He has used wrath as a blessing — for He does not suffer it — but He has cast down as it were a proud man. He has gnashed His teeth over me: He has rebuked me, so that the teeth are to be taken for words. The arrows of His pirates have fallen upon me. The airy powers which God uses and permits, so that either the good may be exercised or the wicked punished; and they are pirates because they lie in wait for those sailing in this sea. With the edge of His eyes He has rushed upon me: He has not dissembled my sins, as it were giving the nod that I should be punished; for He is as it were a light to the punishers, pointing out those to be punished. The very sight of Him was ruin to me. Or thus: He has caused me to see my sin: for before it was not thus brought home to my mind. The mighty God has struck me sharply, and at once they have rushed together against me:
for when God strikes, the angels of Satan rush together. While I was at peace, He has torn me asunder: from that very peace, or from my own self, He has torn me, so that I might be rent by my adversaries and by those who oppose Him. And taking my hair He has plucked me apart: through my sins He has divided me against myself. He has set me as a mark: at which they might cast, as a mark is wont to be set for those casting, by which they may direct their darts. They have surrounded me, hurling lances into my reins; they have not spared: on account of carnal desires, which he says are driven into him through evil persuasions by the evil angels. They have poured out my gall upon the ground: so that I should envy earthly goods in those who abound in them. They have cast me down with a great prostration: lest we should understand a carnal prostration.
They have sewn sackcloth to my skin: the inward sins, by which he remembers that he had once been in good things. And upon my eyelids is the shadow of death: I wish to see, and carnal habit hinders me. Let not the earth cover over the blood of my flesh: that is, lest, if my prayer be unclean in desiring earthly things, a heap of earth be added upon the bond of mortality, which he signified by the name of blood, that is, lest by earthly desire I be covered with greater calamities of voluntary sin, which is that natural sin from the mortal condition. And let there be no place for my cry: lest the merit of my prayer be cut off. And now behold, in the heavens is my witness: he seems to speak of the Lord, because He had not yet descended to earth. And He who is conscious of me is in the heights:
on account of His sharing in mortality. Let the man be judged together with the Lord: let the Lord come, that the man may be judged with Him, as John with Christ. In whose joint judgment is understood what difference there is between a perfect man and God made man. As the son of man with his neighbor: the Lord, having taken on manhood, with him who had fallen among robbers. For my numbered years have come to me: that I may be succored through Christ in the fullness of times. And I shall enter upon the way by which I shall not return: the way of renouncing the world. I have failed, agitated in spirit. The order is: I have failed in spirit, shaken by toils. I pray that I may be buried, and it does not happen to me: that the mortal may be swallowed up by life.
For we who are burdened groan, in that we would not be unclothed but clothed upon, that is: let us rather be changed than die. Which indeed, however much a man may desire it, does not befall him; for he owes death by the condemnation of sin. I offer prayers with labor. And what have I done? I have done something, obtaining it. Strangers have stolen my goods: he signifies that very immortality of which he is stripped. He who was left half-dead by robbers. Who is this one? He who is to succor me, signifying the Lord. But he therefore says 'Who is this?' because He was to be among men, so that He could scarcely be distinguished from them. Let Him be bound to my hand: by the bond of charity, that He may guard me and lead me where He wills. Because Thou hast hidden their heart from prudence: those who did not know Him Thou hast hidden.
For this cause Thou shalt not exalt them: because they were not humble, therefore they were blinded and could not be exalted by the humility of Christ. Let evils be announced to a part: because blindness has befallen part of Israel, either because the things Christ announced seemed to them evils, so that they said: He seduces the crowds; or by the prophets the things were announced concerning the blindness of Israel — not indeed to the whole, but they befell a part. And the eyes wasted away over their sons: with wonder at the miracles, concerning which it was said: If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? But Thou hast set me as a byword to the nations: the man whom Thou hast redeemed, that is the Church, of whom the nations would speak, or which would speak to the nations. And I have come to be a laughingstock to them:
either to the nations, when they disparaged her, or to the Jews who spoke to the nations. My eyes are darkened on account of wrath: the eyes of the Church are darkened, that is the apostles, when they were not understood by those who were to be punished with this penalty. And I am exceedingly assailed by all: for both Jews and Gentiles assailed the Church. And the truthful have marvelled at this: either why power has been given to the wicked within the Church, or why the gospel has not been acknowledged by the wicked. But let the just man rise up against his enemy: he who temporally falls under persecutions, that afterwards he may have dominion over the unbelievers. And let the pure in hands take up boldness: the boldness of hope, that he may confess Christ even in persecution. For he has not found truth in you:
for to all, both Jews and others, grace is necessary. And the joints of my heart are convulsed: that I may not conceal my sins. They have put night for day: the wicked. Whence is that: Woe to them who say that good is evil and evil good; who put darkness for light and light for darkness. If I endure, the underworld shall be my house: if I bear with myself, my sins, so as not to confess them. I have called corruption my father: I shall not be a son of life; but God has called. My mother and my sister rottenness: from the fact that they cleave inseparably as kindred. For what hope have I now? It is to be understood: if I endure. Or shall I see my good things? by which he was seduced, he was unwilling to be converted and endured the sinner. The words of Bildad the Shuhite.
