Commentarii in Job

If, then, he thinks that "to be hidden from the scourge of the tongue" means not to be slandered or reviled, the statement is not true in the sense of having truth, namely that evil-speaking or reviling, called the scourge of the tongue, cannot seize the one who lives according to God, since virtue hides him from being shown to be liable to what is said. This same man is not frightened even by the expectation of evils, according to the blessed Paul, who says: "Who shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword?" For he prevails over these by the abundance of virtue. No less, such a man will also be hidden from the sophistries of false wisdom, since God "drives the counsel of the crafty" away from those who use it. And to "you shall not be afraid of evils that come" the prophetic saying is equally capable, being thus: "Your tribulation will come from afar," and what would be understood thus: the good is from us. For it is said: "The kingdom of heaven is within you." For we have a fitness for virtue, which he has called "kingdom." But what is harmful and injurious comes from outside, and so does the shame of sin. For man, having been made "according to the image" of God, has within himself the seeds of the good. But when he is turned aside, he encounters evil, not having received from God any occasion for this. "He shall laugh at the unjust and the lawless; you shall certainly not be afraid of wild beasts. For wild beasts shall be at peace with you." It is clear that he says these things about the righteous man who has come to be from admonition, from his laughing at the unjust and lawless, indicating that:

Having escaped their plots, he will mock them, though they have devised many things against you. But this would not happen in the case of a righteous man; for the earnest man is not mocking, but sympathetic, speaking rather as Paul: "Great is my grief and unceasing sorrow in my heart," which he said concerning the neglect of the righteous. Unless someone takes "mocking" in this sense, that when the matter is worthy of laughter, the earnest man is said to mock those who vainly attempt it, since he demonstrates the affair to be ridiculous. But the phrase "you shall not be afraid of wild beasts" and what follows, spoken skillfully, would thus gain greater clarity from the things the saints experienced. Perhaps he himself learned that similar things had happened. For the lions sent against Daniel provided him no fear, since he had his hopes in God. But they were even at peace with him, having harmed him in nothing at all. The lover of good will gather similar examples from the Scriptures, as the prophet who died, whom not only did the lion not devour, but it was even kept from touching the donkey; the events concerning Elisha, who like a king led the beasts in order against the insolent, himself harmed by them in nothing. But for you, he says, those who are such by nature are at peace. It is also possible to take humans or demons instead of beasts, according to what is said: "Do not hand over to beasts a soul that confesses to you." For it is clear that he does not say this about visible beasts, but one may understand the wild beasts of the soul. But also "the devil walks about like a lion seeking whom he may devour." And again: "The Lord has broken the teeth of the lions." From which beasts the righteous man is delivered, accomplishing nothing of their designs.

The greatness of the courage of the saints is this: that it is a hard thing to fight against injustices with the hands. For the Savior said, "I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy." And that Eliphaz also knows opposing energies we have already set forth before this, when he said: "Or if you should see any of the holy angels." "Then you shall know that your house shall be at peace, and the dwelling of your tent shall not fail. And you shall know that your seed is great, and your children shall be as the grass of the field." We say that this, being proclaimed as truth through the manner of history, [must be examined] whether the things proclaimed as it were historically are able to come to pass for us, or are harmful or beneficial. And now, therefore, since Job no longer has a house—for he himself says in what follows, "I have perished and have become an outcast"—he says to him as he lies cast upon the dung-heap: "Then you shall know that your house shall be at peace." For again, knowing that the things concerning him have been destroyed, with only his wife remaining and him no longer having children, he says: "And you shall know that your seed is great, and your children shall be as the grass of the field." For he was not in such a condition as to beget children, having been so damaged and made childless; for he was feeling the ichor and the worms. And what "dwelling of a tent" was he speaking of not failing, when he had no tent at all but was cast out? Therefore, since the history is very much constrained in the case of perceptible withdrawals, one must treat the meaning intellectually, especially since in the preceding passages we said that they were not unacquainted with the teaching according to manner.

For they do not appear to be base; for it is commanded that Job bring an offering to God on behalf of their sins, on account of ignorance. And indeed also his friends of such great... and of virtue... to those who follow... to know that there is one cause of the visitations: they went astray. It is said, then, that when the "wild beasts" have been given over as "at peace with you," and the "house" of your mind "will be at peace," and "the dwelling of your tent"—which is your improvement in progress—"will not fail." In addition to these things, "you will know" that in your good thoughts "seed" will multiply, being brought to completion for the generation of children and coming to be, as "the every-herb of the field," both because of the quickening of virtue and to grow exceedingly. And in truth we have in the divine writings, spoken also by the saints, "house" meaning the state, the conduct, the virtue, just as it is recorded concerning the Hebrew midwives: "Because the midwives feared God, they made for themselves houses," which shows the virtue prepared by them from the fear of God. For they were not without a house before...

And what is said in Proverbs: "The houses of the lawless will require purification, but the houses of the righteous are acceptable." For these things are said not about perceptible things but about the dispositions in the mind—the base needing purification, while the virtuous are acceptable, "acceptable" signifying not what is choiceworthy to someone but what is worthy of praise. For the good is choiceworthy even if no one chooses it, and it is acceptable even if no one accepts it. And what is said concerning "the one who fears" the Lord "and greatly wills in his commandments": "Wealth and glory are in his house"—this is not said about a perceptible house or glory. For many who fear God have neither human glory nor a wealthy house, like Elijah, like Elisha and those like them, since the one who "is rich in good works" and "in every word and all knowledge," as Paul writes, has wealth and glory in the house of his mind and is adorned in his conduct through all the virtues. Moreover, the Gospel also makes clear such a house; for it says: "Whoever hears my words and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain came down, the winds blew, the rivers came, and it did not fall"—the house, which is the disposition of the virtuous man who turned the words of the Lord into deeds, who remains untroubled by storm, harmed by none of the opposing energies. For such a man founded his own disposition and choice "on the rock," "Christ." For to the one who confessed him it was said by him:

You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church," while the one who hears the words casually and does not join deeds to words "is like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand," that is, his condition upon the fluid affairs of life, which do not admit of sowing or abiding. Therefore this man, being unstable, has a swift fall when a little temptation is sent, either through teaching from another or through some circumstance brought on by an evil spirit. The one who has the praiseworthy house, having a firm standing, will hear from God, as Moses did: "But you, stand here with me." And the Savior says concerning him: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death." Such a house, then, Job also had, which "the wise man, having built," "founded" securely "upon the rock." Having this equally, the disciples of Christ also kept their standing immovable, guarding the saving words. And "the house" of the mind "is at peace," being undisturbed and untroubled, since virtue works peace through their mutual following; for nothing discordant is in the earnest man. Concerning the virtues the proverb may be aptly spoken: "Wise women built a house, but the foolish one tore it down with her hands." For vice works a swift overthrow of what is built. One virtue, then, is not sufficient for the building of a house. For this reason it was said in the plural: "Women built a house." But one vice is enough for overthrow. At any rate it has been said:

If someone performs all righteous deeds but commits one act of lawlessness, all his righteous deeds are set aside. For they no longer stand or remain once a single evil has entered. And it belongs to the same virtuous man "not even to miss the dwelling of his tent." For one who is making progress must pray that he not stumble or sin—what is signified by the tent. For it is possible, while he is still making progress—the one dwelling in the house being already at peace through perfection—that from the progress of the one who has borne fruit and sings: "I will pass through the place of a marvelous tent until the house of God," in which the one who has already arrived at the peak of virtue is hard to move and most firm. This is shown by: "Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin." And giving the reason, he adds: "because his seed remains in him," meaning the one who made him. For concerning such a person it is also said in the Gospel: "No one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father." And we did not say this, that the virtuous man is incapable of change, but that he is hard to change. But by his own doing he would come to be outside the hand of God, falling away; for he says, "They themselves were thrust out of your hand"—clearly having become unworthy to be guarded by the hand of God, which is what Judas suffered, himself going out from the sheltering hand of God. For he did not say, "No one will go out," but: "No one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father." But he thrusts away those who have first torn themselves away. For it is said:

God will reject them, because they did not listen to him," while the one guarded by him knows that "his seed is great." For the good soil is the mind of the earnest man, which receives the seeds from the bridegroom Word in a fitting and eager way, or else he himself sows the disciples through the word given to him. And often "seed" is also said of a child: "the seed of Abraham" — his children — not that seed is in every case already also a child. At any rate, when the Jews boasted that they were the seed of Abraham, the Savior did not say, "You lie," but added: "If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham; for not all those from Israel are Israel. Nor, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they in every case children." So he says to them, as not being children of Abraham: "You wish to do the desires of your father." But those who do the desires of the devil, receiving him as father, are not children of Abraham. For blessed is the one who is the seed of Abraham in that he possesses the virtues of piety, and who becomes a child by being formed and not becoming a miscarriage but being brought to birth. And sometimes "seed" and "child" are said in parallel, as also in the passage now set forth.

The mind of the saint, then, which must be understood as a field, puts forth shoots corresponding to "the whole pasture of the field," both surpassing in number and in life-giving power, so that in this way "this man" may be "made like the kingdom of heaven" according to the Gospel, sowing in the field, his own heart, so that he may bear fruit "a hundred, sixty, thirty," at the beginning, the middle, and the end, "sowing in tears," so that "in exultation he may reap" and "seeking the Lord, that fruits of righteousness may come to him." "And you shall come to the grave like ripe grain harvested in season, or like a heap of the threshing floor gathered in its hour." There is nothing among existing things that does not have its proper end, even if it be taken in the case of craft. Nature and craft have an end and a goal; for the vine grows for man's reasonable enjoyment, and a craftsman builds with the goal of completing a house for dwelling. And so that the account may not be long: man was created in order to live according to virtue. The psalmist, having contemplated this very thing, said: "Make known to me, Lord, my end and the number of my days, what it is, that I may know what I lack," so that he might say something like this gently: For this I was born, that I might live according to virtue and, partaking of your wisdom, both say and do all things according to it. But since I see myself falling short in many things—which he says out of modesty—"make known to me my end," how long a time I remain here, so that I may be diligent in it to fill up what I lack. According to this understanding it is also said in Ecclesiastes: "Do not become hardened, lest you die in your untimely hour," which shows that:

Since you have become fruitful in virtue, do not delay toward it, lest you depart incomplete. David again says this in prayer: "Do not bring me up in the midst of my days." But Abraham too is called "old and full of days." And if we take this more simply, many of the many who lived before him lived even more years, and yet were neither called old nor full of days. But full of days is the one who has received without diminution the illuminations of "the sun of righteousness." And this man is old, honored with those honors of which it is said: "For old age is honorable, not that which is long in time nor measured by the number of years, but gray hair is understanding for men, and old age is a life without stain." Since, therefore, "Abraham believed God," so that "his faith was reckoned as righteousness," and he was "full of days" and "old," fittingly "having been nourished in a good old age" he fell asleep. That "full of days" is understood in this way can also be confirmed from other passages: "Honor," it says, "your father and your mother, that it may go well with you and you may be long-lived on the land which the Lord gives you." And this is not incontrovertible; for many who showed great honor to their parents died young, and others who dishonored mothers and fathers became long-lived. But also in the Psalms it is said concerning "the one who dwells in the help of the Most High": "With length of days I will fill him and show him my salvation," which signifies perfection; for neither is the stay here for the longest time; for "he was caught up," it says, "lest wickedness change his understanding.

All these things have been said by us wishing to show that things which come to be reach their end in something, and that from many causes, but far more by God. Eliphaz, therefore, knowing this, as one skilled and prudent, speaks the things set before him, moved by such a thought, that having received the admonition gently and with a view to conversion, he will have a good and honorable end, which is made clear to him by the phrase: "You shall come to the grave like ripe grain harvested in due season." And the discourse proceeds for him in sequence from: "Blessed is the man whom the Lord has reproved," when he also exhorts him not "to refuse the admonition of the Almighty," as he is the one who both "strikes and heals, and six times delivers from necessities, from famine and war, and hides from the scourge of the tongue and from iron," from which it will result that this man, to whom these things happen, will not fear the onset of evils and the things that follow. In all these things, he says, a good end will succeed in due season and ripeness, like grain gathered on the threshing floor. And it is a blessed thing to be such grain, about which the Savior says: "The good seed are the sons of the kingdom." And about the same: "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears more fruit." And the fruit of this grain is not perceptible offspring, but men, "sons of the kingdom." And it is a great thing not to hear: "I will pluck you out and remove you from your tent, and your root from the land of the living," but to be so filled with virtues as the grain that is filled and harvested in due season and gathered. And the season and the hour are set side by side, as in the passage:

You shall keep this law at the appointed times of hours, from days to days." And the harvest is the spiritual perfection of the soul. For "going they went and wept, carrying their seeds," which signifies the beginning of virtue through their labors and ascetic practices. "But coming they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves," which signifies, as has been said, the perfection. For this is what "gathered together" indicates. For the perfect person is henceforth truly in safety. This we learn well from the Savior, who says: "whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." And it is clear that these things are not said about perceptible things; for chaff is not burned with "unquenchable fire," nor does he appear to be speaking about a perceptible heap of grain—for a human being is not a heap of grain—but about the perfection and fulfillment, as we have said. And we have it wisely stated in the Song of Songs concerning the bride, who is the church or the perfect soul: "Your navel is like a filled bowl; the mixture of your belly is like a heap of your threshing floor, fenced in

with lilies." And it is clear that the soul does not have this so-called stomach in the usual sense, about which it is said, "Foods are for the stomach and the stomach for foods," but that other one about which it is written, "Your law is in the midst of my stomach," and, "From your fear we conceived in the womb and were in travail and gave birth." And this same soul also has an "navel," the very center of the mind, which has been blended according to the "wine mixed by wisdom"—the divine thoughts, and those that have transcended. And since it was not possible for humans to comprehend these things, they were blended with human words, so that in this way they might be able to grasp the "mixture," since they are unable to hear the naked things of wisdom. And the incarnation can also be signified through the mixing-bowl, but also it is said in this way: you have the old and new Scripture—that is, the mixing-bowl—in the very center of your governing faculty. And you also have a "stomach" like a heap "fenced in among lilies." For since through the color of the lily there is whiteness outside, but inside it has something like a dead color, it would signify that the perfect soul becomes white according to the Word, about which it is said, "My beloved is white," having been put to death by the deadness that comes from ascetic practice. "Behold, we have searched out these things thus; these are what we have heard. But you, know for yourself if you have done anything." What was said before is confirmed, that he, being intelligent and perhaps having heard from ancient saints, who taught divine things without writing, was moved to speak certain words that had meaning, of which we, finding similar things in the divine Scriptures, have set them alongside.

