khazarzar-origenes-homiliae-in-job

Chapter 1, 2. And that man was true, blameless, just, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil thing. For base men are false, like those who paint God. Fear God, keep the commandments, for this is every man. Blameless, because just. God-fearing, for a good life makes one know God, and the knowledge of God becomes the guard of one's life. 10, 17. Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep... And they surrounded the camels and took them captive... He made the camels to be under the horsemen; the asses and the oxen, those that plow and work the earth, he made to be under those who take captive; but the sheep he hated, therefore he brought fire down from heaven upon the sheep... Chapter 2, 9. But when much time had passed, his wife said to him. Observe the villainy: when much time had passed, then she attacks; for then especially are the things of hope tested, then especially do the things of strength grow weak. And the things of Job's weakness were doubled: for he himself had become weaker through the length of time, and his hope had rather been given up. Chapter 7, 1. Is not the life of man upon the earth a trial, and his life as that of a day-laborer hired for the day? Like a hired laborer, all men toil for their own life; for the farmer gathers food in one way, and he who pursues a manual craft in another, and those in office in another. And there is absolutely no one who does not take thought for the necessities. Chapter 10, 8. Your hands fashioned me and made me.

The body was molded from the underlying earth, that is, from the woman; but the soul was made, with nothing underlying it beforehand, for it is incorporeal and indivisible. I beseech you, then, to remember also the cheapness and brevity of nature. Chapter 12, verse 5. For at an appointed time he was prepared to fall by others. Here those who hold the doctrine of fate say that behold, the Scripture says that it was fated for him to suffer. But the Scripture does not say this—may it not be! For our affairs are not under necessity; rather, because God administers all things among us by measure, by the principles of his own providence, he knows also to what extent it is beneficial for us to suffer, and he brings on temptations according to measure. Job said this so as to ascribe the judgment to God, all but saying: Let not the righteous be mocked when they suffer; for they suffer only to the extent that God wills. Chapter 13, verse 1. Behold, my eye has seen these things, and my ear has heard, and I know as much as you also understand, and I am not more unintelligent than you. And even if I seem to be less than you in age, yet I fall short in nothing as to understanding, and not least in the knowledge of divine things, and I am in no way inferior to you. Verse 28. Which grows old like a wineskin, or like a garment eaten by moths. He does not say this according to his own will, but with regard to the assumption that everyone who is afflicted suffers these things because he has sinned. Chapter 14, verse 1. Or like a flower that bloomed and fell; and he fled away like a shadow, and shall not stand. And like a shadow, having passed through life, he leaves no memorial among the living. Here he makes clear the providence of men.

not remaining in life casually and by chance, but by the word of God, who does not overstep the life appointed by him. But these things must not be said as though fate prevailed, but as the will of God having ordered each thing by boundaries and measures. Chapter 15, 7, 8. For what? Were you not born the first of men? Or were you brought forth before the hills? Or have you heard the ordinance of the Lord? Instead of: Were you not established before all men, and stretching out your life until now, have you had experience of more things than those of the same nature? —Theodotion: That is, the high and difficult place, that is, sandy. —The Hebrew: You were conceived. —He calls the hills "hills" there, so as to say, you do not know the things before creation. Chapter 10, 18, 19. Earth, do not cover the blood of my flesh, nor let there be a place for my cry; and now behold, my witness is in the heavens, and my confidant is in the highest places. Being at a loss, he speaks to the earth, and calling it to sympathy he speaks words which are also spoken in the manner of a wish. And he says: Do not be silent, O earth, about the things concerning me, nor hide the blood unjustly poured out from my flesh through the humors; nor let it stand in a place and be hidden, nor let the things concerning my lamentations come into forgetfulness; and many, he says, let them be edified through my trials. Or: let not the earth hide my blood, but let it call upon God for vengeance, having the very humors of the body as witnesses.

