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following the apostles and our most holy fathers, who, having received the book from the apostles as it was published according to the interpretation of the seventy, included it among the canonical books of the divinely inspired scripture, I do not say that the scripture was composed from human thought, but I say that the seventy, guided by the Holy Spirit and having well understood the Hebrew, translated both this very book and all those of the Old Testament into the Greek language before the coming of the Lord, during the reign of the Ptolemies who were kings of Egypt, God having ordained this, so that no one might say that the seventy interpreted the scriptures in this way to show favor to the Christians. And the rest of the interpreters, having come after the ad 3 vent and not being Christians, made their interpretation for their own purpose, and each one by himself as they wished; but these interpreted both before the advent and separately, having been divided into pairs by Ptolemy, and they all agreed with one another as if speaking with one voice, having made the translation of the Hebrew neither for favor nor for enmity toward anyone. Therefore, the divine apostles, the mystagogues of the truth, have handed it down to the church as being above suspicion and published with truth by many elders of Israel, so that the misinterpretations of the mythologizing Hebrews are superfluous. For if on rare occasion we use a certain word found in the other interpreters, we do this for the sake of clarity alone, but we follow the same meanings; just as among the Greeks one hears rowers being called eretas, and because the listeners do not know who eretas are, we say to them, that these are the rowers. So too, if we find in the seventy a less clear word that is expressed more clearly by the other interpreters, we use the clearer one for the sake of clarity. For we do not say that those interpreted better than these; for this is a completely foolish and an undertaking of Jewish or even Samaritan audacity. And these things concerning the most courageous Job and the writing, all of which we accept along with the things written at the end, in which also the genealogy of Job is recorded, by which it is shown that he lived before the law. For the church has received the whole writing so written from the beginning from the apostles. And I am persuaded that his friends were also righteous; for it was not for a righteous man not to have righteous friends; but since he was a great athlete and the devil, the ruler of the apostate powers, came down himself to the contest, God, who proclaims his own victors, permitted the righteous man to suffer all things and to bear all the blows of the enemy, so that no pretext might be left to him. Therefore, in addition to all the painful things, his friends were also permitted, instead of the medicine of comfort, to inflict upon him words more terrible than his wounds. And the permission came about thus: many are the 4 ways of abandonment, and one suffers because of sin, like the one to whom the Savior said: "See, you have been made well; sin no more," another, that God may be glorified, like the man blind from birth, about whom the Lord said again: "Neither this man sinned, nor his parents, but that God may be glorified." And others suffer according to another dispensation, like the children who were killed by Herod, and others often, so that when evil is expected they may be checked or that they may turn from evil to virtue. And, simply put, various and many are the ways of God's providence and of the discipline brought upon us by Him, but all are beneficial and helpful, even if we are ignorant of the reasons for them. And one of the ways happens to be this one which is brought upon the righteous, so that their hidden virtue may shine forth and, having been tested as gold in a furnace, they may shine brightly. In this way God permitted the great Job, the statue of patience, to be tempted by the devil. And for a time he himself did not know