For through "we have searched out" he shows his own understanding, and through "we have heard" the instruction that comes from others—unless one says that by "hearing" he means, as it were, experience and knowledge of things. And still following the same principle and being disposed in the same way—namely, that he has suffered because of sin—he added: "But know for yourself if you have done anything," so that through this too he might make clear what I said about those who sin: for I do not consider it just to punish. But I do not know each particular sin. "But know for yourself," that is: having come to know, repent—which again was the disposition of one speaking as about a sinner. For he thought there was one cause for the afflictions. "And Job, taking up the word, says: For if someone would set my anger on a scale and lift my pains in a balance together, then indeed they would be heavier than the sand of the sea." Just as from all the other things, so also from what lies before us, the greatness of soul of Job is shown, as he bears his circumstances nobly and very courageously. For many, when they fall into difficult and grievous circumstances, regard those who console them as superfluous and blame them. But this man is prepared even for an answer to me concerning the circumstances. He would therefore be saying what lies before us in reply to what was said by Eliphaz: "But now affliction has come upon you and touched you, yet you have been zealous"—at the same time for the proof that he was not enduring these things outside of sins, and for moderation, suggesting that he himself was in doubt, although the spirit of the writer bears witness to him that he was "blameless." He says therefore that:

If someone wished to place our failings and the anger that has been brought upon us, as it were, in a balance, he will find that anger heavier than our failings. For the saint knew that he was enduring these things not on account of sins but for the sake of a contest, since in what follows he said: "I know that I shall appear righteous." Therefore he was eager to lead his friends into this kind of knowledge. But if "to place" also signifies cessation, consider it as well. It may also be understood in this way: a yoke is said to be laid upon the neck of suffering animals. He would then be saying: if someone wished to draw the yoke of sufferings along with me, so as to lighten me from them by his fellowship. But see whether this, being unworthy of the saint, leads us back to the first interpretation. And he has taken "sand of the sea" because it is wetter. "But as it seems, my words are worthless. For the arrows of the Lord are in my body, whose fury drinks up my blood. Whenever I begin to speak, they pierce me." Since Eliphaz took his first words as trustworthy, when Job seemed to him, Eliphaz, to have said everything out of desperation, he said to Job, being disposed to think that he had suffered on account of sins, he says: as it seems, my words are cheap, believed in nothing. And he adds consequently why he disbelieves him, saying: "For the arrows of the Lord are in my body," so that what is indicated may be as follows: for this reason my words are worthless, because the arrows of the Lord are upon my body. For most people are accustomed to disregard the words spoken by those pressed by circumstances and poverty, even if they are intelligent. This same thing is indicated in the saying that declares:

A poor man spoke, and they said, 'Who is this?'" That arrows are said to be the circumstances sent by providence is attested by many passages. In Deuteronomy, in the great song, Moses says in the person of God: "I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour the blood of the wounded," calling punishments arrows and sword. And again in the same book he says: "And my arrows shall consume them," where "shall consume" means: he will fill up the things of punishment. And this too happens for advantage. But "the fury of arrows" here refers not to inanimate arrows, but to the painful and violent and bitter onset of grievous things, which he says they drink as blood, indicating that the things of punishment take away his vital power. And the phrase "when I begin to speak, they prick me" would be, as it were, suggesting a thought of this kind: when the mind is stretched toward the God of all and the contemplation of him, there comes about a certain forgetfulness of human things. From such a state also the blessed David sang: "I forgot to eat my bread," and Paul says "he was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body I do not know, or outside the body I do not know." But whenever, as men, they give no brief leisure to painful things, then indeed he assails them not moderately. So he, declining this, in a certain way also teaches his friends to keep their mind on high and to think little of painful things, devoting themselves to contemplation. And consequently the power that guards the saints yields a little, so that a perception of pains may come to them, in order that the giving of the crown may thus be reasonable. "For what?

Will the wild ass cry out in vain, unless it is seeking food? And will the ox low over its manger when it has food? Will bread be eaten without salt? And is there taste in empty words? For my soul cannot cease. For I see my food as a roar, like the smell of a lion." In response to the rebuke, as it were, that came to him from that man concerning the words spoken by Job, he himself speaks as though putting forward a question, so that by the answers he gives he may no longer find fault with the one who cries out because of hardships—although Job said nothing of desperation. He asks: "What then? Will the wild ass cry out in vain, unless it is seeking food?"—that is: does the wild ass utter its voice to no purpose when it is in need of food? Nor does the ox low at the manger when the food is set before it. So do not blame me either, if I cry out according to your supposition because of painful things, since a weak nature is involved—so that he may lead him to sympathy, so as not to find fault with one who is in pain if he cries out. For the holy man ought not to be without feeling, even if he bears what presses on him with endurance; for this is virtue, when someone, receiving a sense of hardships, rises above his pains for God's sake. What follows—"Will bread be eaten without salt?"—having been inserted by the blessed man and for that reason producing obscurity, would be, according to our ability, something like this: the benefit and nourishment of the soul cannot exist unless toil and affliction have come about. Similar to this is the saying: "Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of heaven," so that the one

Bread" signifies the benefit, and "salt" the toil, without which virtue cannot be set right. From the same thought is also the phrase: "And is there indeed taste in empty words?" Every word deprived of virtuous action is vain and empty. Illustrative of this is the saying: "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." The things of salvation are accomplished not in empty promises, but in an effective word. Do not, then, think that I bring forward empty words, nor do you, O friends, be zealous for this. For this reason, since nothing vain and futile has been done by me, "my soul cannot cease" from the tension against the adversary; for my aim is not empty, but has a saving hope. For if our food has been filled with the roar of a lion because of the foulness of the wound, my soul will not cease. For nothing "shall separate us from the love of Christ, tribulation or distress or persecution or famine" and the rest. For all the saints cry out in Paul. But if it also signifies the opposition of the devil against him, who wishes to hinder his virtue by the roar—since he is accustomed to be his food—consider it as well. "For if he would grant, and my petition would come, and the Lord would grant my hope, let the Lord, having begun, wound me, but let him not destroy me utterly." He who asks for wounding against himself does not, growing weary, pray that his petition come, but that his own aim be fulfilled. And this was to accomplish the limit of success, or even to make known to his friends, for their benefit, the cause of his toils—that they were brought on for the sake of the contest.

For in this way they would not have sinned even against the righteous man, but they would also have received a divine zeal, hastening to imitate the endurance and courage accomplished by the saint, on account of which he also said: "For if he would give"—that is, would that the Lord would give—"and my petition would come, and the Lord would give my hope." For through both he prays, that he himself may receive the crown of the contest and that they may not consider the endurance of hardships to be in vain. And one can see and marvel at his courage even in such great labors, because first he did not give up, having as an excuse for his reply to his friend the occupation with his labors, but again, like a noble athlete, he speaks in a warlike manner, standing against the adversary and knowing that the assault against him has not happened without God's permission, he says: "Having begun, let the Lord wound me, only let him not destroy me utterly," that is, let him grant me to endure the outcome of the afflictions. Similar to this is the phrase: "And lead us not into temptation," which is often interpreted as: let it not happen that we fall under those who deceive. And observe also the divine assurance. That the things of his prayer will come he hopes—something not everyone knows, whether he prays beneficially, but only the saints. Living according to the will of God, they also receive "assurance of hope." And that he does not say "let him not destroy me utterly" out of fear concerning the life here is clear from his having said:

Death is a resting place for a man.” Being perceptive, then, the saint accepts a wound from God, knowing him to be the best trainer, not as one who is to be punished, but as one who is being tested, just as the psalmist says: “Test me, O Lord, and try me,” and also the proverbial saying: “He scourges every son whom he receives.” And this happens so that he may not become liable to punishment by failing to perceive the discipline. For the saint does not refuse reproof, having given himself wholly to God, “knowing that tribulation produces endurance, and endurance produces testing, and testing produces hope; and hope does not put to shame.” “And may my city be a tomb, upon which I leaped upon its walls, I will not spare.” He who has despised all human opinions and constitutions and the like, “considering” all things to be “refuse” for the sake of the saving hope, regards political opinions as a “tomb,” having died to them, like Paul who says: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” For it is upon these human opinions that the wicked, boasting greatly, leap as upon walls and rush in, even if the saint does not. For it is clear that he said this, attaching it to the human person. For the blessed man was humble-minded, if anyone was, having been testified to be “blameless” and “righteous.” And may he be saying this too: that even if I happened to be like a well-fortified city, having labored in wealth and glory, yet these things have died to me, since I do not reckon their deprivation a heavy thing. Therefore I do not spare them. In general I have no longing for them, having died to them, from which I live a blessed life.

For it is good "to die to sin," so that we may live to God and not, like the "self-indulgent widow," while living be handed over to the death of sin. "For I have not falsified the holy words of my God." Therefore I regard all human things as a tomb, having died to them, since I have not falsified the holy words of God—either because I have stumbled in nothing but am "righteous" (he says this in the manner of the one who says, "I am conscious of nothing against myself"), or because the things spoken by God in the manner of testimony he showed to be not false, as it is said concerning him: "and he did not give folly to God." For to the words of God that testify to him, his manner of life was found in agreement, being in virtue. Therefore he also calls his virtuous deeds God's, in the manner of the one who says, "yet not I, but the grace of God with me." And it is indicative of his having been trained by God that he says, "For I have not falsified the holy words of my God." No less, he also appears free from arrogance, showing effectively that it is from God: "but be not lifted up in your own wisdom." For he confesses all things to be God's. For it is useful not to cast the credit upon oneself, which again the divine word advises: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his wealth, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows the Lord." We have examples in the Scriptures of those who boasted foolishly and trusted in themselves—Goliath and Pharaoh—who did not suffer what they hoped, "their pride having been quenched." And "claiming to be wise, they are made foolish," according to the saying. But also concerning those who vaunt themselves in wealth it is said:

Do not fear when a man becomes rich and when the glory of his house is multiplied, for when he dies he will not take all of it." For either he will leave these things behind, or they will leave him when a change has occurred. But the holy man, casting nothing upon himself, ascribes all things to God. "For what is my strength, that I should endure? Or what is my time, that my soul should bear with me? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or are my flesh of bronze? Have I not trusted in him? But help is far from me. Mercy has rejected me, and the visitation of the Lord has overlooked me." Being affectionate, he wishes to instruct his friends, [to show] that he does not endure so great an onslaught of grievous things for any human reason, and to establish for them that—unless by divine reasoning, as far as it pertains to human weakness, I would not have borne these things—for on account of what strength, he says, do I endure these things? Consider, or for what length of time shall I be able to live while undergoing these things? But my strength is either of stone, or I have flesh of bronze, so as not to feel the pain in them—lest, being disposed concerning an insensible person, they should despise his endurance. For there are those who also think concerning the martyrs that they do not feel the pains, which removes their virtue. But he wishes to implant also those things in their mind, that he does not suffer on account of sin, saying: "Have I not trusted in him?" And in addition to these things, gently hinting at the permission from God, he adds: "But help is absent.

Mercy has renounced me, and the visitation of the Lord has overlooked me," so that from these things they may understand that the saint, knowing that these things have come upon him, bears them nobly, standing against the one who demanded him, having been entrusted, that even if the Lord struck him, having yielded to the one who demanded him, yet he will come to his aid if he endures. For the blessed David also sings such a thing, saying: "Waiting, I waited for the Lord, and he attended to me." But it is also possible that, reproving their own opinion, he says these things: you suppose thus, that both the help and the visitation of the Lord have overlooked me. He himself knows that God handed him over to this one for the sake of testing, as "blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having become approved he will receive the crown of life, which he promised to those who love him." "My nearest ones did not look upon me; like a winter torrent failing, or like a wave, they passed me by." And this also happened to him for testing; for no small distress in afflictions is the absence of friends. Enduring this affliction, the holy David also sang: "I was considering on the right and looking, and there was no one who recognized me." But if he also means that the holy invisible powers, because his virtue appeared great, passed him by a little, consider this too; for this thought runs together with that which was assigned to the passage:

The visitation of the Lord has overlooked me." For just as the Lord of all, not hating him, did not visit him, but to show to the adversary that his malice cannot prevail against human virtue, so perhaps also the divine powers, deemed worthy to know the will of God concerning Job, permitted the contest to take place, so that the blessed man's achievement might appear more brilliant. "Those who revered me have now fallen upon me." Gently, perhaps, he reproaches them, saying: Ignorant of the cause of these afflictions, you dare to set upon me, speaking such things as you did not speak before. And it is likely that many others also, because of his suffering, despised him, and this too was suggested by the one who demanded him. But see, lest just as we have set forth that the divine powers passed him by for a little while so that his virtue might be known, so also other hostile powers were permitted to leap upon him and wage war against him. "As snow or frozen ice, just as when melted by heat it is no longer recognized for what it was, so I too have been abandoned by all. I have perished and become an outcast." The phrase has been spoken with hyperbaton: "as snow or frozen ice, just as when melted," being rendered thus: as snow or ice when melted. And the example is fitting for the excess of his change, which makes him entirely unrecognizable, like snow or ice dissolved by burning heat and thus making the place unrecognizable where it happened to be. And it is well that he used such an example.

Just as snow and ice make the place indistinguishable when melted by heat, so also one who seems to be a friend, when temptations press in, is shown for what he is, and what he previously concealed he makes manifest. When a time of affliction has come and those who are formed as friends oppose them, the saints have assurance, keeping this boundary of friendship unswerving toward those who are loved, both in ease and in adversity. And it is no wonder, seeing that they even extend love to enemies, being peaceable with those who hate peace, according to what is said by the Lord through the prophet: "Say, our brothers, to those who hate you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified, but they themselves shall be put to shame." And once the discourse has taken its beginning concerning friendship, it follows to distinguish the differences of friendship. One kind, then, is for the sake of the good itself, which even the saints achieve; another is for the sake of usefulness, as when someone, say, is a friend of a physician for this very reason. And this friendship, even if it is not perfect, at least does not have anything blameworthy, being a human sort of thing. Another is for the sake of pleasure, which when it no longer exists neither is the friend, and for the sake of love of glory, so that they may seem to the many to be friends of greater men while themselves contributing nothing to their honor. But if even the one who chooses a friend for the sake of usefulness is most unreliable, in that no longer

When need is present, he who seeks friendship, failing in this, chooses what is useful before what is pleasant—things that are also subject to blame. The word, urging us toward true friendship, says: "Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend." "For the recent one is not like him." By "recent" I mean the unstable one; by "ancient" or "paternal" the one who has stability—especially if you take it also in terms of time. For he who has come through experience neglects the recent one; for he who truly knows the hearts makes his judgment from experience. And the phrase "I have perished and become an outcast" he says with reference to the opinion of the many, who reckon the loss of all possessions, goods, and money as perdition, and that he happened to be on a dung heap. Therefore he had also become an outcast, since all his own people had abandoned him. "Behold the ways of the Temanites, the paths of the wicked, you who look through. And those who have trusted in cities and in riches shall owe shame." I, he says, endured these things, having been changed from wealth and many children and glory and the other human things. And yet, having admired none of them, I am not astonished. For the saints, when they set their hands on things indifferent by nature, do not reckon their removal a burden, and they urge others likewise, just as blessed David also sings: "If riches flow, do not set your heart upon them." And again: "Do not trust in rulers and in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation." So the saint, gently correcting them, makes his speech thus, saying: "Behold the ways of the Temanites, the paths of the Sabaeans, you who look through"—that is, seeing with the mind, so that his whole understanding may be of this sort.