And let the air not check my cry, but let the pitch of my voice reach the heavens, so that God, having stood as avenger of the evils that have been done, and defending me against those responsible, may thus at least show to all the blamelessness of my life. And the phrase "Behold, my witness is in the heavens" belongs to a most pure conscience. Chapter 19, verse 3. "Know only that the Lord has made me thus." He brings them to fear, as if saying: Do not so trample upon me in my suffering, nor fall into the same things yourselves, having the same nature. Verses 4–5. "Yes indeed, in truth I have gone astray; but a deceiver lodges beside me, to speak words that ought not to be spoken, and my words wander, and not in due season." — "But alas, that you magnify yourselves against me, and reproach me." Let it be granted, he says, by supposition that I have gone astray. "But a deceiver lodges beside me" — the deceiver is the devil. What harm, he says, comes to you from this, and what necessity is there to judge me as impious, and to trample upon one who suffers? When you ought to pardon one who speaks out of his pains. — Even if I had done such things as ought not to be done, ought you then to reproach me thus? — And when I ought, he says, long ago to have taken care for piety, and now to have boldness from my works. This I have not done, yet I am judged as a deceiver. He adds here also: Chapter 19, verse 7. "Know then that it is the Lord who has troubled me; and his stronghold he has raised up against me. Behold, I laugh at reproach, I will not speak. I will cry out, and there is no judgment anywhere." Consider, he says: it is not without cause that I am grieved, being encircled by terrors as by a wall. I speak, he says, with truth, as my circumstances are, and you do not accept my words.

For being in reproach means, so to speak, the facts themselves. And "I will not speak" is instead of: because you contradict me, I seem to have said nothing. But if I also cry out to God, bringing what concerns me into the open before all, I do not obtain my supplication. No one hears, no one judges, I see no one, I have nowhere to go. Was it not necessary to have pity on these things? — Therefore you should have let it be, accusing me so without judgment, lest God bring you into judgment, to exact from you the penalty for unreasonable rashness. — For God does not, he says, leave such things unpunished. For he says it will be, if he should be moved against you, that your conceit based on knowledge of the good, and your security in your present circumstances, appear to you profitlessly. — A. S. What do you say, that I suffer these things while in wickedness, and you ought to fear the same things? — You would have hastened, he says, then, although the facts bear witness in words; in words, then, take hold, as though not even by the truth would you judge anyone unpunished. — At any rate the Hebrew has also a sin of speech. Chapter 20, verse 10. Let those inferior destroy his sons, and let his hands kindle pains. And those who were previously, he says, inferior will possess the children of the lawless one. Verse 15. Wealth unjustly gathered will be vomited out, an angel will drag him out of his house. The impious man does everything so as to take what belongs to others, and what has come about looks to this goal; but when he seems to be master of all things, then he will see himself transferred to others. Verse 18. Like a twisted cord unchewed, unswallowed. The words and doctrines of the impious are twisted and sluggish, for there is nothing sweet in them, the things done against God. Verse 22.

But when it already seems to have been fulfilled, he will be oppressed, and every necessity will come upon him. He says these things: because of the cause, the possessions are destroyed, and it is not passed on to ancestors. 23. To send upon him the fury of anger, to wash pains upon him. Instead of: from God and from heaven dreadful things will be brought upon him; and he said these things because Job, having said that he was struck by God, also mentioned that he had been wronged by men; he establishes therefore that all things were brought upon him because of sin. 25. And let the stars walk in his dwellings.... For they are in ignorance; for they cast out the light from themselves, to whom he said: I am the light of the world. 20. Unburning fire will devour him. But according to what is hidden, there is an unburning fire, either the one according to conscience, or also the one stored up in the future places of judgment. And, he says, he will be consumed as by fire, so as to say: He is not even deemed worthy of burial. 29. This is the portion of an impious man from the Lord, and a possession of the things that belong to him from the bishop. According to which the divine judgment is moved against him; whether of the one from circumcision who through Christ became impious toward God, or of the extraordinary one, or however at some time impious, the portion made clear is his. – Learn who the bishop is here named; that God has been called bishop, and the bishops eagerly strive in every way to bear the image of that one, the noble and good. And just as the one who imitates a royal image is honored for imitating it well; and he is honored also for having adorned it;

Thus blessed is the bishop who has understood the true bishop, and imitates him, and becomes, as far as is possible among men, a god; or who has a bishop who truly makes him a bishop in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen. Chapter 21, verses 11 and 12. But their children play, taking up the psaltery and the lyre, and they rejoice at the sound of the psalm. Behold, even their foolish children play to themselves. For they themselves recite the psalms of Valentinus and the odes of Basilides, and they utter these very things, rejoicing at the sound of the psalm. Chapter 22, verse 2. Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? Let us see what Eliphaz says to the righteous man: Is it not...? Since Job has said this, Eliphaz also agrees with the statement, and says: I too know that the words by which one who is impious is corrected and another is punished, the only wise God knows; and I know this also, that God, as you yourself said, is the giver of good things, while wickedness gives the punishments. —The doctrine is sound... —Knowledge is the comprehension of things that are in the same state, contemplation; and understanding is the discernment. 5. Is not your wickedness great, and are not your sins innumerable? Reasonably, then, I say that you have not simply become unrighteous because you suffer such things as no one of the wicked suffers, but that you were born in these things, clearly having possessed more wickedness than others. Wickedness is a bad disposition in the soul, such as of grief, anger, and improper desire; and sin is the activity; therefore he first mentioned wickedness, then sin, the one as great, the other as innumerable.