And the light of the wicked shall be extinguished: do not therefore marvel, if thy light too, as that of a wicked man, has been extinguished. His light has been darkness in his house: the brightness of his house, that is, they were either the devil or the antichrist. And the lamp over him shall be extinguished: a small and earthly light. Let the lowliest seize his substance: let the humble have what that man wished to possess. For his foot has been sent into a snare: for he himself has been caught in persecuting the Lord. He shall strengthen the thirsty over him: that those hungering and thirsting for righteousness may overcome him. His cord has been hidden over the earth: by which he may be caught, that is, those things which are as it were granted to him. And his trap is in the paths: by which he passes. Round about let sorrows destroy him: on every side.
And let many come about his feet in the straits of famine: many who follow him or who attend upon him. Let the branches of his feet be devoured: of his teachings, that is, by which he walks. Let health be torn from his dwelling: the tranquility of this life. And let the necessity of a royal cause hold him: the opportunity of his punishment, which shall avail unto the glory of God, on account of which his own desire is for a time permitted to him. He calls it a royal cause, because he shall boast himself to be Christ. Let it dwell in his tabernacle in his night: let the necessity of a royal cause torment his conscience, the craving for tyranny; in his night: in the punishment of his blindness, when he is damned. His comely things shall be sprinkled with sulphur: the things in which he delighted, let them be burned up with stinking fire.
And from above shall rush his harvesting: from God. And let not his name be on the face of the streets where it was: let it be taken from the memory of the people. And let him not be recognizable among his own people: let him come to such abjection that he is not acknowledged by his own. Nor let his house be saved again under heaven: for some shall be saved again. But let others live in his people: let his people be subjugated to others. The words of Job. And you destroy me with words: you weaken me, you who ought to have consoled me. Only know this, that God has done thus to me: by whom I can be convicted of sin, not by men. And He has surrounded me with His rampart: a ditch is about walls; whereby I have been compelled to confession. Behold, I laugh at reproach and do not speak:
he speaks of the usefulness of confession, because, if he wished to laugh at his own sin and not to speak it out, he would cry and not be heard. He has set darkness in my countenance: He has taken from me the illumination of my face; which befalls those who are turned away. And He has taken the crown from my head: the spiritual dignity which wisdom gives. And He has broken me on every side, and I have departed: I held all things, and He has taken them from me, against that whereby I had received the power of holding all things. And He has reckoned me as an enemy: He has so judged me, as though I would harm Him, if I were His equal. And they have surrounded my tabernacle: my heart and conscience. My brethren have withdrawn: in hope of correction, because they are brethren;
although at first they spurned my correction and followed those who urged upon them what was foreign to them, that is, what was destructive. And my friends have become unmerciful: in spiritual evils, those who suffer together with their neighbors, but rather deride them; whom they would not deride if they were set in carnal evils. And those who knew my name have forgotten me: not knowing me, because I am changed. The neighbors of my house and my maidservant: with whom I shared secrets; the flatterers, who withdraw from him who confesses to God: for these are said to be his handmaids. I called my servant, and he did not answer: either my body, or those who served him unto evil. My mouth besought, and I entreated my wife: as though saying: Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
that is, desiring that she may consent to him. I called flatteringly upon the sons of my womb: those whom he had begotten, persuading them to hope in the world. And those whom I had loved have risen up against me: in that life. In the skin my flesh has rotted away: by love of those things which are felt outwardly, my inward parts have rotted. For surely it is a trivial thing, if we take it literally, as though he had had the itch. And my bones are in my teeth: my firmness and strength are in words, not in deeds. Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O friends: he seems to ask the angels, that they may intercede for him, or surely the saints, that they may pray for the penitent. For it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me: he says he is touched by the hand of the Lord, that he may grieve over his wound, which had been to him without feeling.