But I became an outcast and was deprived of everything. Consider the ways of the Thaimanites; condemn the paths of the Sabeans, even if they prosper, considering that those who have trusted in wealth and glory do not have straight ways or paths. He said these things with a hint also to the friends who supposed that the one who falls into difficulties is involved in these through wickedness, saying: You, even if you are kings and have not fallen into misfortune, nevertheless consider the ways of the Thaimanites and Sabeans—their ways—that, having trusted in human things, you incur shame. And if you wish to grasp the interpretations of the names, this would be the meaning: Thaimanites being interpreted as "those who have failed," and Sabeans as "those who turn back." He urges, then, those who have failed in virtue to look closely, who have also trusted in wealth, but also urges those who turn back to consider the nature of things, that it does not always remain thus in prosperity, but often also reverses. Therefore it is a shame to have trusted in money or in cities—calling "cities" human reputations and the state of being, as it were, in safety. But if those who have failed are praiseworthy, he urges: Consider, that there are also others who have abandoned evils and are not entirely wealthy in human things. If, then, you wish to attend to this, that affairs admit great change, since many often receive back what they were deprived of, you would not have desired them with amazement as though they were lasting.

For he who has trusted in wealth, this one will fall, but he who takes hold of righteousness, this one will rise," just as Lazarus rose into Abraham's bosom, while the rich man, having fallen into it, was handed over to punishment—he who through arrogance overlooked Lazarus. For the account noted that "he had been cast at his gate" and that he was exceedingly rich, so that he might have no pretext, saying, "I did not know him" or "I did not have the necessities." And well does it say "he rises." For just as seeds, having undergone decay, later blossom forth, so he who has been pressed by circumstances and has endured will have the rising as the reward of his endurance, "shining like the sun in the kingdom of his Father." For he had trusted in the Lord, having been prompted by the words: "Blessed is the man who has trusted in the Lord; those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion," and saying: "I have trusted in the Lord," not "in money or human cities," but in the divine wealth and "the city of the great King," whose "foundations are in the holy mountains," counting as wealth the oracles of the Lord, "desirable beyond gold and much precious stone." "But indeed you also have set upon me mercilessly." And one who admonishes those who have fallen into blameworthy circumstances with gloomy words does not reprove, being moved according to reason. For this is not the aim, but rather to urge them to courage and to bear up nobly. For to say, "Why then did you sin?" is to weigh them down rather than to lighten their labors. For in truth they set upon him mercilessly, out of their having erred concerning the cause of the visitation, and because they tried to reprove one who was not subject to reproof.

So that, having seen my wound, you may be afraid." The saint brings this forward most solicitously even toward those who are not rightly disposed toward him, correcting them from his own circumstances and taking the starting point of his exhortation from their own understanding. For if everyone who sins falls into gloom, and the one who has fallen into it has suffered this because of sins, then you also be afraid, receiving fear from our wound. For it was clear to them that "no one among men is pure from filth." And the blessed man says these things in a corrective way with regard to their understanding, but the words are also useful for sympathy and for not being puffed up. "For what? Did I ask anything of you, or do I need strength from you, so as to save me from the hand of enemies or rescue me from the hand of rulers?" Exposing the irrationality of their reproach against him, he says: if I were begging something from you—for instance, you claimed you were unable to bring up a prayer on my behalf because of being in sin—there would be some reason for it. But since this has not happened, the accusation against me is vain. And we have this very thing in the divine writings. For at some time prayer is made for those who are suitably disposed toward repentance, but for those who resist, what is done has no reason. At any rate, God says even to the prophet: "And you, do not pray for this people." And next he states the reasoning for why one ought not to bring up prayer to him, saying: "Do you not see what these are doing?

Their sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women make cakes for the host of heaven," having introduced a common zeal by a common sin; therefore do not pray for them. It is necessary, then, that whenever an intercession is sent up to God by a saint on behalf of someone, that person also, on whose behalf the intercession is made, should run together with him. For if he acts in opposition to the one interceding, he does something similar to what is said concerning such people: "One building and one tearing down. What have they gained more than labors?" And besides, the one interceding will be put to shame, so to speak. A testimony to this is what happened in the case of Moses; for when he went up to God, it was said to him while the people below were transgressing: "Hurry, go down; your people has sinned." And observe what was said; for when he was sent both to rule over them and to lead them as general and to legislate, God himself says on his own behalf: "Go and lead out my people." For they were worthy to be his people. But when they departed from the sincere worship of him, they are no longer God's but a man's. For he says: "Your people has sinned," and not out of indulgence toward this man. For having seen the people unworthy of himself, he did not reject them entirely, but again he entrusts them to Moses, leading him back to his care for them by saying "your people," so that he might thus intercede on their behalf and again turn them back from their error, which indeed happened. At any rate, he said in prayer: "If you forgive them their sin, forgive. But if not, blot me out also from your book which you have written." Paul says something similar to this:

For I myself was praying to be accursed for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh." And that the saints pray with good intent on behalf of certain people, even if they are base, especially whenever they see in them a fitness for repentance that is present, these things have been said. And the phrase "Did I ask anything of you?" also makes clear both that they are unable to help and that I know that it belongs to God alone to save, who has also granted forgiveness. For the saints make their requests knowledgeably. "Teach me, and I will be silent. If I have gone astray in anything, tell me." And this the saint teaches them with the greatest gentleness—how they ought to use words toward those in distress—saying: you ought to teach, not to reprove inopportunely, unless indeed he does this too for the sake of instruction, according to what is said by Paul: "Reprove, rebuke, exhort." Moreover, being a character of moderation, he also demands an account of teaching from such people, in case he might find something useful. But if the saint does this, no one ought to be arrogant and shrink from being instructed by anyone at all. "But as it seems, the words of a true man are base." This is a reproof against those who despise the opinions of the righteous or otherwise upright people, which the proud are accustomed to do, not attending to opinion and life and right choice, but to outward things, according to what is said: "A rich man spoke and all were silent and praised his word; a poor man spoke and they said, 'Who is this?'" And these things are clear from the evidence. And it is clear that the blessed man was true, to whom God also bears witness. And "base" is used instead of "cheap," since "base" is sometimes said instead of "evil.

For I do not ask for strength from you." This agrees with what was said above, where he said: "For what? Did I ask anything of you?" — the words "Teach me" having been spoken in between, up to "but as it seems." So that same thought must be applied to them as well. "Nor will your reproof stop me with words." For a word uttered without deeds is unreliable and untrustworthy, and especially when it does not proceed truthfully it still has weakness. He says: You, employing such a reproof, do not stop me either from bringing forth the truth or from growing weary in pursuit of virtue. "For I will not endure the utterance of a word from you." And this is a mark of courage; for many, often hearing burdensome words in times of trial, grow weary, so as even through them to become weak. But the saint received neither the reproof that came from friends nor their words as grounds for contempt, not accepting them at all in the first place as able to shake him. "Except that you fall upon the orphan, and you rush upon your friend." For this reason I do not accept your reproofs as becoming upright, because just as upon an orphan and one without help you fall, not looking to the helper of all, but you also rush upon your friend, not recognizing what is due to friendship. The saying is useful for not trampling upon the misfortunes of others. "But now, having looked into your faces, I will not lie." The saying is instructive for not bringing forth words of slander about those who are absent, but for saying what is necessary to one's face. For it has been said: "Do not slander, nor gladly listen to one who slanders." And the statement "I will not lie" is also full of boldness, just as Paul says: "that I do not lie." "Sit down now, and let there be nothing unjust.

And again, "you come together with the righteous." These things are instructive and forbearing, teaching one to speak with leisure and attention—which is indicated by "sit down"—and with examination. This is also said elsewhere: "Before you examine, do not blame." And great is the command: "Let there not be injustice." For it is a great thing not to do injustice in word, in accordance with what is said: "If anyone does not stumble in word, this one is able to bridle the whole body also." "Again, come together with the righteous." The word "again" teaches, as when they formerly came together when he was not in distress, that they ought not to make their judgment from the necessity of afflictions, but looking to what is just. And he fulfills the promise cautiously, saying: "Having looked into your faces, I will not lie," exhorting them to devote themselves to the investigation of what is just.

209. Since the friends supposed that those who are in affliction are, as it were, obliged to appeal to God concerning sin, as though sin were the cause of their distresses, he prays that he might make known to them why he set him as an accuser of himself—that it is because of a contest and not because of sin. For not everyone who appeals to God suffers this because of sin. "Am I a burden upon you?" I seem to be a burden upon you; for they weigh me down by saying: "You suffer because of sin." And for this reason, in a certain way, they impose a burden upon you on my account, as though you were punishing one who is not guilty. But I say that you are not punishing me but training me, even if they indiscriminately suppose that anyone at all who undergoes trial of unpleasant things suffers because of sin. And why did you not make forgetfulness of my lawlessness and a cleansing of my sin?

He teaches his friends to examine his circumstances and to consider that, even if he has sinned in something, the God who loves goodness overlooks transgressions just as he does those of friends—if indeed they themselves were not suffering—so that from this they might understand that he suffers not because of sin but because of contests. These things also are a question, bringing them to attentiveness and not to a slighting of the righteous man, as we have said, so that he might purify him through his own goodness, not observing narrowly his circumstances; and purification for sin takes place when punishment does not follow. But now I shall go to the earth, and rising at dawn I am no longer. He explains the disposition of those who do not judge rightly, that: if they suppose me to be a sinner and suffering because of sin, as though there were nothing after this, they think that I have lived in such a way as "having hoped in this life only," and according to them, if I depart to the earth, I shall be no more; and when the day succeeds, I shall be no more; for according to them no other age will succeed me at all. But it is the voice of a saint, in which the blessed man also hoped, saying: "I shall be raised at dawn," and again: "My spirit rises at dawn from the night to you, O God," and: "O God, my God, I rise at dawn to you"—which indicates both the daily vigilance and the awakening from this age into the age to come. One might plausibly say that: while I am in gloomy circumstances, I am in night; but having risen at dawn and come into day, I am no longer in adversities. And as we noted earlier, he does not utter these things from slighting; for otherwise he would not be testified to as righteous. And Baldad the Sauchite, taking up the discourse, says:

How long will you say these things? A spirit of many words is in your mouth. Will the Lord not do injustice when he judges, or will the one who made all things disturb what is just?” This man too shares the same opinion as the one who came before—namely, that afflictions are certainly sent on account of sin—and, sharing with the first friend in positing a single cause for hardships, he addresses his words to Job. But he ought to have considered that whatever things are afflictions happen not only to the wicked but also to the earnest; for they are indifferent. And still more he ought to have understood that the righteous man is more wonderful when he endures tribulations and toils. So this man too rebukes the blessed one, saying, “How long”—all but saying, “Until when? Do you not consider the cause of your toils?” And he accuses him of much speaking, though he ought rather to have marveled at him, because, as if forgetting his toils, he was making these arguments about doctrines, which his friends did not understand, not even applying themselves to investigation, although they were oppressed by nothing distressing. Then, further confirming his own opinion, as if bringing the reasoning to bear on himself as well, he says: “Will the Lord not do injustice when he judges, or will the one who made all things disturb what is just?” For according to their supposition it would be a disturbance of justice if, being righteous, he suffered. But they do not know these things; for the concession against him came for the demonstration and aim of courage. “If your sons sinned against him, he sent them into the hand of their lawlessness.” This man too confuses the argument and is carried about by his doctrines, saying that even if you yourself did not sin, but your sons did—not perceiving that one would not be punished for another. But

And this too he perhaps hinted at, that because of his own sins lawlessness was sent upon them by his hand, alluding to the circumstances of the fall through which his children perished. But he mentions a son, making his argument from the better part; for Job also had daughters. He would indicate, then, that since the sons sinned and plainly had great benefit from Job, it is clear that the daughters sinned as well. And again, in his case, these things must be understood in accordance with his own judgment and his own view. But you, rise early to the Lord Almighty in supplication; if you are pure and true, he will hear your supplication, and he will restore to you a manner of life of righteousness. In these words too he speaks things that conflict. For having said that "he sent lawlessness upon your sons by his hand," he says to him: "But you, rise early to the Lord; if you are pure, he will hear your supplication as well." For how is he pure, concerning whom he had concluded that he is distressed because of sin? — Especially since he adds: "And he will restore to you a manner of life of righteousness," which means: he will give you, as to one who is pure, again restoring to you pleasant things. And we have "pure" used in the sense of "virtuous," as it is also said: "Blessed are the pure in heart"; as it is said, for on this account they are pure, because they do not have the impurity that comes from evil; "as it is said" concerning the wicked: "But it is crushed through the impurity of the soul"; and again concerning someone: "Her impurity is at her feet." And such are also those whose "feet run to evil." But if righteousness is restored to him, he does not have it now; and if he does not have it now, how is he pure? Or how does he doubt that he is pure, being disposed as one who, falling into circumstances, is a sinner?

But this their opposition followed from their having laid a mistaken foundation, which attends every heresy. For in saying to the man in misfortune, "If you are pure and true, he will hear your prayer and restore to you a manner of life of righteousness," he shows that it was possible for the good and true man to fall into these things; to which it necessarily follows that not everyone who is in circumstances of distress is base and in sins. "Your former things will be few, but your latter things will be beyond telling." Again even now he fights against his own beginning; for he takes it as a consequence that God restores pleasant things to the pure man after pains many times over. For through these words he appears to introduce the manner of the bringing on of grievous things, which he did not set forth before, through what he says—that "his latter things are beyond telling"—evidently as one who endured nobly, unless perhaps someone should say that he speaks these things as having happened to him after repentance, from his prayer to God. But this does not allow the saying, "If you are pure," although what was said was for the sake of distinction: "But you, rise early to the Lord Almighty." For ask the first generation, and search out by the kindred of fathers. He wishes to confirm his own argument from earlier men or writings, which contained their lives. For it is nothing unlikely that there were also writings, especially because it is said, "Who would grant that my words be written?" and what follows; and besides, there were laws according to which these men also were governed—I mean the friends. For we are of yesterday and do not know, for our life on the earth is a shadow.

For one must understand "for we are yesterday" intelligently, that he says this in relation to human birth, especially since he says, "For ask the first generation." For one must hear the things said about man prudently, as—to speak from the Scriptures—it is often said about David that he happened to be "ruddy with beauty of eyes." But this we understand not about the soul but about the body. But when he himself says, "You have made known to me the hidden and secret things of my heart," we take this as about the soul. So also "yesterday" we understand not according to the soul but according to man's having come to be. Thus it is also connected: "For our life on the earth is a shadow." So he speaks about the life on earth, that it happens to be a shadow. And once mention of this word has arisen, it is necessary for us to discuss it. So the shadow is said

also in relation to the archetype, inasmuch as it is also said: "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come." A shadow is also the attendant consequence, and approach is often called a shadow, inasmuch as it is said in a derivative sense: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Shadow-drawing is also said of the impression of an image before the visible drawing, unclear; so it is possible to take the human life to be a shadow in respect of its being easily shaken and easily led astray. But it can also be contrasted in relation to the archetype; for as compared with the life to come, the present age is a shadow, being vanity. But this life can also be called a shadow-drawing, inasmuch as here knowledge is "in part," while perfection will be in the age to come.

