from the righteousness of Job, from his courage. For this is: When my paths flowed with butter. Verse 2. And my mountains flowed with milk. As many lofty and great thoughts as there were, these were the mountains of Job, which he ascended. Verse 7. When I went forth early in the city. He was occupied with teaching and edification, loving, not as a self-lover, but as one having love that seeks the common good. Verse 9. Placing a finger on their mouth. Therefore, "placing a finger on their mouth" will seem to be a sign of silence. But perhaps it signifies, since the hand is taken for deeds, as we have often shown, that they placed their deed upon their mouth, perceiving by a small deed that they were not worthy to speak in the presence of Job, who had done greater deeds. Verse 10. But those who heard blessed me. By the same author. Such was he when he was not yet tormented, so that those who heard him blessed him, and wondered in what way he understood and comprehended so many things, and was able to benefit his hearers. Verse 10. For their tongue cleaved to their throat. The tongue of those who heard me and blessed me for what I said cleaved to their throat. Verse 11. For the ear heard, and blessed me. By the same author. Just as it is written concerning Moses, that he was afraid to look intently in the presence of God because of the excess of his brightness, so you might understand that there was an excess of progress in the wisdom of Job, so that his hearers were unable to gaze at the brilliance of his thoughts, and being unable on this account to turn away their eyes, not following the great depth of his mind. For this reason he says: Verse 11. But the eye that saw me turned away. Aquila and Symmachus have rendered it, "Testified concerning me"; but others, "But the eye that saw turned away," instead of: I am not strong enough to gainsay. 17.93 Verse 12. For I delivered the poor from the hand of the mighty. Let us see his valiant deeds, and let us explain. And this has meaning according to the literal sense, and it has a much greater interpretation according to the anagogical sense. According to the literal sense, as much as we are able, we ought to help the poor who are oppressed by the powerful. Verse 15. And a foot to the lame. He himself bestowed support also to those who were lame, the feet of the soul; and in word he himself became their foot. Verse 10. And the cause which I did not know, I searched out. It teaches us how we ought to judge, if ever we are called to the arbitration of brethren, so as to settle their affairs. CHAP. 32. Verse 1. And Job ceased from speaking. And his three friends also ceased from still contradicting Job. For Job was righteous in their sight. He did not simply cease. But his heart, which understood divine things, did not cease. For there is already a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be silent and a time to speak. Therefore, when it was time to answer the three, he spoke; when it was time, after he had silenced them, he was silent. And I think that "Job ceased" is said in praise. Verse 7. Therefore I was silent, fearing