I see very many sinners, and not one of them has fallen into such great troubles as you. For it is likely that, because of the countless number of your sins and the multitude of your offenses, these things have come upon you. 5. You took your brothers as pledges for nothing, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. Let us pay attention, we who are usurers, lest we take pledges for nothing. The words are profitable—this is what it means to speak according to reason—truly sins, when they are committed blameworthily among men. Eliphaz supposes this about Job, since he knew him to be rich, and suspected that he had grown rich from some such sources; therefore he says: You took pledges for nothing—that is, owing nothing. But if I lent, and, not trusting the borrower, I took a pledge sufficient for what I lent, I took a pledge, but not for nothing. If, however, slandering him and saying that he owes me what he cannot repay, I demand it and take it, I take a pledge for nothing. And again he presses on, thinking that another sin of his had occurred. Sometimes it is possible to take garments—not from the naked man, but from a rich man who has other garments laid up, many to take, indeed three; from those many I took clothing there; other garments belong to the naked man, others to the rich man. If, however, someone has one tunic, and I strip him of this tunic too, on the pretext of demanding what is mine, not having mercy on that naked man, clothing

I took it from the naked. And many such things happen among us, whenever we lend, whenever we come to debtors; often our debtor is exceedingly poor, unable to repay; and we, shutting up our compassion, become unmerciful and cruel, not seeing that he supports a wife and children, and is barely fed from the few obols he earns; we demand harshly, sometimes even when we have abundance ourselves. Such things happen in harsh demands; sometimes a man has only his one morsel, and even if he does not have a whole loaf, we take it from him, saying: But you owe it. These things, then, he says, charging Job, that he took away the clothing of the naked. 7–9. You did not give water to the thirsty to drink, but you deprived the hungry of a morsel. And you admired the face of certain people, and you settled those upon the earth. And you sent widows away empty, and you afflicted orphans. Therefore not only to do injustice, but also not to do good, is liable to judgment; and he indicates that we ought to extend our beneficence to such a degree, since not giving drink to the thirsty is liable. Just as, then, because of a cup of cold water we receive a reward, nevertheless he condemns Job's great harshness, as not even providing water, that free gift, and the greater evil, to the thirsty man. But you deprived the hungry of a morsel. What am I saying, he says, that you did not provide for the one in need? When even the small consolation of bread you took away from the hungry man; for he calls a morsel the piece of bread, as it is also written in Ruth: Dip your morsel in the vinegar. And you admired the face of certain people.

That is, you also made your judgments neither justly nor impartially, but in a manner pleasing to men; for you have become a respecter of persons: in judging, some you exalted and others you humbled, oppressing the humble and admiring and honoring those in positions of power. And you afflicted those upon the earth. But some of the copies have "you put to sleep" instead of "you afflicted," so that he means you took away even the poor man's bed, so that they are forced to sleep on the ground, having nothing spread beneath them... But you sent away widows. Either you stripped them of their possessions, or rather, when they came to you seeking alms, you gave them nothing, but sent them away having received nothing from you... But you harmed orphans. To harm orphans and the helpless is the mark of the utmost wickedness. For one ought to harm no one, but especially ought one to spare orphans; for God commanded us to fight on behalf of helpless souls. More than other people, the poor, widows, and orphans need help. 18. But the counsel of the ungodly is far from him. The righteous saw and laughed. What the ungodly counsel is far from God. The righteous, seeing the counsel of the ungodly, laughed them to scorn. 22. But cast out from his mouth his utterance, and take his words into your heart. I sought out for myself what "utterance" means. And I found in another edition, in Symmachus, instead of it, "confession." And in Aquila: "law." He says, then, according to the one: Confess concerning your sins; and learn the manner of utterance from God. According to the other:

Receive the law from God, and make his words things of the heart. If you are just and worthy, be prompted by God, and receive divine words into your heart, as Jeremiah later heard: Behold, I have given my words into your mouth. Or he calls exegoria confession, urging the just man to repentance. Or he says this: change your manner, and take up the divine laws. Or: speak out the sins you have committed, and from now on keep the words of God. And I got the starting points for this twofold meaning from there—the exegoria. 24. You shall set him on the dust in a rock, and as a rock of a torrent of Sophir. You will cast him to the ground, and as it were afflict him. Chapter 23:2. And indeed I know that my reproof is from my hand, and his hand has become heavy upon my groaning. That is, I carry the accuser around with me; I have the reproof, the proof of evils, from home. —I know, he says, that from the things in hand, that is, from the blow, and not from what I have done, you think to bring the reproofs; for God has set upon me heavily, so that I groan. —I know, he says, that from the actions of men come their judgments; yet beyond my strength it was set upon me, that is, outside my action, the reproof. 5. And in much strength he will come upon me, and then he will not use me with threat. For even if he uses me with much strength and threat, nevertheless I know that truth is with him. 7. For truth and reproof are from him; may he bring my judgment to the end. This he prayed, this is what he says: that an end be put to my terrors.

Then, he says, that I wished these things to happen, so as to die, not as now when he is about to judge. —Among the Hebrews, the end and the victory are signified by a single word. 10. For he already knows my way. He knows, he says, my way, and that I always hastened to obey him; but who, when he judges, will contradict him? 15. On this account let me be made earnest from his presence; I will consider, and I will be terrified because of him. I have not sinned, he says, and what is this? For it is not only from the power over sins that God has the right to punish, but I say this also apart from sins. 17. For I did not know that darkness would come upon me, but gloom covered my face. This evil, he says, did not come about according to human sequence, unexpected; I conjecture that the blow is from the hand of God. And well did he say, before my face; for the darkness is not common, but of my own despondency. Chapter 24, 13. But why has he himself not made visitation of these? While they were on the earth, and they did not recognize. That is, they despised all things, they mocked all things; no one wrongs them, nor does anyone do evil to them; but he himself has not yet made visitation of these, so that he will do it after these things, and will examine the offenses committed by them, and will not overlook them; they devoured orphans with desire. 14. But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness. That is, having learned their works, or that having examined and tested them, that is, having known. Chapter 27, 4. Nor will my soul meditate unjust things. That is, I will stand by the same vote, no one will be able to turn me aside, no one to strike me out, no one to lead me away from what is set before me. 5.

May it not be for me to declare you righteous until I die, for I will not put away my innocence. That is, I will not accuse myself, nor will I change my position, even if you say countless things; I will not abandon my verdict, even if you seem to put an end to the cross-examination against me. And even if I agree to what you say, when you have understood why I have suffered these things, I would declare you righteous. I will not put away my innocence, thinking one thing about you and saying another. 10. Or when necessity comes upon him, does he have any boldness before him? What he says is of this sort: that, he says, the one who does wrong has no boldness, nor can he speak, nor say these things that I now say, but he has been deprived and his mouth stopped; but I have not suffered this, but I speak and I contradict. But the unjust are not so. Chapter 28, verse 1. For there is a place for silver, etc. He says this: that the one who has set bounds in things that happen by chance, much more in human affairs. Verses 2–3. For iron comes from the earth, and bronze is quarried like stone. He has set order for darkness, and he himself examines every limit exactly. Because he provides and cares for matters, and nothing passes by simply or in vain. Or rather he says this: that other things are clear, but the economy of God is undeterminable and unknown. And after a little: Well did he say, He has set order for darkness, showing that he knows how to yield and to stand aside. Who drives away that gloom? From where is such good order in such a matter? Then he recounts his power, then his wisdom, persuading that one should not wish to demand accounts from him. Chapter 29, verse 3. As when his lamp shone above my head, when by his light I walked in darkness.

For it was for this reason that he sought his former prosperity, so that God's providence might be shown forth; this is clear from his saying, "When God watched over me" — 4. "When God made visitation of my house." But Symmachus has: "When God fenced my tent about." Do you see that this is what he desired — the visitation and providence of God? "In my youth, when I was," he says, being righteous, "I made virtue the useful material for me; for I used all things well." 7. "When I went forth early in the city, and my seat was set in the streets." For like some ruler and teacher of virtue, he did not devote himself to sleep and drunkenness, but out of love he sat early in the streets, becoming a law and a pattern to those in the city. 13. "Let the blessing of the perishing come upon me." From Severus, from the letter to Juliana the deaconess. The Lord says in the Gospels concerning those who put themselves to death for the world, either handing over the body to the contest of martyrdom, or to the labors of asceticism, and in this way seeming to destroy and kill themselves by being deprived of worldly enjoyment: "He who loses his own soul for my sake will find it." Of him, then, who is thus perishing, according to the voice of the Savior, and finding his soul, the prayer and the blessing is something great, and one of those who are of sound mind would pray that this might come upon him, and would wisely say, "The blessing," etc. 15. "I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame." In the spiritual sense, he opened blind minds, and he himself became an eye to those maimed in soul.