But "shadow" can also be contemplated in a higher sense, insofar as we say that the shadow of bodies is a concomitant. And see whether this is not indicated in the saying, "Vanity of vanities, all things are vanity." For the creatures of God are not vanity in an absolute sense, but in comparison with the heavenly and eternal things, the things that are temporary and easily change are vanity. And "life" signifies many things—either this living, or one's manner of life; but it also indicates possessions, as it is said, "Whoever has the life of the world and sees his brother in need." And possessions are called "life," as it is said, "If a man gives his life in love, they will despise him." Was it not these who will teach you and declare to you and bring forth words from the heart? Wishing to confirm his own circumstances from those older, he says these things, as though those men had been present at very many events, at which those in his own time were not present. And since once for all the discussion is about teachers, let us say that it is a great praise for the teacher if, in addition to what he learned either by reading himself or by learning from another, he himself also sometimes contributes things not contrary but in agreement. For just as no one would approve of land that gives back the seeds sown, so no one would accept as wonderful a man who in his own land has received instruction and provides only the things he heard, but in addition to these has begotten other things—and wonderful things—and is able to bring forth through his tongue what he has learned. For there are those who are unable for this, being able to benefit only themselves and not others.

But if "to teach" and "to announce" can be different things, consider that teaching brings demonstrations, while announcing contains a narration of things that are clear, from which unclear things are known. And that the thoughts send forth words from the heart, the Savior says by way of contrast: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts." And if you should say that "to bring forth words" means to turn them into deeds, you would not be wrong, since others understand "to bring forth" and "to announce" as parallel. Does the papyrus flourish without water, or is the rush raised without drink? While it is still on its root, it will certainly not be cut down. Having said that instruction comes to later generations from the ancients and fathers, he establishes this by way of comparison, saying that just as without water the papyrus does not flourish nor is the rush raised when not watered, while it is still on the earth—for thus it will happen that they are not even reaped—so it is impossible for one who does not receive benefit in his mind from those who are better to bring forth useful fruit. But he can also be speaking about human affairs, that just as they are watered by water, so by providence, and if this does not come upon them, they will have an easy and readily withering dissolution. And even if someone falls into troubles, and then again has a change from these, such a thing has happened by providence. But if what is done by men has what seems to be a human root, it will not have substance unless providence governs them. Similar to this is what was well said by the psalmist: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it have labored in vain." Before drinking, every plant

It will be dried up. This is said in the same sense as the former, concerning every plant. Let him say, then, that whether it be small or great, what is in life is under providence, being dried up unless this providence watches over it. So, then, all the last things of those who forget the Lord will be like this. He says something glorious from a thought that does not abandon exactness, that just as plants not watered by water are dried up, so human affairs, when they come to be outside providence, have no substance. But if he also says "last things" with a thought about the age to come, consider it together; for those who forget the Lord will not indisputably meet such last things in the perceptible sense, since it was said of certain people who live in prosperity: "But in the rest of Hades they slept." And the hope of the impious will perish. In truth, the hope of the impious does not come to be about things that have substance. For hope is nothing other than, by its kind, an expectation of good things. And the one who fears also expects, but not good things; for fear is an expectation of evils, while hope is of good things. Since, then, the impious expect things that have no substance, their hope perishes; for as they persist in pleasures, they also have a vain hope in this. You have this in Proverbs, differing greatly in wording but agreeing with what is now said: "A just man who has died left regret behind"; for if the just man dies, he finds the things he expected and did not regret toiling for them. Here, then, it has been said: "The hope of the impious perishes," but in Isaiah: "Hope belongs to the pious." But those who "have hoped only in this life" and "saying—

Let us eat and drink," they have a vain and empty hope, stretching this out toward visible things. And Paul says most naturally: "But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he also hope for?" And his house shall be desolate. In reference to this perceptible sense, this is not altogether true. But it is clear that the one who turns the words of Jesus into deeds builds a house that remains; and this is virtue, and the one who holds fast to it will never have this house desolate. For the righteous man must remain in his own virtue; for "his righteousness remains forever and ever." But since wickedness is without substance, for this reason the base man is without a house, being always unsettled and having nothing stable, because wickedness itself is a mere accompaniment. But if someone should say this also about the good, claiming that men acquire virtue by earnest effort, nevertheless the good itself subsists. "Therefore the house of the ungodly shall be desolate"; for truth plainly dissolves deceit. And his tent shall become a spider's web. The spider displays variety, being constructed from a natural web, which is very easily dissolved when someone touches it. Therefore the works of the base and the constitution of their way of life resemble a spider's web, which does not stand. And in Isaiah it is said concerning the base, who conceived lawlessness and spoke unrighteousness: "They weave a spider's web, because they conceive toil and bring forth lawlessness." And he describes their deed also, saying: "They broke the eggs of asps, and he who is about to eat of their eggs, having crushed one, found it empty, and in it a basilisk.

Their web shall not become a garment, and they weave the web of a spider. And observe that, besides their instability, he also signifies their deceitfulness through the vipers. If, however, one should be a dove, according to what is said: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young?" he would have eggs which, when divided, for the sake of noble birth provide living offspring; but the eggs of the wicked, being deceptive, breed good-for-nothing destructive serpents, which are trampled down by the holy one, according to the psalm that says concerning the perfect man: "You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample down the lion and the dragon." Such people are not weavers of garments that cover the shame of sin, but of a useless and easily dissolved spider's web, which is also made clear from the words: "They shall not be clothed from the works of their hands," while the diligent man is clothed from the works of his own hands, so as to say with boldness and thanksgiving: "My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with the garment of salvation." This garment Paul commands us to put on, saying: "Put on bowels of mercy," and so on. And again: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." This garment is not a spider's web, for it is incorruption and therefore abides; but the hope of the wicked is unstable, for it is wickedness. Therefore it has been said: "His sin shall be sought out, and shall not be found because of it," for it is like a spider's web that is dissolved. Therefore he has a tent, but not a house, unlike the one who keeps the words of Jesus. If he leans upon his house, it shall not stand. The impious man, then—

But whoever builds the houses of deceit with elegance and no good persuasiveness, when he is convicted by the truth, he shall by no means stand, so that his deceit cannot even have any standing. And when he is seized, he shall not endure. For the device of the wicked, called a tent, falling down is most easily captured, so as not even to seem to have ever existed. For he is moist under the sun, and from his rottenness his branch shall come forth. He suggests that the life of the impious is something slack, as if dissolved by a brief heat. And it is not to be thought strange if he is said to be "moist under the sun"; for there are things that are dissolved by the sun as wax is, since also by fire. So then the impious shall be like this. For it is said: "As wax melts from the face of fire, so let the sinners perish from the face of God." And being made wet by the "sun"—not the "sun of righteousness," but that one about which it is said: "The sun shall not burn you by day"—he brings forth a branch budding from evil and rottenness, becoming "under that planting which the Father did not plant, which also shall be uprooted." He sleeps upon a gathering of stones, and among the pebbles he shall live. This he says, that the impious wishes to be antigod and antichrist. For God dwells in a temple, and Christ likewise, according to what is said: "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" And again it is said:

If anyone loves me, we will come—I and the Father—and make our dwelling with him.” “For we are Christ’s house, if we hold fast our boldness and our boasting firm to the end.” And a house is a composition of stones, having union with others according to craft; and such is virtue, and purity, and the very participation in the One. But the gathering of stones and the mixing of pebbles is something scattered, akin to evil, which has no union but disorder. The impious man, then, spends his whole life in a house of evil, dissolved like the stones outside the building, which do not fit “the building of the tower,” according to the Shepherd. “If he swallows,” the place will prove false to him. Even if we trace out by our thoughts all his words, however fluent they are, near which are those spoken by earnest men, we ought not to be surprised. For he said: “Ask the first generation, and search out according to the family of the fathers,” as though he too had learned from them; and he does not altogether preserve his reasonings, because he does not think that anyone falls into troubles except through sin. The word “swallow” is often taken in Scripture for victory, as in: “Israel is swallowed up, he has become among the nations as a useless vessel,” that is, he has been conquered. And again: “When men rose up against us, would they have swallowed us alive?” And again: “that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” It is said, then, also concerning the sophists and those who promote “the wisdom of this age” and “its rulers”: “Their strong ones were swallowed up, clinging to the rock.” What rock, indeed, but Christ?

For the rock was Christ." So too "Aaron's rod swallowed up the rods of the Egyptian enchanters," symbolically showing that "the falsely named knowledges" are conquered by the confession of the truth. If then it "swallows up" and begins to conquer, "the place" which it occupies through "the gathering of stones" "will prove false to him," being without substance, according to what is said: "and injustice proved false to itself," because it has no firm persuasion. And when "the two legs and the tip of the ear" were swallowed up by the lion that leads them, he who came for salvation tore them out and corrected our passable powers and our disobedience. And "place" is often used also for rank and order: "from which Judas transgressed." So too in the case of the blameworthy one, who also proves false to the one who uses him, procuring nothing firm for him. Have you not seen such things, that such is the overthrow of the impious? And he brings him as a witness of all the things said before about the impious, which he also called the overthrow of the impious, because he does not remain in the things he boasts of, since these fall away from him. This is made clear from: "Do not fear when a man grows rich and when the glory of his house increases, for he will not take all things with him when he dies, nor will the glory of his house go down with him." And either want or prosperity, alternating, do nothing; for they are among things indifferent. But the one who remains in wickedness until the end will have a great overthrow. And from the earth another will spring up; for the Lord will certainly not reject the innocent. He indicates that it is not the case that, if the impious man undergoes overthrow, all have perished.

For he will be a diligent man flourishing again. For God will not turn away from the guileless man—that is, righteousness will not utterly fail. Here he calls "guileless" the one who does not have vice, not the simpleton; for the name signifies both. For when he says concerning the heretics, that "through smooth speech and blessing they deceive the hearts of the guileless," he calls "guileless" the simpletons, those slow in understanding. And again: "The guileless and simpletons cleaved to me," which signifies the righteous, while "the guileless believes every word" indicates the undiscerning man who cannot detect the falsehood in words, believing every plausible thing. And the one who says, "But because of my guilelessness you took hold of me," signifies virtue. But he will not accept any gift of the impious. It is fitting to the Lord, who does not reject the guileless man, that he receive none of the gifts of the impious. "For the prayers from the wages of a harlot are not good," and "the sinner who sacrifices a calf to me is as one who kills a dog." But it must be observed that "every gift" is said in place of "no gift," according to scriptural custom, as when God says in the prophet: "If the righteous man commits one sin, all his righteous deeds shall not be remembered," in place of "not one." But the mouth of the truthful he will fill with laughter. Throughout the whole book he mentions "the truthful" in reference to the righteous. Thus indeed Job himself was testified at the beginning, that he was "truthful," "abstaining from an evil thing.

And truly that one is genuine who does not play a part or counterfeit virtue, who does not feign self-control, but is self-controlled, who "pursues righteousness righteously." God, then, "will fill the mouth of these genuine ones with laughter." And from this one may infer that perhaps this man too, in accordance with "for inquire of the first generation," had learned about the age to come, according to what is said in the Gospel: "Blessed are those who weep now, for they will laugh." For laughter is twofold: the one accompanied by pleasure is base, and weeping succeeds it; the other is a gift of the Spirit, being joy, which in the life to come will be given back to those who weep now. For "blessed are those who weep now, for they will laugh," having from here the pledge of this through virtue. Having received a taste of this from here, as I said, the saint said: "You turned my lamentation into joy for me; you tore my sackcloth and girded me with gladness." An example of this is Lazarus, here weeping because of hardship, but resting in the bosom of Abraham; while the rich man, laughing through pleasure, wept in punishment, tormented bitterly for the laughter that was spoken of. He preferred... deifying it in a certain manner, just as others do the belly, about whom it is said: "whose god is the belly." At any rate, it is also said about laughter: "The altars of laughter, the sins of Israel, will be taken away." For the pursuits concerned with passions and pleasures are the altars of laughter; those who burn up their own passions... who does great and inscrutable things, glorious and wondrous, of which there is no number. The great one does great things necessarily.

It is not necessarily the case that the one who does great things is great. For the converse does not hold. At any rate, the disciples, doing great things, had them from the great God. To use a human example as well, I say that the grammarian writes grammatically; but not every one who writes correctly has this from grammar, but also from chance and habit. He indicates, then, in accordance with greatness, that only the one who does great things does great things, who is great; and analogously, according to our own capacity, from the greatness of the created things we behold God and receive a conception of God himself. He said this so that the friends, who thought there was one cause of sufferings, might understand that the one who does great and fearful things has judgments both deep and unsearchable, which are also glorious, so as to say they are filled with glory. Paul writes something similar to this, saying: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord?" And in the Psalms there is something very similar: "Your judgments are a great deep." For who, fixing his attention on heaven, sun, moon, stars and their motions, will not marvel at the Creator? And if you go through each individual thing of his down to the very smallest, as the text teaches this: "Go to the ant, you sluggard," and what follows, you will marvel exceedingly at the wisdom of God. "If he passes by me, I shall not see; and if he passes by me, I shall not know." He signifies here too the incomprehensibility of God's judgments; for for a human being, or rather for created nature, to grasp these by its own effort is impossible.

This came to him—this the holy one came to his understanding—so that from their inability to comprehend God's judgments they might also reflect about him and about the things that happened to him, as not to be grasped, and so that they might refrain from reckoning a single cause for the things that happened. Whether then, he says, he should pass over me or pass me by, the Lord, so as even to be near me, I cannot know by my own mind of what happens to humans. For one who wishes to escape someone's notice, passing over him and passing by, will not sufficiently escape notice. But it is also possible to say that whether the things above the earth should come near to me, I can know according to our own attempt; for how the governance of heaven and of the things in it comes about is unknown to me; or whether I come again to earthly things, with God passing me by and in some way exercising me in them, not even so am I sufficient to know. If he removes, who will turn back? Or who will say to him, What have you done? For he himself has turned away in anger. The removing can be understood in the case of every matter that God brings to completion; for if he should wish to dissolve human life, who can turn back his will? Or if he should bring on grievous things or stop them, in general none of the things done by him can offer any hindrance, since no one is strong enough to say to him, What have you done?—according to the apostolic word: Shall the thing formed say to the one who formed it, Why did you make me thus? Let those who blasphemously say to him be silenced.