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ἀποστόλοις ἀκολουθῶν καὶ τοῖς ἁγιωτάτοις ἡμῶν πατράσιν, οἵτινες ἐκ τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸ βιβλίον παρειληφότες κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἑρμηνείαν ἐκδεδομένον ἐν τοῖς ἐνδιαθέτοις τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς κατέλεξαν, οὔτε ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐννοίας συντεθεῖσθαι λέγω τὴν γραφήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντά φημι ὑπὸ ἁγίου πνεύματος ὁδηγηθέντας καὶ καλῶς νενοηκότας τὰ Ἑβραϊκὰ αὐτό τε τοῦτο τὸ βιβλίον καὶ πάντα τὰ τῆς Παλαιᾶς ∆ιαθήκης εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεταβαλεῖν γλῶτταν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἐπιδημίας ἐπὶ τῶν Πτολεμαίων τῶν Αἰγύπτου βασιλευσάντων θεοῦ τοῦτο οἰκονομήσαντος, ἵνα μή τις εἴπῃ, ὡς χάριν Χριστιανοῖς κατατιθέμενοι οὕτω τὰς γραφὰς οἱ ἑβδομήκοντα διηρμήνευσαν. καὶ οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ τῶν ἑρμηνευτῶν μετὰ τὴν ἐπι 3 δημίαν γεγονότες καὶ οὐκ ὄντες Χριστιανοὶ πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον σκοπὸν τὴν ἑρμηνείαν ἐποιήσαντο καὶ εἷς ἕκαστος καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὡς ἠβουλήθησαν· οἱ δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας καὶ διῃρημένως ἡρμήνευσαν κατὰ συζυγίας ὑπὸ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου διαιρεθέντες, καὶ πάντες συνεφώνησαν ἀλλήλοις ὡς ἐκ μιᾶς γλώττης φθεγξάμενοι καὶ μήτε πρὸς χάριν μήτε πρὸς ἀπέχθειάν τινος τὴν μεταβολὴν τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν ποιησάμενοι. διόπερ αὐτὴν ὡς ἀνύποπτον οὖσαν καὶ ὑπὸ πολλῶν καὶ πρεσβυτέρων τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ σὺν ἀληθείᾳ ἐκδεδομένην οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας μυσταγωγοὶ θεῖοι ἀπόστολοι τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ παραδεδώκασιν, ὥστε περιτταὶ τῶν μυθολόγων Ἑβραίων αἱ παρεξηγήσεις. εἰ γὰρ καὶ κατὰ τὸ σπάνιον χρησόμεθα λέξει τινι κειμένῃ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἑρμηνευταῖς, σαφηνείας καὶ μόνης χάριν τοῦτο ποιοῦμεν, κατὰ τῶν αὐτῶν μέντοι νοημάτων ἐρχόμεθα· οἷόν ἐστι παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀκοῦσαι λεγομένους ἐρέτας τοὺς κωπηλάτας, καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τοὺς ἀκροωμένους, τίνες εἰσὶν ἐρέται, φαμὲν πρὸς αὐτούς, ὅτι οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ κωπηλάται. οὕτως καὶ ἐὰν εὕρωμεν παρὰ τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα ἀσαφεστέραν λέξιν σαφέστερον εἰρημένην παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἑρμηνευταῖς, συγχρώμεθα τῇ σαφεστέρᾳ διὰ τὴν σαφήνειαν. οὐ γάρ φαμεν, ὅτι ἐκεῖνοι τούτων ἄμεινον ἡρμήνευσαν· τοῦτο γὰρ παντελῶς ἀνόητον καὶ Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἢ καὶ Σαμαρείτιδος τόλμης παρεγχείρημα. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περί τε τοῦ ἀνδρειοτάτου Ἰὼβ καὶ τῆς συγγραφῆς, ἣν ἅπασαν δεχόμεθα μετὰ τῶν ἐν τῷ τέλει γεγραμμένων, ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡ γενεαλογία φέρεται τοῦ Ἰώβ, δι' ἧς δηλοῦται πρὸ νόμου τυγχάνων. ὅλην γὰρ τὴν συγγραφὴν οὕτω γεγραμμένην ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἡ ἐκκλησία παρείληφεν. πείθομαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ φίλους δικαίους εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ ἦν τὸν δίκαιον μὴ δικαίους κεκτῆσθαι φίλους· ἐπειδὴ δὲ μέγας ἦν ἀθλητὴς καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀποστατικῶν δυνάμεων ἄρχων διάβολος δι' ἑαυτοῦ κατέβη πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα, ὁ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ στεφανίτας ἀνακηρύττων θεὸς πάντα παθεῖν συγκεχώρηκε τὸν δίκαιον καὶ πάσας ἐνέγκαι τοῦ πολεμίου τὰς πληγάς, ὡς ἂν μή τις αὐτῷ πρόφασις ὑπολειφθῇ. διὸ πρὸς πᾶσι τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς συνεχωρήθησαν καὶ οἱ αὐτοῦ φίλοι ἀντὶ παραμυθίας φαρμάκου δεινοτέρους αὐτῷ τῶν τραυμάτων λόγους ἐπιθεῖναι. ἡ δὲ συγχώρησις γέγονεν οὕτως· πολλοὶ τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεώς εἰσιν οἱ 4 τρόποι, καὶ ὁ μέν τις πάσχει δι' ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ἐκεῖνος πρὸς ὃν ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτήρ· ἴδε, ὑγιὴς γέγονας, μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε, ὁ δέ, ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ θεός, ὡς ὁ ἐκ γεννητῆς τυφλός, περὶ οὗ πάλιν ἔφησεν ὁ κύριος· οὔτε οὗτος ἥμαρτεν, οὔτε οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ θεός. καὶ ἄλλοι πάσχουσι κατ' ἄλλην οἰκονομίαν, ὡς οἱ παῖδες οἱ ἀναιρεθέντες ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου καὶ ἄλλοι πολλάκις, ἵνα κακίας προσδοκωμένης ἀνασταλῶσιν ἢ ἵνα ἀπὸ κακίας εἰς ἀρετὴν ἐπιστρέψωσιν. καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ποικίλοι καὶ πολλοὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίας καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ παιδεύσεως ἡμῖν ἐπιφερομένης οἱ τρόποι, πάντες δὲ συμφέροντες καὶ ὠφέλιμοι, κἂν ἡμεῖς τούτων ἀγνοῶμεν τοὺς λόγους. εἷς δὲ τῶν τρόπων τυγχάνει καὶ οὗτος ὃς τοῖς δικαίοις ἐπιφέρεται, ἵνα αὐτῶν ἡ κεκρυμμένη ἀρετὴ διαλάμψῃ καὶ ὡς χρυσὸς ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ δοκιμασθέντες ἐκλάμψωσιν. κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον συνεχώρει ὁ θεὸς τὸν τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἀνδριάντα τὸν μέγαν Ἰὼβ ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου πειράζεσθαι. καὶ ἠγνόει μὲν τέως αὐτὸς