otherwise everything would be destroyed. It is said that one of them came out in the sea of Adria, in the Phoenician Sea near Berytus, and others said in the sea of Egypt; and when they perceived it, the men began to cut and eat from its flesh, and after a time it perceived and moved; as this was, until the beginning of its body they measured that there were three hundred miles in length and a span in width, and they did not find its like. And after these, he shows Job his weakness and the greatness of God; and to the friends of Job, God covers because they did not speak the truth concerning the afflictions of Job, that they considered him a sinner and wicked and that because of his injustice he was afflicted; and he commanded that they bring offerings and pray for themselves because they sinned; and the Lord blessed Job and gave him double everything that was lost, except for the sons and daughters, who were like the former, the latter, because they live for God through the sons of the covenant. And they did not lose like the cattle and wealth; and this he did with him so that everyone would know that it was not because of his sins that he was cast down, but because of the accuser and the slanderer he was vindicated.

The end of the literal commentary on the book of Job, by the grace of God, through the hand of John the Scribe, of the red ink of the script.