Why have you done this?" For the oracle is not empty, but has a meaning worthy of the "Why have you done this?" For those who reckon bitter things out of carelessness, not knowing their purpose, say blasphemously, "Why have you done this?"—like the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God." And he adds also the reason why no one can say to him, "Why have you done this?" saying, "For he himself has turned away in anger"; for by a judgment of anger he has made the turning away. At any rate, one who recognized this with good sense said, "I will bear the anger of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." By anger, then, he turns away from the one who is worthy; but the righteous man has nothing worthy of anger, so then he has not turned away from the righteous man. And even if the righteous man suffers, he is not under anger, but undergoes a contest. For consider: if someone is being struck while contending in a contest, and another while stealing, are the blows of the same kind? So even if distressing things happen to the righteous and the wicked alike, they have not happened in the same way; rather, the one—I mean the wicked man—is under anger, but the other is not; instead, he has turned his anger away from the righteous man, wishing to prove him a victor, as he did the martyrs and Job himself. For he who makes his virtue manifest has turned away the anger that is sent upon the wicked. And by him the sea-monsters under heaven were bent. And by the account of the history this is true; for unless he himself had subjected them, these things would have been unbearable for humans. And passing over the other venomous beasts as well in thought, you will find this so. But also the evil spirits, allegorically called sea-monsters, he himself bent; for human nature was not able to face them unless they were bent by God.

Reasonably he also said "under heaven," in order to indicate all things both in the air and on the earth and in the underworld. For all things have been subjected; "for in knowledge the sea-monster has been spread out." And unless God had permitted, not even against Job did the author of evil, the devil, have power. For the opposing powers do not come upon us by their own venomous purpose. For they have no authority to harm and to bring on distresses, unless God should permit it. But to suggest wickedness they hasten by their own impulse. For thus also by his own purpose "into the heart of Judas" — the passions supplying him — he gathers evils, remaining there. But if you will listen to me, will he discern my words? He wishes to teach that it is not the case that, if we pray for something, this altogether and in agreement with our words comes to pass for God's discernment. "For what we should pray for as we ought, we do not know." What he says, then, is of this sort: that even if he listens, he will not discern human words so as to judge them, but he will bring his own judgment wisely upon us, being both philanthropic and doing nothing without judgment. For even if I am righteous, he will not listen to me; I shall entreat his judgment. He confirms what was said before, teaching that even if someone were perfect among men, still the eye of God, "searching the things of the heart," comprehends even hidden things. Such a thing the apostle says: "I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not justified in this; but the one who examines me is the Lord." Therefore the saint entreats his judgment, according to "test my reins and my heart," which no one who sins says.

Furthermore, in addition to these things, he instructs them again not to interpret hardships as having a single cause, suggesting the thought that, even if someone is righteous and prays for pleasant things by way of hypothesis, he will not altogether be heard; for he too needs God's judgment. There are some who have read the line without a comma, so that it means: "He will not hear me, a righteous man." But consider that the rendering has reason, because since the friend who spoke before said, "But you, rise early to the Lord, entreating him; if you are good and true, he will hear your entreaty," teaching him that God does not altogether give us the things we choose, but the things that are beneficial, he says hypothetically, "For even if I am righteous, he will not hear me"; for thus the judgment prevails. I said "hypothetically" because even the saint, knowing the judgment, obeys it and does not demand release from it at the wrong time. And if I call and he answers, I do not believe that he has heard me, unless he destroys me with darkness. Since it is a simple and easy thing that has been said by Baldad to the blessed Job, as we also said before—"But you, rise early" and what follows—with reference to his own [condition], not with

He encounters the word spoken with discernment, teaching that the one who prays will not by all means obtain, nor is it fitting to ask God for everything "with unwashed hands"; for the one who sends up prayer rightly to God deems worthy to receive those things which are profitable to him and fitting for the one who grants them. For since the species of good things is twofold—some are good in the proper sense, the virtues, and others are pleasant and conventionally regarded as good—one ought not to ask God inopportunely for the conventionally regarded things, but for the things that are good in the proper sense; by God's judgment we are either released from distressing things or held fast in them. And the earnest man asks even the things that are good in the proper sense—such as charisms—with understanding, knowing that "to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable." Often, then, some say: How does one petition for a "charism of healing," or something else—"a word," I mean, "of knowledge" and the rest? But they say these things in ignorance, not knowing that these things come to be from God in a profitable way. For not all use well what they possess. To their supposition, then—I mean that of the friends—he responds, teaching again hypothetically how one ought to pray. For if, he says, when I call through prayer for the pleasant things that are conventionally regarded as such, he should answer, there is a fear that, because I do not know the cause of the things given, hidden in obscurity—for the darkness signifies this—he may be wearing me away, that is, dismissing me; so that one ought to make the appeal to God as is fitting. For if God grants the petition, he does not by all means give according to the manner of the petition, but according to the reason that he knows to be profitable. And that the darkness signifies obscurity can be clearly established also from other scriptures.

Moses," he says, "entered into the darkness, where God was." And the word concerning God is not easy to find, nor clear, nor knowable, but Moses entered into it as one who was able. But also in the seventeenth psalm it is said concerning the Savior: "And he bowed the heaven and came down, and darkness was under his feet." For the path of his descent is clear only to these, that he came among us, but the knowledge is not clear—why at this particular time. What blessed Job says in his hypothesis, that is, that even if I call boldly and he will answer, there is a fear lest by the obscurity of the matters I undergo crushing. "For he has made many crushings for me in vain; for he does not allow me to breathe, and he has filled me with bitterness." Again he says all these things with a view to their own understanding. For if you say that I have received punishment because of sins, and the punishment remains, not permitting me to breathe, how can I escape the charge of having lived badly? For in vain, according to you, the things of the visitation have happened, if indeed, conscious of nothing in myself as having sinned, I am punished, and the things of correction, because I have no time of respite, are unaccomplished. For that he is strong in power—who then will stand against his judgment? If "in power" is a noun, "he is strong" is a verb: that he is strong in power. But if "strength" is a noun, it would be thus: by strength he rules; for this is a verb. But however it is, the same thing is made clear: for God, being strong, rules, and ruling is strong; reigning he is strong, and being strong he reigns. Therefore on this account it must not be said that because of our sins he is strong so as to exercise authority.

Do not set this down either, and do not suppose that one who has not sinned has no authority over his own words, since he knows what is advantageous; for I know that he is a king. But it is not the part of a king to rule lawlessly, nor does he, by reason of weakness, set one thing before himself and do another; for the Lord is "just, strong, and long-suffering," and therefore no one "will withstand his judgment," since no one is able to say, "What have you done?" — just as we set forth the apostolic word in what preceded: "Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me thus?" For if I am righteous, my mouth will speak impiously. Being righteous, I ought not to say this very thing, that I am righteous; for the righteous man does not speak about himself as he does about another. Similar to this is "I have become a fool; you compelled me." For when his friends maintained that he was suffering because of sin, he was in a certain way compelled to say that it was not because of sin, but that I am righteous. For one can find this figure in the Scripture, just as Paul also writes to the Corinthians: "If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised." For he does not say this in his own person, but with a view to their supposition. And if I am blameless, I shall come out crooked. This too is of the same meaning, as he shows that if, though conscious of nothing in myself, I have been subjected to circumstances, you say that this happens because of sin: being "blameless," I shall come out "crooked" according to you. But blameless and righteous differ in conception. And the blameless is twofold: the one by doing nothing, the other by acting righteously — which is praiseworthy, as it was also said to Abraham.

Be well-pleasing before me and become blameless," but the Hebrew word for "blameless" does not come from virtue. And the scriptural Spirit testified this to him from the beginning as well. For whether I have acted impiously, I do not know in my soul, except that my life is taken away. Either, having acted impiously in my soul, I do not know it, or I do not understand that I myself have acted impiously, nor does my soul know this about me; and Paul says something similar to this: "I know nothing against myself." Except, he says, even if I do not know that I have acted impiously, nevertheless my life is taken away; that is: he finds himself in hardships even unto death. He said this to make them understand that it is possible even for one who has not sinned to fall into painful circumstances. And it is a great testimony to know nothing against oneself. Therefore I said: anger destroys the great and the mighty, because the worthless die in a sudden death. He wishes to teach that the painful circumstances, which he calls anger, or also death, are common both to kings and to private individuals. He also seems to stir them up so that they do not think that because of the dignities they possess they have been exempted from the same things as others; for these things are common to the earnest and the worthless, the free and the slave, the private individual and the ruler, and simply to all. But the things sent upon them because of worthlessness are the peculiar possession of those who have sinned, wholly separated from the righteous; for "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones." But concerning the worthless it has been said: "The death of sinners is evil." And the dissolution of the soul from the body is the same for both; but punishment succeeds the worthless one, so that for this reason his death is sudden, while the earnest one is succeeded by promise and divine recompenses.

For "the Lord takes up the meek." And there is a like voice for each of the righteous, according to which they say: "You who lift me up from the gates of death." What death is this, if not the one that drags the soul down from the blessed life? For this one, lifted up from the gates of death, comes to the gates of the blessed life, adding next: "that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion." And these are virtuous deeds and entrances into good works. But the righteous are laughed at, and they are handed over into the hands of the impious. The wicked, he says, are truly in death, as it is said, in that extraordinary death; but the righteous are laughed at, the wicked doing this when they see them in difficulties. This is not a reproach of the righteous, but of those who mock in ignorance, that they are handed over into the hands of the impious; which he says, making clear in some way henceforth the cause of his own misfortune. For it was not fitting to say outright that I have been handed over into the hands of the impious for the sake of a contest, and that such a thing is a trial; for sometimes, as if speaking about himself, he gave the adversary an occasion to seize him. He will cover over the faces of his judges. He shows the cruelty of the impious man, who covers their faces in order to bring deception deceitfully. It has been said, then: "Who will uncover the garment of his face, and into the folding of his breast, who would enter?" For often, changing faces through the same means, he frequently comes to someone by deception, anointing him toward love of money by putting forward needs.

From the same wickedness hypocrites also arise, being "inwardly ravening wolves" but outwardly appearing as sheep, fearsome both in what they are and in how they appear to the cowardly, yet shaping themselves differently toward different people. But the earnest also often cover themselves, not out of malice, but so that they may adapt themselves to the weak, in accordance with what he says: "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food." And "wisdom" he "spoke among the mature," "becoming to Jews a Jew and to those without law as without law," though he would not appear as such to Timothy or to Luke the evangelist. But the demons subject to him must be understood as judges of the devil. And if it is not he, who is it? If it is not the impious man who does these things, who mocks the earnest, who covers the faces of his judges according to the former interpretation, who else is it? It can also be understood thus: if he did not boldly "transform himself" "into an angel of light" and was not altogether varied in wickedness, who would he be when appearing openly? —instead of: worthless and nothing. But his intricacy destroys those who fall under him. But my life is lighter than a runner. The runner by his speed will seem not to touch the ground, but to be like a winged creature. My life, then, is lighter than a runner; for I look to the things above, "running thus not aimlessly," not stumbling against the earth. But by longing for the goal the righteous, even if they stumble—for instance, even if they fall into afflictions—have an unbroken course. Thus David also ran, saying: "Without iniquity I ran and directed my way," and "I ran the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart." They fled and did not see.

Or is there even a track of a path for ships, or of an eagle flying and seeking prey? He suggests the thought that the judges, whose faces their leader covers over, do not see the uprightness of the righteous man's course, since his life is lighter than a runner's, as they flee from him in fear of the righteous man; for they are not worthy. But if he says this also about the righteous, that having fled from the judges according to "But leap away, do not linger in the place," they did not see by the sharpness of virtue, consider also whether it is fitting to compare with this the saying "When the wicked man turned away from me, I did not know it." And observe whether a third meaning can also be stated, as it were in a difficult place, from another passage established in Amos the prophet, the second of the Twelve. To those who live in luxury and are lovers of pleasure and rejoice in this very thing, in the pleasant things of life, he says: "Those who sleep on ivory beds, who sprawl on their couches, who clap to the sounds of instruments and anoint themselves with the finest perfumes, who drink the strained wine, reckoned it as standing, not as fleeing." For they thought that the pleasant things of life were permanent and standing firm and unceasing. He says, then, that those who marvel at well-being—such as being healthy, being rich, ruling—do not reckon that these things flee away so that they do not know them, just as neither is it possible to discern the path of "a ship crossing the sea" or of an eagle flying swiftly because it seeks prey. And in truth the pleasant and human things have a swift passage, as one can learn from what is said about wealth by the psalmist:

Do not fear when a man becomes rich and when the glory of his house is multiplied, because when he dies he will not take all things, nor will the glory of his house go down with him." For if I say, I will forget while speaking, I will bow down with my face and groan. A mark of greatness of soul shines forth in these words. For he says that even if, having received some thought of unpleasant things, I say something about them, I immediately forget them, not being enslaved to them, but devoting myself to the contemplation of virtue. Similar to this is what is said by David: "I forgot to eat my bread." For the remembrance of divine and heavenly things produces forgetfulness of the things that drag us down from them. And if I groan, he says, doing this while bowing down with my face, by which in some way he displays worship toward God; and if he makes unpleasant things speak to his own heart, speaking with boldness according to the blessed Paul: "In everything afflicted but not distressed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed." I am shaken in all my limbs. This is clear to those who understand it in a perceptible sense. For not even one of his limbs happened to be healthy; for "from feet to head" he was maimed. But if you also call his limbs all those who have familiarity with him, who were also shaken in such a way that some abandoned him, while others in some way attacked him because of the situation, as though he suffered these things because of sin, consider it as well. For I know that you will not leave me unpunished. The moderation of the saint is made known through this, and his great discernment.

For he says that, since you are a precise examiner of me—for you are God—you will not let me go unpunished. For even if he said, "I know that I shall appear righteous," nevertheless he knows and is persuaded that, as before God the examiner, "the stars are not pure before him," and evidently he himself as well. The blessed Paul says something like this when he writes: "I am conscious of nothing against myself." Then, not conceding to himself, he adds: "But I am not justified by this; rather, the one who examines me is the Lord." And this holy man also knows the weakness of human nature, saying that "we were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we might not be confident in ourselves but in God." And if the saints also grow weary in painful circumstances, nevertheless they have the sentence in themselves, so that they may assign their confidence to God and not to themselves—as this same blessed man says: I know that I do not have it from myself to be innocent unless you cooperate, just as the wise Paul also says, "Not I, but the grace with me," and the holy David: "I was troubled and did not speak." Since I am impious, why did I not die? He moves on to the supposition concerning the friends. For since they hold that those who sin are followed by falling into afflictions, and that death is worse than all things, according to those who love life, he asks them: since according to you I am impious, why did I not die? So that by the question he might give them the understanding that there is some other cause that brings on painful circumstances. He does the same in other places too, asking again:

Why do the impious live, and have grown old in wealth, their seed according to the soul, their ox has not miscarried?" So that through these things too he may instruct, he seeks from God the existing causes of the painful and pleasant things that happen to human beings. For often the base have continued so long in what are thought to be prosperities, that Solomon said of them that ––; just as also the blessed Job says, that "they slept even in the rest of Hades." For if I wash myself with snow and cleanse myself with pure hands, you have sufficiently dipped me in filth, and my garment has loathed me. Again, so that they may not consider him self-exalted, he says these things, that even if I should be pure in such a way as to cleanse myself through virtuous deeds, which he called hands, I have filth again; concerning which one must inquire, comparing the similar passage: "no one is pure from filth, not even if his life on earth is one hour." And "the mind of human beings is earnestly set upon evil things from youth," which indicates the innovation-loving character, just as it has been said by someone that one should not accept a young hearer. These things, then, will afflict those who set nothing by this life; for how is he not pure who has now been formed? But one must also intelligently take up the sin of succession, that according to Adam, which is brought forward by them without understanding. For even the saints, even if they have come into life for no other reason, have in childhood the filth which is not sin. In this sense it was said concerning Samuel: "and Samuel before he knew God." But he did not know God as an infant, not because he had wickedness, but because he had not yet acquired knowledge of reason.