He gave feet to those who were lame in the steps of the soul, and by the Word he became their foot, and he led both by the hand. For the eye is taken for intellectual guidance, and the foot for ethical conduct. 10. "I was a father to the helpless." In these words are shown the utterances of one who benefits the helpless, the weak. 10. "But the cause that I did not know, I searched out." Do you see the protection? Not as far as money, nor as far as food and clothing, but even as far as dangers I stood as protector of another's battle. 17. "But I broke the molars of the unjust." Observe the difficulty of the matter: how, he says, have I already set right a matter that had been forestalled? Truly Christ, when he came, shattered the molars of the opposing powers; the Lord crushed the molars of the lions, and it is written in the prophet: "From their teeth I snatched away a prey." 18. "But I said: My age will grow old, like the stem of a palm." Observe after how much time he says these things, not boasting, nor thinking great things, but compelled to speak of God's providence, and for what reasons he enjoyed it, and in what circumstances he now is. Chapter 30, 1. "But now the least have laughed at me; now they admonish me in turn, whose fathers I despised." Not using contempt, but clearly knowing them, as the prophet said: "Every evildoer is despised before him"; for such men he considered as nothing. 2, 3. "And indeed, why is the strength of their hands to me? Upon them destruction perished. In want and famine barren, those who fled a waterless place yesterday, constraint and misery." Of Olympiodorus, of Origen.

But neither, he says, did I ask any assistance from them, so that on this account they should use such words toward me; they who long ago owed a debt, being wicked, and in a certain manner the punishment flew away from them. Or because, desiring death on account of extreme poverty, they did not obtain it, and were not even sobered by their want to become begetters of good, but remained childless—those who yesterday and a little before had escaped the desert and the calamities; and it seems he is reproaching them as base-born, and as being from inglorious places and poor fathers. Upon them destruction came to an end. In place of: never did they bring anything good to completion. 4. Those who encircle saltwort on the echoing place, whose food was saltwort. Saltwort is a certain herb, as they say, quickly filling the one who eats it. And "on the echoing" means on ravines and rocky places; for such places are well-suited and echo back to those who speak. Or he calls "echoing" the wooded place in which the breath of the winds, moving the wood, produces an echo. He says, then, that these wandered around the woods and the ravines and the places beside which waters flowing echo and murmur, on account of their excessive want, searching out the herbs and scraping off the roots of the trees for food as a consolation of hunger. 4. Dishonored and utterly despised, lacking every good. Another

wickedness, that they are such even in poverty. 24. For if only I could overpower myself. You see that the "if I could" he says not because of weakness, but because he was hindered. 28. But I stood in the assembly crying out. Because of the excess of his sufferings, not even ashamed before the multitude of the gathering. 29. I have become a brother of Sirens, and a companion of sparrows. I have fallen, he says, into the wildness of birds; I have forgotten my own nature, I am in no way better than those. Chapter 31, 5, 7. For I stand in a just balance, and the Lord knows my innocence, whether my foot has turned aside from the way... Oh, the exactness! One could not say that, having used wealth and former goods for ease and dissipation, I pay such a penalty, and I have been changed, God laying upon me a fitting remedy. For the one who loved laughter and loved to stumble and had attached himself to luxury, fittingly, setting in opposition, he would establish the opposite condition, handing him over to a certain mournful and much-lamented life; but the one who even before these things fled from revels, but pursued jesting and mocking men, what reason would he have to fall into a gloomy and downcast life? Since I had been hardened and drawn tight, I did not fall into the vices that differ from that life. 31. And if also my maidservants often said: Who would give us to be filled with his flesh, since I was exceedingly kind? To enjoy his life, because I was sweet to them. 32. And the stranger did not lodge outside, and my door was opened to everyone who came.