to declare to you my own knowledge. He has knowledge, how men suffer; why men are in certain circumstances in this life alone; as many as are unjust and prosper. I saw the unjust and transgressors, and my feet were almost shaken. If I look only at this life, my steps were almost poured out. Verse 10. Not the aged are wise. For it is not necessary, he says, that only the elders be wise; but it is possible also to hear something noble from youth. For if time makes men wise, much more does God. Verse 18. For the spirit of my belly had constrained me. Just as someone becomes pregnant, and when that which is to be born is formed in her, she comes to birth pangs, until she gives birth to that which she had previously conceived; understand that something of this kind also happens to me in the case of the soul of the learner. For it conceives the word which, being proclaimed, it forms and shapes in order. But when, after shaping and forming it, it has become ready, it does not deliver it as an unprepared and incomplete abortion, but, I would say, as something brought to term and perfected. Verse 19. And my belly is like a wineskin of new wine boiling, bound up. It seems to me that from this is said the

ἀπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῦ Ἰὼβ, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνδρείας. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν· Ὅτε ἐχέοντο αἱ ὁδοί μου βουτύρῳ. Στίχ. ʹ. Τὰ δὲ ὄρη μου ἐχέοντο γάλακτι. Ὅσα ἦν ὑψηλὰ νοήματα καὶ μεγάλα, ταῦτα ἦν ὄρη τοῦ Ἰὼβ, ἐφ' ἃ ἀνέβαινεν. Στίχ. ζʹ. Ὅτε ἐξεπορευόμην ὄρθιος ἐν πόλει. ∆ιδασκαλίᾳ ἐσχόλαζε καὶ ὠφελείᾳ, ἐρῶν, οὐχ ὡς φίλαυτος, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀγάπην ἔχων ζητοῦσαν τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον. Στίχ. θʹ. ∆άκτυλον ἐπιθέντες ἐπὶ στόματι. ∆όξει μὲν οὖν καὶ σημεῖον εἶναι τὸ, ∆άκτυλον ἐπι θέντες ἐπὶ στόματι αὐτῶν, σιωπῆς. Τάχα δὲ δηλοῖ, ἐπεὶ ἡ χεὶρ ἀντὶ ἔργων λαμβάνεται, ὡς πολλάκις ἐδεί ξαμεν, ὅτι τὸ ἔργον αὐτῶν ἐπέθηκαν ἐπὶ στόμα, αἰσθανθέντες ἐν ὀλίγῳ ἔργῳ, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν ἄξιοι τοῦ λαλεῖν, παρόντος τοῦ Ἰὼβ, μείζονα ἔργα πε ποιηκότος. Στίχ. ιʹ. Οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαντες ἐμακάρισάν με. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Τοσοῦτον ἦν ὅτε οὐδέπω ἐβασανίζετο, ὥστε οἱ ἀκούοντες αὐτοῦ ἐμακάριζον αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐθαύ μαζον, τίνα τρόπον τὰ τοσαῦτα νοεῖ καὶ καταλαμβά νει, καὶ δύναται τοὺς ἀκούοντας ὠφελεῖν. Στίχ. ιʹ. Ὅτι γλῶσσα αὐτῶν τῷ λάρυγγι αὐτῶν ἐκολλήθη. Τῶν ἀκουόντων μου καὶ μακαριζόντων ἐφ' οἷς ἔλε γον, ἡ γλῶσσα τῷ λάρυγγι ἐκολλήθη. Στίχ. ιαʹ. Ὅτι ὠτίον ἤκουσε, καὶ ἐμακάρισέ με. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ὥσπερ γέγραπται περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως, ὅτι ηὐλαβεῖτο κατεμβλέψαι κατενώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς λαμπρότητος αὐτοῦ οὕτως νοήσας ἂν, ὅτι ὑπερβολὴ ἦν προκοπῆς τῆς ἐν σοφίᾳ τοῦ Ἰὼβ, ὥστε τοὺς ἀκούοντας αὐτοῦ μὴ δύ νασθαι ἐνορᾷν τῇ μαρμαρυγῇ τῶν νοημάτων αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ δυναμένους διὰ τοῦτο ἐκκλίνειν τοὺς ὀφθαλ μοὺς αὐτῶν, μὴ παρακολουθοῦντας τῇ βαθυτάτῃ τῆς διανοίας αὐτοῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο λέγει· Στίχ. ιαʹ. Ὀφθαλμὸς δέ με ἰδὼν ἐξέκλινεν. Ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας καὶ Σύμμαχος, Ἐμαρτύρησε περὶ ἐμοῦ, ἐκδεδώκασιν· ἕτεροι δὲ, Ὀφθαλμὸς δὲ ἰδὼν ἐξέκλινεν, ἀντὶ τοῦ· Οὐκ ἰσχύω ἀντειπεῖν. 17.93 Στίχ. ιβʹ. ∆ιέσωσα γὰρ πτωχὸν ἐκ χειρὸς δυ νάστου. Ἴδωμεν αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀνδραγαθήματα, καὶ ἁπλώσω μεν. Καὶ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν ἔχει λόγον τοῦτο, καὶ κατ' ἀναγωγὴν ἔχει πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἑρμηνείαν. Κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν, ὅση δύναμις, ὀφείλομεν βοηθεῖν τοῖς πτωχοῖς, ὑπὸ τῶν δυνατῶν καταδυναστευομένοις. Στίχ. ιεʹ. Ποῦς δὲ χωλῷ. Αὐτὸς ἐχαρίζετο καὶ τοῖς κεχωλωμένοις τὰς βάσεις, τῆς ψυχῆς πόδας· καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ἐγίνετο αὐτὸς αὐτῶν ποῦς. Στίχ. ιʹ. ∆ίκην δὲ ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειν, ἐξιχνίασα. ∆ιδάσκει ἡμᾶς πῶς δεῖ δικάζειν, ἐάν ποτε κλη θῶμεν ἐπὶ δίαιταν ἀδελφῶν, ὥστε διαιτῆσαι τὰ κατ' αὐτούς. ΚΕΦ. ΛΒʹ. Στίχ. αʹ. Καὶ ἐπαύσατο Ἰὼβ ῥήμασιν. Ἡσύχασαν δὲ καὶ οἱ τρεῖς φίλοι αὐτοῦ ἔτι ἀντειπεῖν Ἰώβ. Ἦν γὰρ Ἰὼβ δίκαιος ἐναντίον αὐτῶν. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐπαύσατο. Καρδία δὲ ἦν αὐτοῦ νοοῦσα τὰ θεῖα, οὐκ ἐπαύσατο. Ἤδη γὰρ καιρὸς τῷ παντὶ πράγματι ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν, καιρὸς τοῦ σιγᾷν καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ λαλεῖν. Ὅτε οὖν καιρὸς τοῦ ἀποκρίνασθαι πρὸς τοὺς τρεῖς, ἔλεγεν· ὅτε ἦν καιρὸς, μετὰ τὸ ἐπι στομίσαι αὐτοὺς, ἐσίγησε. Καὶ οἶμαι ἐν ἐπαίνῳ λέ γεσθαι τὸ, Ἐπαύσατο ὁ Ἰώβ. Στίχ. ζʹ. ∆ιὸ ἡσύχασα, φοβηθεὶς τοῦ ὑμῖν ἀναγ γεῖλαι τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπιστήμην. Ἐπιστήμην ἔχει, πῶς ἄνθρωποι πάσχουσι· διὰ τί ἄνθρωποι ἐν περιστάσεσί τισιν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ μόνῳ γίνονται· ὅσοι ἄδικοι ὄντες εὐτυχοῦσιν. Εἶδον ἀδι κοῦντας καὶ παρανομοῦντας, καὶ ἐμοῦ παρὰ μι κρὸν ἐσαλεύθησαν οἱ πόδες. Ἐὰν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ μόνον ἐνίδω, παρ' ὀλίγον ἐξεχύθη τὰ διαβήματά μου. Στίχ. ιʹ. Οὐχ οἱ πολυχρόνιοί εἰσι σοφοί. Οὐ γὰρ ἀνάγκη, φησὶ, τοὺς πρεσβύτας μόνους εἶναι σοφούς· ἀλλ' ἔστι καὶ ἀπὸ νεότητος ἀκοῦσαί τι γενναῖον. Εἰ γὰρ χρόνος ποιεῖ σοφοὺς, πολλῷ μᾶλλον Θεός. Στίχ. ιηʹ. Ὠλέκει γάρ με τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς γαστρός. Ὥσπερ τις ἔγκυος γίνεται, καὶ μορφωθέντος τοῦ γεννωμένου ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐπὶ ὠδῖνας ἔρχεται, μέχρις οὗ ἀπογεννήσῃ τοῦτο ὃ πρότερον συνείληφε· τοιοῦ τόν τί μοι νόει γενέσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ φιλομα θοῦς ψυχῆς. Συλλαμβάνει γὰρ τὸν λόγον ὃν ἀπαγγελ λόμενον μορφοῖ καὶ τυποῖ αὐτὸν τῇ τάξει. Ὅτ' ἂν δὲ μετὰ τὸ τυπῶσαι καὶ μορφῶσαι αὐτὸν ἕτοιμον γενόμε νον, μὴ ὡς ἔκτρωμα ἀνέτοιμον καὶ ἀτελὲς παραδιδῷ, ἀλλ' ὡς τελεσφορηθὲν καὶ τετελειωμένον εἴποιμι ἄν. Στίχ. ιθʹ. Ἡ δὲ γαστήρ μου ὥσπερ ἀσκὸς γλεύκους ζέων δεδεμένος. ∆οκεῖ μοι ἐντεῦθεν εἰρῆσθαι τὸ