And you will understand wisely the "all have sinned" if you take the things done in ignorance, the things belonging to childhood age. And let it be by way of example: he who is at the hundredth step, being among a hundred steps, if he should go down three, he would be said to be lacking, while the one who begins from the first and comes to the third is not blamed. He who has gone down, then, from the hundred—even if he has not departed from the steps, yet he is in some filth. Except Job says that even if I am clean, I have filth, and not a little filth, but like to a dye. Perhaps, then, since it is possible to come into this life not only through sin but also for the benefit of others, as for instance John or Jeremiah, for this reason he says that even if I am clean through actions, nevertheless I have filth. For filth, as compared with the pure life—not in itself—is the earthly place; inasmuch as it is also said: "As a rag of a menstruous woman is all our righteousness before you, Lord." Which the Lord washes out according to what is said in Isaiah: "The Lord will wash out the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion and will cleanse the blood from their midst." Filth, then, would be the involuntary things, and blood the things done by intention. And by what is it washed out but "by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning," the spirit of judgment indicating the discernment, and the spirit of burning the punishment? And both work correction. And for this reason also "my garment," he says, "has loathed me," hinting at the weight of the sojourn here; which is also indicated by "those who hate even the garment spotted from the flesh," which is the confusion of human affairs.

He says, then, that he has hated the human manner of life that I had. And that the garment signifies the condition is clear from what was said by the father to the prodigal: "Bring out for him the first garment." And that the blood signifies sin is evident from what was said to the devil: "Just as a garment soiled in blood will not be clean, so neither will you be clean." Through being soiled in blood the magnitude of the evil is shown. And one should not be surprised if the blessed man says different things to his friends and different things to God. For it would then be a contradiction if, speaking to the same person, he called himself both righteous and a sinner. In humility, then, before God and in relation to His purity, he says that he has been dipped in filth, but to men he speaks otherwise, saying: "I know that I shall appear righteous." That the saints employ this kind of speech can also be learned from the letters of Paul, who says: septem lineae jaxant. Enduring many things, then, the saints suffer in soul under the opposing power, as being of human nature, yet they do not fall away from the divine goal. And David, at any rate, having come into such a war, sings: "I was troubled and I did not speak"; and again: "Why are you very sorrowful, my soul, and why do you trouble me?" And just as if his own mind were being shaken, he applies consolation, saying: "Hope in God, for I will confess to Him." So also the blessed Job speaks with good sense, revealing the guilelessness of his mind by the things set before God. For you are not a man according to me, to whom I may be compared.

The account is consistent when leveled out in this way: I know my own circumstances. But since my friends are not moved by right reasoning, but from the distressing circumstances surrounding me think that I have suffered because of sin, I am content with your testing. Then, for their sake, in a way instructing them again that his circumstances are not human, he says: "You are not a man like me, with whom I might enter into judgment," as one who knows all things and therefore endures, because he follows the judgment of God, so that the friends too might imitate him, reasoning that the account concerning him is ineffable, and thus might desist from their single opinion. Let us come with one accord into judgment. As has been said before, he instructs the friends to perceive that he has a conscience free in its speech and ready for judgment; for the one who

is conscious of guilt does not wish to come into judgment. He says these things not in arrogance against God, being testified by him for righteousness, but in order to teach the friends, as has been said, that he does not fear reproof. For he had nothing worthy of reproof. David, being a partaker of this freedom of speech, sang: "My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready." Would that there were our mediator, both reproving and judging between the two. Again these things are said in common in the manner in which the first things were also said, being the clearest demonstration of the freedom of his soul. He prays, then, that there might be some examiner who would show to the friends that he suffers these things not because of sin, but for the sake of the contest.

The saint wished these things, not out of boastfulness, but first, so that his friends might have correct judgments about matters, and then, so that they might not sin against God by complaining bitterly when such things often happen either in themselves or in others, finding no sin in themselves or not being conscious of one. But since the designation of mediator has once been set before us, it is worth considering how the Savior is said to be "mediator between God and men." Man, then—and why do I say man?—created nature is far removed from the Creator. But you find in the nature of things that when things far separated are brought together into the same place, they have something in between. And as in a readily available example, the shell of an egg is hard, but the nourishing part is watery; the membrane lies between, being thinner than the shell and drier than the moist part, and thus they are joined together. You may observe this also in nuts and pomegranates. Since, then, God is far removed from man, the Son, consubstantial with God, took the human nature in himself, so that both by his kinship with men and by his consubstantiality with God he might join both together "and break down the middle wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh," assuming the rank of high priest. And the high priest is a mediator between God and those who are consecrated: bringing the things of God to men, and the things of men to God; he offers prayers and supplications to God as sacrifices, and provides the knowledge of himself to men. At any rate, he sends up a prayer, saying:

Just as I and you are one, so that these also may be one in us." But this will be then, when God becomes "all in all," so that from then on they are joined to God without any mediator, becoming one spirit toward him. And that the blessed Job also foresaw this mediator with the divine eye is clear from "the one who is about to subdue the great sea monster" and from "the one who walks as on dry ground upon the sea." For when God reveals it to him, there is no room to doubt that he had been fully assured concerning the whole dispensation. Let him remove his rod from me, and let his fear not torment me. The painful discipline is signified by the name of the rod, and especially when it is spoken of in the context of rebuke. Indeed, it is said concerning the sons of David: "If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, I will visit their sins with a rod and their lawless deeds with scourges." But this rebuke, and every rebuke from God, does not harm the one rebuked but disciplines him. And that this is so, Paul writes to the Corinthians: "What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love?" That is: shall I come among those who are beloved, or as those who need correction? For in a certain way the one who is corrected by someone through painful means seems, on account of these things, not to love him. And a wise word is also called a rod: "For he who brings forth wisdom from his lips strikes a foolish man with a rod," the word calling reproof and the rebuking word a rod. And that this is useful, the divine word sets forth, saying:

Whoever spares his rod hates his own son," although among men he will be thought to love him if he does not strike his son. These things, then, he wishes to be removed from himself, not out of negligence, but so that those who assign another cause to his pains may be instructed, that he endures these things not because of sin. And I will not be afraid, but I will speak. For I am not so conscious of being weary in my soul. Groaning, I will lay my words upon him. I will speak, constrained in soul by bitterness. He wishes to instruct them not to be burdensome nor to impose upon those who are weary, and to understand that even when in afflictions he answers with a strong reasoning. He says, then, that if the mediator had existed and I had been released from the painful things which you think were brought upon me because of sin, if I had been enslaved to them according to your view, I would have spoken without fear, having been released from them; and moderating his words he says: I cannot so understand, being weary from the pains; but even if, as you say, these things were because of sin, I would have spoken groaning and would have uttered words constrained by bitterness, demonstrating the purity of my conscience. And I will say to the Lord: Do not teach me to be impious, and why have you judged me thus? And I would have said to the Lord, if the only cause according to you of the punishments were that which comes through sin: "Do not teach me to be impious." For if even he who has sinned in nothing is punished because of sin, then to sin would be preferable. And in another way, he who is not such is taught to sin, if there is one single cause of suffering. And I would have said also the words "why have you judged me thus," "he who knows the hearts," if I were not conscious that I endure these things because of the one who petitioned for them.

He says these things, in effect suggesting to them a desire to question, so that the answer concerning his purity might seem to come from their own prompting and not from his having initiated it, which would have seemed arrogant. Or is it good for you if I do wrong, that I reject the works of your hands? And I would have said this too, if, as you are disposed, afflictions came about because of sin: is it good for you if I do wrong, that I reject, though I have sinned in nothing, one who is a work of your hands? For if the virtuous man is punished in the same way as the wicked man, as though he were wicked, then according to you the occasion is superfluous. But you have paid attention to the counsel of the ungodly. Or do you see as a mortal sees? Or is your life human, or your years those of a man? He is able to say that you have paid attention to the one who begged it off, suggesting the truth, that he suffers not according to the preceding account, I mean because of sin. But it is also possible to count these men in the counsel of the ungodly; for they do not call him pious, having taken the affliction in a one-sided way, that every man who is afflicted is afflicted because of sin. And I would have said also the phrase "do you see as a mortal sees," if, as you are disposed, there were one cause of afflictions, and "your life is human, or your years those of a man." All these things I would have said, if I had shared the same opinion as you; but knowing that there is not one cause of afflictions, but that they also occur because of a contest, I know that God is not like a man, looking only at appearances, but entering into the depth of the soul and thus testing each thing justly. It should be noted, as also elsewhere, that the word "life" is multivalent. For it signifies wealth, as is said in the Song of Songs:

If a man should give his whole life in love, they will utterly despise him." And "life" also signifies one's possessions, as when John says: "Whoever has the world's life and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his compassion from him." And both the upright conduct of life and the base one are called "life," as when we say: "He has a practical life," or "So-and-so has a base life." But here he called a man's "life" his sojourning in this age. He says, then, that if you had such a life—meaning a circumscribed span of time—as a man, I would have contended with you as with one who does not know. But God is eternal; for it is said: "For you are the same, and your years shall not fail." And again: "In generation of generations are your years." The existence of God is uncircumscribed, for it is everlasting. Therefore you know nothing of what concerns me, Job would say. Because you have searched out my lawlessness and traced out my sins. He says these things, again refuting them, that the calamity that has come upon me is the lot of those who have sinned greatly. Since, then, the friends, as though he were suffering because of sin,

They were reasoning, he shows them gently that this is not so, by saying, "Your years, O God, are not those of a man, because you have searched out my lawlessness." For you pursue me with a reckoning as one who has sinned, and you seek out our lawless deeds or sins through the visitations, in the manner of those who are so disposed. For you know that I have not acted impiously. He reveals the knowledge of the matter to them, saying to God: "You know that I have not acted impiously." But these men think that the things brought upon him were brought upon him as upon an impious man. But who is there that delivers out of your hands? Again he suggests the thought that it is possible even for one who has not sinned to fall into hardships; for God knows that Job did not act impiously. And he adds, "But who is there that delivers out of your hands?" — teaching his friends to think that even one who has not sinned nor acted impiously comes under the hand of God in hardships, for the sake of struggle and the demonstration of endurance. At any rate, those who are afflicted but do not fall because of their afflictions say: "In everything afflicted, but not constrained." And again it is said: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all he will deliver them." But to be delivered from afflictions is not at all to not be afflicted, but to not be defeated by them in the first place, to not be ensnared by those who bring on the nets of afflictions. "Your hands made me and fashioned me." And this he added fittingly:

For lest anyone suspect that he is saying this of God as though he were cruel and inexorable, through the words "But who is there that delivers from your hands?", he adds, "Your hands made me and fashioned me," saying that even if he brings afflictions, yet he spares his own handiwork; for it has been said, "But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Master who loves the soul." And well is it said, "Your hands made me and fashioned me," so that "made" may be understood of the soul, and "fashioned" of the body; for "fashioned me" signifies a shaping, which is proper to the body. And in Genesis too it is said, "God made man, in the image of God he made him"; for the body is not in the image, but the soul; for God is not in human form. And after other things it is said, "God fashioned man, dust from the earth," taking the body, so that, as we said, we may accept the making as of the soul, and the fashioning as of the flesh. But if the making is also applied to the flesh, it is not to be thought strange; for to fashion is, for the race, to make. Someone, then, will object, saying that "to be fashioned" is also applied to the soul, and that this is signified by "He who fashioned the hearts of them individually." To which one must also understand the matters concerning the hands of God wisely; and the simpler view says that the hands are spoken of in the plural or dual to mean the active power of God; but it is also possible to take it more precisely: the hand is the Son—for it is said, "My hand made all these things"—and the Spirit, inasmuch as it is said, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power." And it is also said:

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born in you will be called the Son of God." For in order that the temple of the Savior might be established, both the coming of the Holy Spirit and that of the power of the Most High took place, which is the Son. After these things, having changed me, you struck me. Through these words he sets forth both the creative and the providential power of God: by "your hands made me," the creative; and by "after these things, having changed me, you struck me," the providential. For this too is a work of God's providence—to surround the brave man with afflictions for the sake of his struggle, so that he may set before men a pattern and a goal, looking to which they may become imitators. And "having changed" must be understood in place of "having made a change concerning me" of the body; for he was wounded and mutilated grievously, since absolutely all things concerning him had been changed. Remember that you molded me as clay, and you turn me back again to earth. Consequently, knowing him to be the author and lord both of creation and of providence, he turns his speech to prayer, saying: even if you brought upon me painful things as one having authority, nevertheless remember that I am weak and have my constitution from clay—and this must be understood with respect to the body—and having molded me, you turn me back again to earth. And it is clear from this that he is speaking about the body; for the soul does not turn back to earth. And he goes through the matters concerning the weakness of human nature, urging his friends also to endurance and to recognition of his virtue and his patience. And now too he has joined the molding to the body as something proper to it; for molding is proper to that which is molded.

For it is not said concerning the angels, "He who molded angels," but "He who makes His angels spirits." And concerning the earth it is said, as of a dense body: "And His hands molded the dry land." But these things are not said because God, like men, fashions with hands, but because divine instruction brings to each its proper name—molding, as we said, to the body, and making to the soul. Similar to "and You turn me back again to earth" is what was said to Adam: "You are earth and to earth you will go." It must be observed that, if something is said concerning a composite being, it is not necessary to understand it of every part. For if it is said, "And David was gentle," or Moses, we do not understand this of his body. But if, "And David was ruddy with beautiful eyes," we understand it of the body, not of the soul. And here, if it is said, "and You turn me back again to earth," one must not reckon that this is said concerning the soul. Or did You not milk me like milk, and curdle me like cheese? The seed, from which the living being is constituted, he calls milk that has been milked; and just as milk, when it coagulates, becomes cheese, so also the seed, when it has been compacted, becomes a nature; and this is a constitution before the embryo. For the seed cast into the furrows of the womb, when it has been compacted like cheese, becomes a nature; which thereafter is molded, or, as the Scripture says, "is formed," and receives, as it were, impressions. But when the members are separated and each comes to be on its own and thereafter moves, like a hand or foot of a living being, then the bringing forth of the embryo shows the living being into the open.