For he did not merely receive them and care for them, but he also provided them with the means for the poverty that followed. Chapter 32, verse 1. And Job ceased speaking. Job fell silent, giving them leave to speak; but he looked, and he called God as witness, and he cursed himself because his friends had been silenced. Verse 11. For I will speak, while you listen, until you have tested my words, and until I understand among you. Either he says this: that not even when you were reproving did you reprove as you ought; or that afterward you fell silent. Thus it relates to "For I will speak, while you listen." Chapter 33, verse 12. For how do you say, "I am righteous, and he has not listened to me"? What then happened? Did he not think this? For Elihu supposed this, but Job did not say it with such a thought—that this man is more righteous than God—but rather that these things had been done to him, yet he was not charging God with injustice. But Elihu supposed this; and he was justly charging those who had betrayed God's side and denied him. Verse 20. I will speak, that I may be at rest, having opened my lips. He who obtains an understanding hearer, and is full of words, finds rest in speaking, as it were emptying out and casting off his excess, and he says, "I will speak, that I may be at rest." Chapter 34, verse 19. Who is not ashamed before an honorable person, nor knows how to assign honor to the great. For even if you do not know, you ought to yield much to him and to his glory, so as not to seek to learn everything. Verse 23. For he will no longer lay it upon a man. This seems to say that now the good and the base lie within us, but in the age to come, no longer. Verse 31. For the one who says to the strong, "I have received; I will not take a pledge; without myself I shall see; you show me." Some have interpreted it thus:

For no one dares to say to the stronger, "You have taken what is mine unjustly, not by way of a pledge, as things owed, and you have taken them against my will; show that you have done this reasonably." But if no one dares to say these things to the powerful, how is it, he says, that you are so bold in such matters against God? But Symmachus rendered it thus: "Because I have taken up a speech toward God, I will not hold back without hindrance; you, make it clear to me." And he understood it thus: that is, since I have taken up the speech on behalf of God, says Elihu, I do not hold back, but I proceed with my argument without hindrance. But if I do not speak rightly, you make it clear—that is, refute the argument. But I think the passage is rather to be understood thus: that it is not because I have chosen to speak on behalf of God that you must for this reason also simply agree, as though I were demanding a debt; but without my help I shall see; you show me—that is, apart from my argument I wish to know whether you have anything to say in reply; so that you may say that I provide silence, and take up the argument, if you can. Chapter 35, verse 5. Look up

Look up to heaven." No lover of the world looks up to heaven. Let us not love the world, nor the things in the world. If we love the things here below, we do not look up to heaven. 9. "If you have sinned, what will you do?" That is, you will not wrong him, but neither will you benefit him, being righteous; for since he said, "If I have sinned, what can I do?" what, he says, shall I do? This is so that he might say: Why? For does he who is not wronged take thought for you when you sin? Does he not rather endure it as an injury? 10. "Who appoints the night watches." Do you wish to see how God appoints the night watches? This whole age is night, it is darkness. The light is kept in store for you; the light you now see, you see through a mirror. And: "In your light we shall see light"; we shall one day see it. Is not, then, the whole age night? Since it is night, there are many enemies, many wild beasts prowling around. Since, then, the affairs in the darkness of this life are night, there is need of guards appointed for this night, so that the guards, those set over the nights, may keep watch over those in the night, and may come and guard us from the robbers. Who, then, are the guards appointed by God for the night watches? "The angel of the Lord will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them"; these are the angels who in the night keep watch over us. Chapter 38:5. "Who set its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line upon it?" The Greeks wished to say something about the measure of the earth; the diameter of the earth, they say, is two hundred and fifty thousand stades. But the passage seems to show that the measure of the earth is incomprehensible to everyone.

But only the Savior knows it, he who is also its Creator. And he said "measures," not "a measure," in order to set forth the differences of the earth. What is the measure of this region, say, of the East, which bears spices? The measure of the region that bears pepper or wild animals? For not all things grow everywhere; these measures, then, are with the Word of God. Was the earth, then, made simply of such a size, and not as it happened? But to me it seems that even if some chance addition were made, it would be untimely, and if it were taken away, in like manner it would ruin the whole; and this is hinted at by the measures and the measuring line. 10. Who is it that cast the cornerstone upon it? Who is it that cast the cornerstone upon it, that it stands so firmly, as though he had built upon it with the security of a settled foundation? By the will of God, for in his hand are all the ends of the earth. "A cornerstone": this can also be understood of the Only-begotten Son of God, who became flesh for our sake, according to what is in the Psalms: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner." For coming to earth by the good pleasure of the Father, he joined in himself the two peoples, of the Jews and of the Gentiles, just as indeed the cornerstone also binds together both walls. 11. And I said to it: "Thus far shall you come, and you shall not go beyond." But Symmachus: "Let the swelling of your waves be appointed up to this point." For thus he holds it securely as though with bars, and thus easily, as though by an ordinance. For "I said," he says, "and there is no contradicting," when this happens with no necessity driving it; and at the same time, though much violence and force lashes it—