Why do you persecute me as the Lord also does? you detest and shudder at me as the Lord does; or you rebuke me, when I am now confessing. Are you not satisfied with my flesh? you do not rejoice if I should live carnally. With a pen of iron and lead? so that, as lead yields to a pen of iron, so let the hearts of men yield to my words. Or let them be sculpted in stones as a testimony? that those may learn them who are firm for evangelizing. For I know that He is eternal who is to loose me: because He can restore me. Of which things I am conscious to myself: because I have deserved them. Which my eye has seen and not another: that is: no one knows what is done in a man except the spirit which is in him. And all things are consummated for me in the bosom:
in the inward parts where no one sees, that is, in the conscience. But if you should also say: What shall we say against him? according to what was said even to the spiritual: Looking to thyself, lest thou too be tempted. And shall we find the root of the matter in him? so as to convict him out of his own mouth. For wrath shall come upon the unjust: those who exalt themselves over sinners and think they cannot be such — these he calls unjust. The words of Zophar the Naamathite. For you understand no more than I: he turns to the others, who together with him were consoling Job. I shall hear the instruction of my confusion: he means indirectly that Job should hear the instruction of his own confusion; for then he can also obtain the spirit of wisdom. And this manner of speech is customary, when we say:
'It is good for me to take heed, for it will go ill with me,' when we wish that another should take heed. Dost thou not know these things from the ages? from the time the ages have been, thou knowest these things. And he supposes that Job is ignorant of these things, as a wicked man. The eye shall see and shall not add: for it shall not be seen. Let the wicked one destroy his sons: whether his imitators or those seduced by him, namely the devil. And let his hands be set afire with griefs: let him be tormented by his own works. His bones are filled with his youth: he is proud of his own firmness. He shall hide it under his tongue: he shall not display it, as a deceitful man, that he may use it secretly. He shall spare it and not let it go: loving it and unwilling to be without it, he does not pursue it; or: the Lord shall spare him and not let him go with this impunity.
And he shall hold it in the midst of his throat: as something that delights him. And he shall not be able to succor himself: he shall not for this reason free himself. The gall of an asp is in his belly: in his inward parts, in the secret places, having the malice of doing harm. Riches unjustly gathered shall be vomited up: with the torment of the inward parts and the pressure of the heart. From his house the angel shall drag him forth: whensoever his hidden things shall be made manifest through tribulations. And the fury of dragons shall flash forth: so that he who at first was hidden, betrayed by tribulations, may now flash forth the fury of dragons openly. Let the tongue of the serpent slay him: let the devil seduce him. And let him not see the milkings of the flocks: the fruit of the sheep, that is, let him not do the works of righteousness, by which he might understand that he can be redeemed.
Nor the food of honey and butter: good works with charity and cheerfulness of heart and liberality of the giver; for butter is rich milk. In vain and to no purpose has he labored: because he does not understand that these things are to be done concerning those works which pertain to mercy. Whence the Lord too is said to eat butter and honey, because these things are offered to Him in His humble ones. Which shall be as something hard, that cannot be chewed nor swallowed: something hard, I know not what — that is, iniquity or pride. In his desire he shall not be saved: because he has desired unjust things. There shall be no remains of his food: his desires pass away. When he shall have thought himself filled, he shall be straitened: there is not so much satiety from the fullness of desires as there is pressure.
If in any way he may fill his belly: such necessity shall come upon him, that he doubts whether he may fill his belly, although indeed these things are sought for this very purpose, that necessity may be driven off. But he said this because he desires the more, the more he has had. And He shall send forth upon him the fury of His wrath: because he did not see fit to do good works. Let an arrow of bronze wound him: a perpetual one. Let a javelin pass through his body: let temptation penetrate him, so that he may be wounded both by the things he hopes for and by the things he leaves behind, as though pierced through from breast to back. Lightnings in his tabernacles: sudden terrors in his thoughts. Let the stranger harm his house: the devil, who is a newcomer for tempting; if indeed a man may have also his own temptations.