All these things, then, he encompasses, by "Remember that you molded me as clay" signifying the original creation of Adam, and by "Have you not milked me like milk?" the generations that come into being in succession. All these things, then, he sets forth, pointing out the handiwork of God, so that through this, or through prayer, he might call him forth to mercy. "You milked," then, he says to God, showing that by his activity the genuine conception of seeds takes place. "You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and sinews." Those who wish to show that the ones whom God clothed with tunics of skin are these dense bodies use this. For in Genesis too it is said: "And God made for Adam and for his wife tunics of skin and clothed them." But "he made for Adam and for his wife," to show that he made a fitting garment "for male and female." It is clear that here he calls the body "skin and flesh"; for he joins next the things that hold it together, saying, "and wove me together with bones and sinews." The whole path, then, and harmony of the constitution of the body he declares both through the things before these and through the things lying in them. It should be noted that these words appear to be the soul's; for this is she who has put on the skin and the flesh, and has been woven together with bones and sinews—which signifies that she is prior to the garments and to being clothed; for being the subject, she is clothed. "And you set life and mercy with me, and your visitation kept my spirit.

Since skin and flesh and bones and sinews do not in themselves have life, but by the presence of the soul have vital motions—for once the soul has departed, nothing has any vitality—he says that you did not merely mold me and, having made flesh and skin and bones and sinews, clothe me with them, but also "you placed life and mercy with me." And by the placing of life he signifies what is proper to creation, and by mercy the providential grace. For since it happens that such a life also endures plots, there is need of mercy, on which account it is said: "you placed life and mercy with me." For God creates not by obligation but by mercy and goodness; for to bestow life on well-disposed matter has come about by mercy rather than by anything else. And what follows makes still clearer the matters concerning his providence and care, saying: "but your visitation guarded my spirit," calling the soul "spirit." For even if "spirit" signifies many things, yet now it indicates the soul; for when James says, "just as the body without spirit is dead," and Stephen, addressing God and saying, "Lord, receive my spirit," he signifies the soul. Having these things in yourself, I know that you can do all things, and nothing is impossible for you. God does not have from outside the things he is said to have; for everything that he is, being simple and uncompounded, he is, not receiving anything from outside; for he is without need. For both creator and good and light and whatever else is rightly theologized about him are present to him by essence. And one must hear "you can do all things" faithfully and prudently, so that we may not fall into the folly of the Docetists.

What is said is clear if we make a distinction as follows: of the powers, some are active and some are passive. Active powers are those by which we act, passive powers those by which we are acted upon, which are also receptive toward activities. If, then, God is said to be able to do all things, one must not attribute to him the passive powers as well; for it is not possible to say that he became something else—for the powers that depend on a disposition do not exist in him—nor must one say that he is able to lie or to change or to deny himself. I therefore call those things possible for him which are fitting for God. For some are being clever, among whom is Porphyry and those like him, arguing that if all things are possible for God, then lying is too, and if all things are possible for the faithful one, he can also make a bed and make a man. But this is not what is meant; rather, just as if it is said that all things are possible for the physician, I mean the things pertaining to medicine, and all things are possible for the pilot, I mean the things fitting for his craft, so if I say that all things are possible for God or for the faithful one, I mean this: that the things fitting for God are possible for God, and the things fitting for the faithful one the faithful one is able to do. And these are the things accomplished through faith. That Scripture also knows this, it says concerning God: "If we deny him, he remains faithful. For he cannot deny himself." And again: "in which it is impossible for God to lie." In the same way, the phrase "nothing is impossible for you" must be understood with understanding, which one can grasp as parallel to what was said earlier in the Gospel: "All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be." Consider also whether it is fitting to understand it in this way too.

Evil is that which is not. At any rate, those who partake of it are said to be "not being": "For do not hand over your scepter to those who are not." And it is also said: "He who calls the things that are not as though they were," "so that he might bring to nothing the things that are"—that is, he is saying this: that which is not, and evil, is powerless against you; for sinning is proper to a mutable nature. "For if I sin, you will guard me; but from lawlessness you have not made me innocent." He says this reasonably; for since he knows him to be the creator and provider of himself and of all things, he accordingly also teaches about his long-suffering. For he himself knows, according to the blessed David, that "he does not bring wrath upon them every day." God guards the one who sins, not wishing him to sin—"for he does not wish the death of the sinner as he wishes his repentance"—but so that, by giving the law that prevents sinning, the one who practices it may hate evil. Gently too he reproves the friends, who think that he suffers because of sin, teaching them that God does not repay at the same moment as the sin, so that they too may reckon this from their own circumstances. He also teaches the mutability of human nature through the words "but from

You have not made me innocent of lawlessness," at the same time bringing forth a proof of moderation and showing that the sin according to the succession of Adam is common to human beings. We do not say this, that the saints are subject to transgression by choice, but by succession, as was said. For just as a child born to an idolater, being an infant, does not have sin, yet this very thing is like a defilement—to have been born among such people, since the upbringing is blameworthy—so also concerning the saints one must understand an involuntary fall. Thus it is also said: "For all have sinned." And we say that the sins of the saints are a road to virtue. And just as, if someone learning to write, since he cannot write well all at once, makes mistakes in learning, his mistake not being blameworthy in the same way as if someone out of deliberate wickedness were to write badly, so also the one who sets out toward virtue, if he first errs through ignorance, is not to be punished. For if I am impious—woe is me! And if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. One might say: whether I sin by choice—woe is me!—or, as we have set out above, I have only what comes by succession from Adam, again not even so shall I be able to lift up my head as one freed from all defilement. For of sins, some arise basely from our own choice, and some, as has been said before; and upon those from choice punishment follows, but for those from ignorance cleansing is owed. And he can say: even if I am righteous, I do not pride myself, knowing that which is unclear. For many who have boasted of themselves have fallen into trouble. And indeed, take note: was the Pharisee, speaking before God, saying, "Am I not truly [righteous]?

But because these words were excessive, they did not find acceptance. Indeed, it has been said of the humble man, that "this man went down justified rather than that one." But I am full of dishonor. He signifies the rottenness of human weakness; for man is full of dishonor because he is clothed with such a body, about which Paul says: "It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory." But I am hunted like a lion for slaughter. Thinking to cast me down, though I am full of dishonor according to the meaning given above, the enemy tries to surround me through the things that stand around me, as it were with dogs and nets. The lion is a great animal. It has been said: "A lion is stronger than cattle." "For the righteous man has trusted like a lion." Nevertheless, the one drawn up against an adversary knows that someone is trying to hunt him; and this is the adversary, the devil. And by "slaughter" he now means the fall into sin; for slaughter is often said also of punishment. He indicates the greatness of the plot against himself, which is excessive, by saying that he is thus "hunted like a lion," the enemy bringing snares upon him as upon a lion and leaving nothing undone for temptation. But this was said not out of arrogance, but to make the plot manifest. For again, having changed, you destroy me terribly. He shows that even if I am hunted like a lion by so many things standing around me, nevertheless they are not themselves the authors of the attack; for the permission is yours. For unless God had permitted it, the one who hunts would not have had authority.

But the word "having changed" must be understood actively, as the change having taken place concerning Job from wealth to poverty and from health to sickness, of which a great deal came upon him. Renewing your scrutiny against me. He signifies the successive intensification of hardships. For just as an enemy, being repelled by those opposing him, again prepares himself to wage war, in the same way, as against a brave man, the one who has received authority, always devising new pains, raised the affliction to greatness. This is shown from the words: "While this one was still speaking, another messenger came;" for the griefs were frequent and successive. But you used me with great anger; and you brought trials upon me. And here again he makes clear the greatness of the afflictions, not growing weary, but presenting it to his friends to know, that this excessive anger is not, as they supposed, because of sin, if they should compare his life. But "anger" here must not be taken as a passion, but as the painful mode of treatment, just as Moses also says to God: "You sent out your anger and it devoured them like stubble," — they were [devoured] because of sin; but he makes clear here through the words "and you brought trials upon me," that it was not because of sin; for those who are punished in this way are not said to have trials brought upon them. And so the bringing of trials must be understood, not as though he fell under them. But this also happens, which the disciples were taught to say in prayer should not happen: "Do not lead us into temptation." Why then did you bring me out of the womb, and I did not die? And an eye did not see me, and I became as though I were not.

One might suppose this to be from faintheartedness, but it is refuted by what was said by God: "Do you think I have dealt with you otherwise than that you might appear righteous?" He does not say this in disagreement, then—he who shortly before said, "For if I am impious, woe is me"—but wishing to make clear the bitterness of life, which a worthless man would not do; for he takes pleasure in this life. And besides, he wishes the reason to be shown plainly also to his friends, for which he did not die as soon as he came forth from the womb; and it is clear that it was because he was going to be a model of courage. But the conduct in the flesh is also indicated in another way, about which Paul writes: "If in this life only we have hoped, we are more pitiable than all men." And he perceives both the pleasant things of life and the bitter things. For no one who is being released from the flesh takes pleasure in wealth, in licentiousness, nor is he grieved by things that cause distress. Having been tested, then, in this life and in its pleasant things—for he became well-off and the father of many children and rich, and he had bodily health—when circumstances changed to their opposites and he had experience of these too and by the deeds themselves had come to know their vanity, he teaches us also not to have a desire for them, by saying: "Why then did you bring me out of the womb, and I did not die," when my eye had not seen me, that I might become as though I were not. The vanity of the things fought over in this life, such as wealth, is shown from the fact that

Do not fear when a man becomes rich or when the glory of his house is multiplied, for when he dies he will not take all of it"—for these things do not follow the one who departs—"for the glory of his house will not go down with him." For such people have placed their confidence only in this present life. But even if the saints, like the blessed Paul, "having a desire to depart and to be with Christ," wish to be released from life, nevertheless they await the judgment from God. And the saints have a fitting longing to be outside the body. For not only the saints but also those outside the proclamation of the truth understand concerning the soul of man that it is immortal. And this is clear from what happens to it: for it partakes of the Holy Spirit, it receives knowledge of the Trinity; for it is made like God as far as possible, and these things happen to it because it is simple in essence, from which its immortality is confirmed. And it is clear that, being better than the body, when it is unmixed with it, it has a purer and more genuine activity. And let this be a ready example for the demonstration that better things, when mixed with lesser things, are diminished—as honey mixed with wormwood is diminished, and wine with water. But it was joined not according to Mani, but having followed... in other words... And the Creator joined it to the body, which was formed for union with it, ... the constitution of life... He wished... the causes of... But he wished not to have experienced it, but to be as it were... for good... better than both is the untimely birth; for it would not have been called good, unless beyond...

But it is also said about Judas: "It would have been good for him if he had not been born." For if he had not been born, he would not have been called. For why was I not released from the womb to the grave? Is not the time of my life small? Considering the time of immortal life and comparing it with the present life, he says: Is not the time of my life small, so that it would have been better not to be born? But he says these things, not being responsible for the causes of generation here. Leave me to rest a little before I go, whence I do not return. He brings these things forward in the manner of a prayer. For the distresses that lay upon him were not small, nor did he bear his pains without feeling. For this would not have been manly, if he had not felt. But he teaches that he endured by the power of God, through the things for which he prays thankfully. Paul also says these things: "Not I, but the grace with me." But he wishes to be released "before I go, whence I do not return." So it was not for his own sake, but to instruct his friends that he prayed these things—those who were setting down as worthless those who endured hardships, but as earnest those who were released from them. He wished to be fully assured of the judgment concerning him. One must not reckon that Job abolishes the resurrection of the dead, but that "whence I do not return" is in accordance with the life subject to decay; for he knows that he will rise incorruptible. Into a dark and gloomy land, into a land of eternal darkness, where there is no light nor seeing the life of mortals. And while he was in pains, the most manly man proclaimed concerning the age to come; thus, not abolishing the resurrection, he said, "before I go, whence I do not return.

And a dark and gloomy land of eternal darkness, where there is no light nor life of mortals, he calls it first, giving himself the lesser things; for it was not fitting for him to say: before I was in the kingdom of heaven and in your land of God's promises, he happened to be among the lesser things. Then he wishes the hearers to be instructed about judgment, that correction had not yet come to their deeds. And it should be noted that the name "land" often means also the base mind. By this is shown the saying "you have deepened into the seat" and "they will enter into the lowest parts of the earth." They called upon the earthly things. This fits those who bear the image of the earthly man. And the soul is often called land, but when it has virtue, it is good, and when it is rocky and thorn-bearing, it is bad. And to those who love pleasure in this life he says the striking word: there is no light nor to see the life of mortals. And Zophar the Minaean, taking up the word, says: he who says many things will also be answered, or does the eloquent man think he is righteous? Having toward the saint not the fitting reverence, they approached him more boldly than was proper, thinking he said many things, since they did not know the aim of the things announced. And saying many things is judged not by the abundance of words—for sometimes it accords with the facts—but when things are said in various ways, which happens in a word to them. And using an attack against him as one who says many things, he adds also: or does the eloquent man think he is righteous, which is persuasive.

For many of those who sin, stringing words upon words, think to hide their sins by the persuasiveness of their words, wishing to steal away the severity of what they have done; but Job the righteous was not such a man, being testified to by God. Not fittingly, then, as was said, did they bring these things against him, because they reckoned the cause of the hardships brought upon him to be sin; through which error he hints to him that even if he expounds his words, he is not righteous for this reason. "Blessed is one born of a woman, short-lived." He now uses persuasive speech, but falls short of the fitting knowledge of the man. He says, then, that even if someone is eloquent and through the persuasiveness of the words uttered by him thinks he is righteous, nevertheless he must know that he is short-lived. And even if someone

is thought blessed by God as being of many years—for they considered a man of long duration also to be blessed—yet even this man, in comparison with the age to come, is short-lived; wishing to show him that he does not have exact knowledge of things, for he is short-lived according to the measure of men. And this is clear from what follows: he signifies man periphrastically as "one born of a woman." We have this spoken by the Lord: "No one is greater among those born of women than John." Charmingly the words are brought forward for this purpose, distinguishing Jesus from those born of a woman because he is virgin-born; and charmingly we shall say that he himself said, "born of a woman," the name "woman" here signifying the female.

And in truth, the time of man is short; and the proof of this is what was said by Paul: "If in this life only we have hoped, we are of all men most miserable." For this is the life of the composite man. But if you understand the life that belongs to the rational soul, you would not be faint-hearted; for the soul is immortal. If, then, you compare the life of Methuselah, even this would be small compared to the life in the age to come and the immortality of the soul. Do not be abundant in words, for there is no one who contends with you. He who, as has been said before, is ignorant of the virtue of the one being answered and of the harmonious purpose of the things announced by him, says to him: "Do not be abundant in words." But the divine word, instructing us to restrain what is superfluous in words, says: "By much speaking you shall not escape sin," calling "much speaking" here the proclamation of things that are not fitting. And it is possible also to speak well. But that it is not the multitude of words spoken that makes one a babbler, the apostle makes clear, "extending his speech until midnight" to those who were listening. And one must marvel at his boldness against Job, that although he was answering him he kept saying that there was no one who could answer him in return; for this reason someone bolder had to be brought in, who would remain in the belief that he suffers because of wickedness, being ignorant of the other cause. For do not say, "I am pure in my works and blameless before him." As one who, in relation to his own supposition, is ignorant of his purity, he brings an exhortation to him in a certain manner, thinking that the confession of his purity and blamelessness is a setting aside of providence.