For this reason he did not leave it to be calm and gentle, so that it might proclaim the power of God, nature fighting against the command, and the command conquering everywhere. For if the water had been gentle, many would have reckoned its good order to the nature of water; but now, being troubled, scourged, driven within, and unable to overstep its boundaries, through its turmoil it proclaims the power of God. 41. And who prepared food for the raven? For it is said that it does not rear its young; but they themselves, reasonably, being large, procure food. But who feeds the young? Is it not the word of God? As the Gospel also says: The birds of heaven do not sow, nor do they reap, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Chapter 39:27. And at your command does the eagle rise up? And the vulture, sitting upon its nest, lodges on the summit of a rock and in a hidden place? If in the flesh-eating creatures there is some rational wisdom, from the natural knowledge implanted in each, and for knowledge—for the one of war, for the others of the dead—you see also the vulture, one of those borne through the air. 34. Why am I still judged, being admonished and reproving the Lord, hearing such things, being nothing? Why, he says, am I still judged, as a preface? And from the beginning he yielded the first place. I am defeated, he says, in the judgment before you; why do you carry the case further? For what is it possible to answer? And how must one look in the face of such a master? I, he says, continued seeking the cause of the blow that came upon me; but against the creation I brought no accusation, and to the things said I have nothing to say.

He is lacking, as though he were not even reproving the Lord, the wretched man being admonished. Chapter 40, verse 2. But gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. For those who are confident in the abundance of their righteous deeds do not even flee from their opponents, but let them go, so that the victory may come from their abundance. Then he also defends himself to him, saying, I care about human beings; it is clear from this for whose sake I brought this trial upon you. I give you boldness: I will question you, and you shall answer me. Verse 3. Do you think that I have spoken to you otherwise than that you might be shown to be righteous? He means the present oracle; not to condemn, he says, do I say these things, but to show you righteous. Or he speaks concerning the trial, calling the concession an oracle—that is, that I had arranged for this to happen for another reason; he did not say, that you might become, but that you might be shown to be what you were, that you might instruct others. And observe: he did not say, that you might become righteous (for you had practiced righteousness exactly), but that you might be shown. Let us not be shown to be unrighteous, nor impious. Let us remember these things in times of adversity, and let us seem to hear God present and saying to us: Do you think that I have spoken to you otherwise than that your righteousness might become evident to those who do not know it? Verse 5. Take up height and power, and clothe yourself with glory and honor. Be crowned, clothe yourself with glory, clothe yourself with honor, clothe yourself with comeliness. The insolent one has warred against you; but you have humbled the proud one, and you have turned back his ranks far away with shame. Reprove sinners, showing them to be sinners; fill their faces with dishonor, through the reproof that is in you.

Not for display, nor for all the other things, nor even for the knowledge of God. But observe how great the lowliness of his nature convicts him, and he does not say, "You are lowly," but, "I am great, and he cannot do what I can." 10. But behold, the beasts are with you. As an athlete, learn the things concerning the dragon, the adversary. "With you, then," he says, "and with everyone who is patient, these beasts are tamed and subjected; yet there is, etc." 20. And will you bring a dragon with a hook, and will you put a bridle around his nose? You are able, then, he says, O Job, to do what the Only-Begotten later accomplished? For just as, casting forth his own flesh as a certain bait for him through his own nails, as through hooks, he caught Leviathan as a fish. For thus the Hebrew has it, and it signifies the dragon. 27. And will you lay your hand upon him, remembering the war that is waged in his body [and let it be no longer]? He calls the war here the confusion, the savagery, his gnashing. How does it happen, he says? Such is the wild and powerful and stupefying beast. Are you able, he says, to bind him by your own power? Or altogether to remember and to consider the war that is to take place in his body? He calls the demons his body, since he is their head; and this war the Lord conquered through the trophy of the cross. And the phrase "let it be no longer" is because the cross has once for all taken place; for he who died to sin, he says, died once for all. Chapter 41, verse 4. Who will reveal the face of his clothing? The face which he put on, who is able to convict? Who is able to reveal and to show that within there is a dragon?