And let heaven uncover his iniquities: the heavenly judgment. And let the possession of his goods be by the bishop: these things God shall bestow upon that one. The words of Job. And let not this consolation be to me from you: by which you think one ought to rejoice in temporal goods, although they are common to the pious and the impious; and that, if ever anyone were unjust, vengeance was taken upon him through these things — whereas Job says that these goods remain with the impious even to the tomb, and that vengeance is not taken upon them through these. For what? Is my chastisement a human one? My chastisement is from God. And so He Himself can console me, not you. Or why should I not be angry? Do not therefore so console me, for I assuredly see the felicity of the impious. Look to me and marvel: as one speaking empty things. For if I remember, I am troubled:
returning to his former affection from that in which he now is, he confesses the indignities of human life. And my flesh is held by griefs: I grieve carnally. Why do the wicked live? he asks of them the reason, because they said that here vengeance is taken upon the wicked. And they persist as their sheep with age: how can they persist with age? for they shall not be forever. But goods were in their hands: he did not take from them those very goods, while they were saying these things. Nay rather, the lamp of the wicked shall be extinguished: their temporal brightness, even if not as these men understood. Let his sons fail of his goods: the goods which he persuaded them of, namely temporal ones, whether of the antichrist or of the devil. Let his eyes see his own slaughter:
he signifies that this prosperity too is unknown to those who rejoice in it; but in the future it shall be brought home even to the understanding of the impious. Because there is no will of his in his house after him: because in their conscience they did not attain the Lord in tribulations. Though the number of his months be halved: although he worshiped the present God, yet because he did not also hope in things future — which is the full number of months. For does He Himself judge murders? because the impious, when they have persuaded impiety through the love of carnal impieties, in the age to come most assuredly slay. Yet men do not judge such murders, but God alone. Here he shall die in the strength of his simplicity:
he seems to follow up the hidden murders, mentioning one liberal man and another covetous, because men who are abounding and liberal are thought also to be good. His entrails are full of fat: he has gladness. And their marrow is poured out: the marrow of his entrails, because he does not hold his goods within himself, but expends them either upon himself or upon others. And so I know that you boldly press upon me: for you do not speak considerately. Because you say: Where is the house of the prince? either of the wicked or of the proud man; because they thought that goods were here taken from these, whereas very many even end their life full of these, being punished through them. And where is the covering in the tabernacles of the wicked? honor. Ask those who pass along the way: who do not delight in the way, but pass along it.
And you will not be ignorant of their signs: either the signs of the wicked which those passing by give, telling what is to befall them, or by which the wicked are recognized. Who shall announce his way before him? Before the wicked man no one announces his way confidently except the Lord, because He Himself answers him. And yet 'He Himself, the Lord, has been led into the sepulcher:' thus the reward of piety is not to be hoped for here. And He kept watch over the heap: for He Himself rose again before the heap of those rising should rise. Sweet to Him were the stones of the torrent: which the world does not overturn, that is, His own disciples. And after Him every man follows, and before Him are innumerable. Or:
after Him every man, that is, one man, and before Him innumerable, who are now reckoned in the number of men; or: after Him the crowd of believers, and before Him the patriarchs and prophets. How then do you console me in vain? urging present good things or evil things. The words of Eliphaz the Themanite. Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? as though he said that Job does not judge rightly: whereas indeed God cannot be reproached except through understanding, by which He is superior, if indeed it be given by Him to man. And shall He come into judgment with thee? that thou mayest be compared with Him. Thy light has been turned into darkness: thy dignity. And while thou wast sleeping the water has covered thee: while secure, the inundation of tribulation. Or does He judge through a mist?
as though He could not see through the mist. The clouds are His hiding-place, and He shall not be seen: the things that are on earth are hidden from him. And He traverses the circuit of heaven: the figure, and not the earth. Dost thou then keep the path of the world? as though Job had supposed that human affairs are not cared for by God. Because the immature are taken away? immature in their own estimation; for they thought they would remain forever, or surely before they should arrive at wisdom; but because they had heard this, not because these friends of Job perceived these things. And the thought of the wicked is far from him, and it fills their houses with goods: and the thought of the wicked is far from him, because he does not act as the wicked man hopes, that is: either because impiety pleases him, or because he does not see it. The just, seeing it, laughed: understanding it;
although these men did not understand, supposing that here requital is made to the wicked. And the blameless one derided them: the wicked. Be hard, if thou shalt endure: patient, that is, endure hard things. Put iniquity far from thy tabernacle: thy conduct or thy life; although these men say this carnally. And thou shalt set it upon the mound, upon the rock. Against that which he said: a river running down their foundations. Because he humbled himself: that very light. And thou shalt say: He was lifted up into pride: against the proud. Deliver the innocent, and thou shalt be saved in the cleanness of thy hands: do not fail in good works, because God cares for human things. The words of Job. And indeed I know that the rebuke is from my own hand: from my sins.