For his friends think that if he had not sinned, he would not have fallen into gloomy circumstances. But they cannot show that Job said to God: "I am blameless before you." For he knew that "the stars are not clean before him," and also what was said by those who have achieved righteousness: "All our righteousness is like a rag of a woman in separation before you." For in relation to you, who are righteousness as a judge, even if we have righteousness, we have it dimmed in relation to you. And Paul, saying "I know nothing against myself" and adding "but I am not justified by this," shows the weakness of created nature. But how would the Lord speak to you, and open his lips with you? Since those who are themselves men of fluent words appear—even if they erred in one thing (for it was said by one of them: "For ask the first generation, and search out according to the race of the fathers")—it is clear that he does not speak of the speech of God and the opening of his lips in a human way. He says, then: "Do not say, 'I am pure'"; but prepare yourself for purity, so that in this way God may speak to you and open his lips with you through his goodness. But his speech and his lips must be understood as the converse that takes place invisibly in the mind. And that the lips signify the word, the proverbial saying teaches: "But the lips of the wise are bound by perception"; and also, "Unjust lips put far from you." Then he announces to you the power of wisdom, that it will be double for the one according to you. It shows that God, speaking to you, will teach you that these things wisely

He added this. And being disposed to think that God would teach him as concerning a just recompense, he said these things to Job. It is true, then, that God sometimes brings grievous things upon people because of sin—for one who is able to understand the visitation that comes with His wisdom even in bitter circumstances, that He brings afflictions not in vengeance but medicinally and for the health of the soul. Knowing this, one of the saints said: "I will bless you, Lord, because you were angry with me for salvation." And it is a gift of God to receive knowledge of God's judgments, concerning which it is said: "Your judgments are a great deep." But we know this much, that they are accomplished for our benefit, even if we do not comprehend them. And let it be, as it were, by way of example: a certain island set apart, to which a ruler sends those who stumble and fall. And this ruler is clearly shown to be just, so that everyone who is sent to that island to dwell there suffers this because he sinned, even if we do not know the exact cause of the fall. And as a demonstration that God does all things in wisdom, he adds, saying: "It will be double for one like you," calling "double," as I think, the one who surpasses by incomparable excellence—the expression having been brought forward by him in a weak manner. And that God's judgments have a deep knowledge, blessed David teaches, to whom "the hidden and secret things of wisdom" have been revealed, saying: "Your knowledge has been made wonderful from me; it has been strengthened, I cannot attain to it." And another says concerning wisdom: "I said, I will become wise, and she was far removed far from me, beyond what she was. And a deep depth: who will find her?" And then you will know that what has come upon you from the Lord is worthy of the sins you have committed.

Still holding to the same opinion, he speaks as though addressing one who has sinned, saying that if the Lord should speak to you and set his wisdom before you, from which, having learned his superiority, you will understand "that the things for which you have sinned have come upon you worthily from the Lord." But this man says these things rashly, not knowing the causes of what is brought about by God—unlike one who knows that Job endured these things for the sake of courage, awaiting the praise that comes from God, who said: "Do you think that I have spoken to you otherwise than that you might be shown righteous?" For he himself "who makes all things and transforms them" knows the judgment of each one. You will not find a trace of the Lord, or have you reached the uttermost parts, which the Almighty has made? From some plausible notion he speaks boldly to the saint; for since he knows that it is a great thing to grasp the administrations of providence, he addresses him, saying: "You will not find a trace of the Lord, or have you reached the uttermost parts," calling "uttermost parts" the outcomes of what comes to be. But this man too is refuted, as are the other friends; for as though they had grasped that he suffers these things because of sin, they ran him down. But the "uttermost parts" can be understood in another way also, as it is said: "bringing up clouds from the uttermost part of the earth." And further, the ultimate is such that all other things exist for its sake, while it itself exists for the sake of nothing. By way of example: health is an end, for other things exist on account of it—I mean aids, toils, and efforts directed toward this. And the ends of the world are also called "uttermost parts," as it is said:

An ocean impassable for humans, and the worlds after it are steered by the same ordinances of the Master." The psalmist, holding a conception of God as having encompassed both the beginnings and the ends and in general all things that come to be by him, said: "Behold, you, Lord, made all things, the last and the first." High is heaven, and what will you do? And deeper than the things in Hades, what do you know? Or broader than the measure of the earth or the width of the sea? He wishes to show through all these things that human knowledge is measured out, not reaching the judgments of God. And now, at any rate, he says: heaven exists, and things deeper than Hades and broader than the earth and the width of the sea; say something about them, if you can. He hints perhaps that even if one undertakes to speak at length about earth and sea and heaven, still he does not know what lies beyond them. This can refute those who have set their hands to Greek wisdom and from it suppose that they say something about the nature of heaven or of earth and sea, since they also set down empty things about these, and say many things about Hades, that it is a place of souls and other such things, and they stitch together arguments whose demonstration they cannot make evident; for being without a share in the Holy Spirit, they do not have the precise knowledge concerning these things that the saints have, "walking on earth and having their citizenship in heaven," so as to say: "God has given me unerring knowledge of the things that exist, to know the constitution of the world and the activity of the elements, the beginning and the end and the middle of times," and the rest. But if he overturns all things, who will say to him: What have you done?

And he says this truly, even if he does not look to the fitting purpose. "For who resists the will of God?" Similar to this: "Will the thing formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why have you made me thus?'" But the phrase "if you overturn all things" has been spoken by him boldly. It was possible to speak concerning governance, and perhaps he is hinting to Job that even if you are in pain, you cannot say, "What have you done?" For it has come about justly; for you have sinned. Indeed, this is not believed of his understanding. For he himself knows the works of the lawless; and having seen improper things, he will not overlook them. It is clear, then, that it was on his account that he said "if he overturns"; for he knows, he says, the works of humans, not overlooking their transgressions—demonstrating the inescapability of God—and he sees them among the wicked. The passage is useful against the negligent. "But man is carried about in words, and a mortal born of woman is like a desert donkey." Comparing the firmness of the knowledge of God to the undertakings of humans, he says they are carried about in vain, comparing him to a desert donkey, thereby establishing the great sluggishness of humans toward the comprehension of judgments, using hyperbolic language. For the tame donkeys, being also around a city, have something from habit that is cognizant of the desert one, both because of what is naturally sluggish and wild and because what belongs to the habit of tame animals has been taken away, to which he likens the human race in regard to the knowledge of judgments. This is confirmed also from the blessed David, who personifies the ignorance of humans concerning judgments when he says: "Behold, these sinners and they prosper; they have possessed wealth forever. And I said—

Then in vain I justified my heart and washed my hands in innocence. And I became one scourged all the day." And after this he says: "I became beast-like before you." And well does he say "before you"; for, he says, as compared with the knowledge of God I became beast-like. Then, in order to show that it was the face of men that he took up, he says: "But I am with you continually," making clear that: by your participation and sharing I know, I understand. Similar to "I became beast-like before you" is "But I am irrational" and "I am earth and ashes." For if you set your heart pure, and you lift up your hands to him, if there is anything lawless in your hands, put it far from you; and let not injustice lodge in your dwelling. Just as introducing himself as a teacher, he brings exhortation, as it were, to him, saying that even if you are so exceedingly pure as always to stretch out your hands in prayer, asking for the things from God, be ready also to thrust away the remaining evil in you, but also let not injustice lodge in you. That is: even if at some point it happens that you come to the beginning of doing injustice, yet let not the evil remain so as to lodge in your life. And he says these things because the ethical virtue should be in accord with the purity of the soul in respect of understanding. Similar to this is "lifting up holy hands without anger and disputation." But he is somehow mistaken, thinking that it is possible to have a pure heart and unjust deeds.

But one might say the opposite of this is possible, asserting that a person has "righteous deeds and not" a pure heart, claiming that the one who does almsgiving to be seen by men, while his heart is defiled, shows his deed to be of equal weight.

For thus your face will shine like pure water. He says that, freed from every stain and injustice, you will have your face pure like water; and it is clear that he means the face of the soul. For the man who has been separated from every defilement will truly display the "according to the image" as pure and unmixed. And you will put off filth and you shall certainly not be afraid. He moves somewhat unevenly in his argument. For after saying "your face will shine like pure water," to say again "you will put off filth" is a great unevenness. Nevertheless he says this: that by preparing yourself for purity you will be released from all filth, so as to be fearless and no longer to dread recompense. And he says this persuasively too, that after putting off filth one is fearless; for God, seeing "the thoughts" and "the hidden things," does not punish such a person. For men, since they are ignorant of what is hidden, even when they receive someone who has repented and is being examined, punish him as one who sinned long ago. But God, accepting the virtue that is present, is unmindful of old sins, just as he presents the penitent face saying: "Do not remember our ancient lawless deeds. And you will forget the toil like a wave that has passed by, and you shall certainly not be terrified. The toil from the blows, which they supposed the holy man suffered because of sin, he says will be forgotten and will easily pass by like a wave, with him fearing nothing.

He calls it "forgetfulness," clearly not the complete destruction of memory but the passing away of sorrows, in accordance with what is also said concerning the righteous: "For they shall forget their former affliction, and it shall not come up into their heart." "For in the day of good things there is forgetfulness of evils." And your prayer shall be like the morning star, and from midday life shall rise for you. He says this as following from what has gone before, that if you should purify yourself so as not even to become any defilement, your prayer will shine like the morning star. This signifies to him perhaps the morning illumination, by which the light of virtue begins; and thus the light will be strong as its full vigor. Consider what "life shall rise for you" means to him—whether he means virtue, or the life to come, or the life without toils when toilsome things are changed. The luminous life is that which has been enlightened by the "sun of righteousness." It is said: "In the morning I will present myself to you and I will look upon you." And you shall be confident that there is hope for you. And again he says that from the prior preparation one believes concerning the good things hoped for. These things are clear, that the soul's hope is divine; for eternal things follow the one who wishes "to live according to God," as Paul says: "Now abide faith, hope, love." And from care and thought peace shall appear to you. He says this, that having been released from toilsome and grievous things through the hope that has come from the prior preparation, "peace shall appear to you," calling peace the rest from adversities. And we have in the divine writings things said concerning the peace that is according to the soul, about which it is said:

Great peace have those who love you, and there is no stumbling block in them." And this, being a tranquility of the soul, is a fruit of the Spirit; for "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." From this, those concerning whom it is said are called blessed: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." For whenever someone "casts his anxiety upon the Lord," he will have this peace; but the sinner will not be in this peace, for "the whole life of the ungodly is in" troubled "care." "You shall be at rest, and there will be no one warring against you; but many, having changed, will entreat you." Consider whether again he calls "rest" the state of no longer being reproached in some way on account of afflictions as though worthless; when this is brought forward, he adds "but many, having changed, will entreat you," showing that those who previously ran against you will entreat you because of the change concerning you. But the rest in the proper sense—the tranquility of the soul—is given to the saint, when the word says: "Each one shall rest under his own vine and under

his fig tree, and there will be no one to terrify." This is not in a sensory sense; but the one who has the practical life, signified by the fig tree, and the contemplative life, which is signified by the vine—being productive of gladness—is thereafter without fear, having no devil or demons to terrify him. But the one in wickedness does not rest, his reasoning being carried about here and there by passions and demons. Indeed, at once to Cain, as one who ought not to be moved, it was said: "You have sinned; be still." For stillness of tranquility is proper to human nature, while disorder is an intrusion. And now a symbol of the dwelling of tranquility in the soul is what is interpreted, "The earth feared and was still when God arose for judgment." For when those who practice earthly things, through fear of judgment, come to repentance, they take up stillness in place of turmoil, hearing: "and you shall rest without fear from every evil." But salvation will abandon them. He hints that those who war against the righteous man—who has now become such—are left behind by salvation, clearly that salvation which they fashioned for themselves, supposing the affliction of those warred against, both in soul and body, to be their salvation. For their hope is destruction. The expectation of the evil-willed, he says, is destruction; he might mean their expectation not in the sense that they themselves expect this, but that they have this as a consequence; just as we say to one who falls under punishment: "You brought these things upon yourself," not because he himself proposed this, but because these things followed him. But the eyes of the ungodly shall waste away.

Perhaps he is hinting at the envious and at their grief that arises at the change of fortune of one who has fallen into troubles, as he has described. But he does not mean these eyes—for many of the impious remained sharp-sighted until their last breath—but the eyes of the soul. You have in the divine writings concerning the eyes of the man: "The commandment of the Lord is radiant, enlightening the eyes," clearly the eyes of the inner man, so that it even saves the blind through God's commandments.

309 And Job, taking up the discourse, says: Then are you men? Or will wisdom die with you? He says that "you are men, but thinking great things about yourselves and reckoning yourselves alone to be men, you suppose that wisdom extends only as far as you; and you think you can grasp the judgments of God and pronounce something concerning them; and in truth they surpass human understanding." For "your judgments," he says, "are a great deep." But Paul also writes that they are "unsearchable." And he makes clear by "will wisdom die with you?" that the wisdom of God does not extend only as far as human affairs. 310 He knows, just as the apostle also does, that "in part" even for the perfect here below is "knowledge," since they have "the earnest of the Spirit"—and these too. But one who has the earnest of something does not have the whole of it, but "a part" of it. But when "the perfect" has come, he has the part together with the whole; for this is the earnest. And my heart is according to you. He wishes to show them that they have fancies in their own mind, saying: "And my heart is according to you," and I do not agree with you in the same mind.

Or do you not think that I understand beyond measure? For I too understand; for a rational being does not differ from a rational being. But the difference lies in the application. Concerning the wicked, then, it is said: "Hear me, you who have lost your heart." For he does not mean its substance, but its wicked activity—her destruction, he calls it. For a just and blameless man has become a laughingstock. When he speaks of lesser things, he attributes them to himself; for he is self-diminishing because of his freedom from vanity. But when there is need of praise, he says that these things follow the just man and the one who possesses virtue, as the blessed Paul says, "I know a man in Christ." For God testified to him, saying: "Do you think I have dealt with you otherwise than that you might be shown to be just?" But if Job once said, being forced because his friends had formed the opposite opinion: "I know that I shall be shown to be just," he said this as a type, declaring from his own circumstances those who practice and work virtue, saying: "I know that if I practice courage to the end, I shall be shown to be just." For he did not say, "I am just," but he deferred the expectation to a future time, declaring what is proper to the virtues. For at an appointed time he was prepared to fall under others, and his houses to be plundered by the lawless. He shows that he was handed over to those who had asked to test him. Some, also from this expression, not using it well, have reckoned that fate exists, referring the "appointed time" to it. But this is false; for not every appointed time signifies fate.