And after a little. I ran back in memory to the sacred writings, since this God-inspired book of Job contains them, and how in a bodily formation the exceedingly formless and varied hiddenness of the thoughts and of the... from the outside masks, writing of the devil and demons, the originator of evil and wicked. For it says: Who will uncover the face of his garment? And since he was striving with this outward-appearing variety, as from some depth of unseen wickedness they rise up, these things too have been added to what was said: Who will uncover the face of his garment? that is, who is able to enter into the thoughts of his heart, because they are folded together? xiv, xv. His heart shall not be moved, it is fixed as a stone, and it stands like an unhammered anvil. His heart, it says, has been petrified, and it cannot be escaped notice; but he is wholly hardened and reckless; not driven, not following reason, not yielding; but he is hard, unhammered, unyielding. And if anyone has drawn away power from the devil, he himself has the heart of this dragon unhammered and not driven. But if anyone is gold, following the word, he yields to the goldsmith's art until he becomes a golden leaf, and receives the impressions of the letters of God, in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory to the ages of ages. Amen. Chapter 42, v. 10. And the Lord gave double as much as Job had before, for a doubling. v. 12. And the Lord blessed the latter things of Job, or the former; and his livestock was, sheep fourteen thousand, camels six thousand, yoke-pairs of oxen a thousand. v. 13.

And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. If the Lord gave double of all that Job had before, after the plague, as the sacred Scripture says, then it was necessary that his children also be double. For observe in the case of the cattle: sheep, it says, he had fourteen thousand, for in the beginning he had seven thousand; camels six thousand, for in the beginning he had three thousand; yoke of oxen a thousand, for at first there were five hundred. The same also in the case of the nomadic asses. And there were born to him, it says, seven sons and three daughters, as many as there were also before; but it was necessary that the sons be fourteen and the daughters six, so that they might be double those of the children who perished. We say, then, that the sheep and the cattle perished; but the sons and the daughters died, they did not perish. God therefore gave him also as many other children, so that in the resurrection he might have them double, so that God made him a father of double the children of whom he was formerly a father. But if the soul were extinguished after death, and the things of the resurrection were not truly so, it would have been necessary that fourteen sons and six daughters be given. Therefore the Scripture has piously preserved the fact that he received seven sons; but if fourteen sons and six daughters had been born to him, while the account of the resurrection is preserved, the children are not given to him double, but triple, or rather than they were at first. And Job lived after the plague a hundred and seventy years, and all the years he lived two hundred and forty. How is it understood that Job lived after the plague a hundred and seventy years, when all the years of his life were two hundred and forty?

We say, then, examining the matter in detail, that since he received double of all good things, if the years of his former prosperity are also doubled, it is proper to reckon as follows. He lived in his former prosperity seventy-seven years, and from the time he received the plague he remained in affliction fourteen years. Thus "after the plague" must be understood, not from when the plague ceased, but from when it began. And after the fourteen years, the time of his illness, he lived another one hundred and fifty years. For since the years of his former prosperity are seventy-eight, the doubled time of the later prosperity amounts to one hundred and fifty years. And when the fourteen years of the plague are also added, there are gathered one hundred and seventy years, and thus he is found to have lived, after the plague—that is, from when the plague was brought upon him—one hundred and seventy years, according to the Scripture. And in this way the double recompense of his prosperity is preserved. In summary, then, you will reckon thus: he lived in wealth and in goodly children seventy-eight years; in the loss of all things and in the affliction of his body, fourteen years; in his second prosperity, one hundred and fifty-seven years, so that the whole time of his life is two hundred and forty-eight years, as the sacred book concerning him says. 17. And Job died an old man and full of days. But it is written that he will rise again after

These things the Lord raises up. Aquila and Symmachus, coming, completed the book, as those following the Hebrew; but Theodotion completes it with the Seventy, having nothing lacking, neither time nor life. But it is written again that he will rise with those whom the Lord raises up, namely the righteous; for the ungodly, he says, shall not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous. And these words too we accept, even if they are not of the whole texture, yet as some one of the saints weaving them together with the book; nevertheless we accept them all, having thus received the book from the fathers. 18. This is translated from the Syriac book. He now calls the Hebrew dialect Syriac, since many also call Judea Syria, and the Palestinians Syrians; and Herodotus the historian says: For the Indians are circumcised, and the Egyptians, and the Arabians, and the Syrians in Palestine; for thus they call the Jews.