And my hand has become heavy upon my groaning: therefore Thou hast struck me, that I may grieve. And to come even to His throne? that I may be so holy as to attain to the number of those who are His thrones. For then I can speak true things and hear them: whence the heavens too are called holy. And I shall know the pleadings which He will speak to me: the renderings of causes, by which He shows that He judges all things justly. And I shall perceive what He announces to me: being already near to Him. Or shall He contend with me in great might? that He may resist me through power. By no means. Only in terror let Him not abuse me: on account of my sins, for which I now fear, while I am in terror, let Him not abuse me. But when I shall have come to Him:
In that liberty, in which I shall be numbered at His throne, I shall love all things, and His power will not resist me; though even now it may make use of me as it will, inasmuch as I am a sinner. That is: let Him do with me what He wills, even with my punishment, yet justly. For truth and rebuke are from Him: that is, He does not rebuke unjustly. He brings forth my judgment unto the end: even if now He chastens, afterward He will make it plain. For if I walk first, afterward I shall not be: let me not hope arrogantly, nor despair faithlessly; that is, let me not turn aside to the right hand or the left. Hence it follows: if I ascend into heaven, You are there. Who can drive me thence? and the rest. On the left hand, what He does I shall not lay hold of: he returns to the higher things. By the left hand he means that he will not lay hold of one given over to temporal things.
He will turn to the right hand, and I shall not see: therefore I ought not to be on the left; and he said "He will turn," because He Himself is among spiritual things, from which I turn myself away if I am on the left. But He Himself knows my way: so that, even if He leads me through tribulations, I may follow. He has tested me as gold: in temptations. I shall go forth in His precepts: let me come out of my darkness, yet still in His precepts. But if He Himself has judged thus: that He may test me through tribulations as gold. Therefore I hastened to Him: because He afflicted me, therefore, leaving temporal things, I hastened to Him. And being admonished I became solicitous concerning Him: that by these fleshly penalties I might escape the eternal torments. Therefore at His countenance I shall be troubled:
Now I shall be troubled, that I may take heed, pondering the future judgment, where His manifestation will be. And the Lord softened my heart: and he reckons this very fear, by which he guards against the future penalties, to the mercy of God. For he would not know the penalties and the darkness about to come upon the wicked, unless the Lord softened his heart by present tribulations: against that which is said, that God hardens the heart of Pharaoh. Wherefore the hours did not escape the Lord: that is to say, "on which account," or "and so." They have transgressed the end: namely Christ. And they have turned aside the poor from the just way: so that they might either imitate them, or thence judge that there is no divine judgment, because they saw the malice unpunished by which they harmed the just who forsook them. At the same time the meek of the earth were hidden:
Together with those who turned aside from the just way, the meek were hidden, lest they bring me aid. For there are three kinds of men in the Church when persecution arises: for some consent, some flee, and some endure—whose persona Job sustains. And wild asses rushed upon me in the field: the foolish and untamed, and on this account proud, rush upon me who confess, that is, upon the Church. And going forth to their work: for this is their work, to rush upon me, that is, to this they have been appointed by God. Bread became sweet to him among the youths: he calls persecution sweet bread to the impious one and persecutor, persecution which he gladly enjoyed when he carried it out upon the youths:
So that we may understand "youths" either as lovers of pleasures, since these readily consent to such things, or as those who have advanced so far in the Church that they have indeed passed beyond the simplicity of childhood, but have not yet attained to that manly strength by which even the persecutor is despised. They reaped a field before its time, not their own: either he means kinds of persecutions, that they might terrify someone by the loss of a field; or by "field" the Church is to be understood, which they wished to reap by persecutions before its ripeness, that is, before the tares should grow up together with it, so that at the time of harvest they might be separated. They are made wet by the drippings of the mountains: fleeing naked to the caves, where the rocks drip. They snatched the orphan from the breast:
Orphans and widows are for the most part to be taken from the persona of the Church—the people under torment. And him who had fallen, they humbled: the one forsaken either by God's help or by someone's; which is a mark of great savagery, not to spare such a one. In straits they laid snares wickedly: in necessities. They were cast out from the city and from the houses: others were cast out by them. But the soul of the little ones was in groaning exceedingly: it was so. But God Himself had no care for them: that is, for the impious, because by now having no care for them He made them despair of God's judgment, since they did evil unpunished. And therefore they were given over into darkness: of ignorance of God's judgment. And suddenly, like a thief: that day will overtake them. The eye of the adulterer watches for the darkness:
He wishes to show into what darkness the impious are given over through impunity; for not into those which adulterers and the rest who do evil seek by night, lest they be recognized by day; but into those which are upon them even in the morning. He digs through houses in the darkness: he recalls other evil deeds. By day they sealed themselves up: they hid themselves. They did not know the light, since the shadow of death abides with them at the same time: not because night withdrew, did the shadow of death therefore forsake them. He is light upon the face of the waters: by comparison with the earth, the more splendid are to be understood, whom light penetrates—and the image of lightness; and therefore the shadow of death is light upon them. For they too bear it through the condition of the flesh. Or: