Job with a malignant sore from foot to head. He made his whole body one wound, one 56.578 bruise. For it was necessary for him, the combatant, to be crowned all over. From foot to head the saving wound. the victorious sore, a sore that, in its appearance, was flowing with ichor, but in its meaning, was full of praises. The ichors of the sore lasted for a short time, but the praises which his contest produced are not consumed for all eternity. He struck him with a malignant sore from foot to head, so that he might be shown a victor in all his members. Then, since a place within the walls did not receive him who was so afflicted in body, but the whole household cast him out, as one maimed (for the wound of Job was nothing other than a mutilation), he who was a stranger to the world went out of the city; he went out of the city and sat upon a dunghill; he went out of the city, having a contest not of this world, but one transcending the present state. For to be outside the city and the wall was an image of the cross of Christ. For this reason Paul says: For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places are burned outside the camp. For this reason Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people, suffered outside the gate. Christ outside the gate; Job outside the city sat upon a dunghill; the seed of piety, the seed of patience, being manured by afflictions, sat upon a dunghill, awaiting the one who raises the poor from the earth, and lifts the needy from the dunghill. He saw, brothers, the body wasting away, but the soul strengthened; he saw the body bearing worms, but the soul bringing forth piety; he saw the earthly vessel being destroyed, and he remembered before Paul the words of Paul; for it was fitting for him to say: As much as our outward man is decaying, so much is the inward man being renewed day by day. He took a potsherd to scrape the ichor, scraping away the ichor with the potsherd, exhausting his antagonist with patience. It was also fitting for him, holding the potsherd, to say: But we have this treasure in an earthen vessel. He who raised many from the dunghill sat upon a dunghill; he took a potsherd to scrape away the ichor; with the dead clay he scraped the living clay. The three friends came; for calamities call friends to consolation; Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad came, three kings to one king. For he was a king before this, who said: I was among them as a king among his troops. And they sat, it says, before Job for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke. For moderate calamities accept consolation; but great calamities are honored by silence. For there are times, brothers, when suffering overcomes consolation; and just as diseases at their peak reject all therapy, so also do sufferings at the peak of calamities cast out all counsel. They were silent, sharing in the suffering through silence. And what does he do? Since the calamity overcame them, and no one dared to utter a word of consolation, he is the first to begin to speak. Job; the one who is suffering opens a door for those who are not suffering. For we know, brothers, that in calamities, or in mourning, or in any other matter of dejection, each one is reluctant to be the first to speak, lest he seem to be an untimely introducer of virtue or opinion; but if he sees another beginning, he follows without risk. This, brothers, experience also teaches, and the facts suggest. Therefore, when he saw that his suffering had shut off the consolation of his friends, the one who was suffering opens the door, and immediately begins to lament the calamity, everywhere fleeing the suspicion of blasphemy; The first voice of Job: Cursed be the day on which I was born, and may that night be darkness. He says these things not being impious, but suffering. And see what he does; just as when someone afflicted with a terrible abscess is cut with a blade by a physician, having no way to resist the one cutting, he grabs hold of the bystanders, and bites those standing near, having nothing to blame them for, but not being strong enough to stretch out his hand against the physician; so also Job, fearing blasphemy

Ἰὼβ ἕλκει πονηρῷ ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς. Ὅλον αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἓν τραῦμα ἐποίησεν, ἕνα 56.578 μώλωπα. Ἔδει γὰρ ὅλον δι' ὅλου στεφανωθῆναι αὐτὸν ἀγωνιστήν. Ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς τὸ τραῦμα τὸ σωτήριον. τὸ ἕλκος τὸ ἐπινίκιον, ἕλκος κατὰ μὲν τὸ φαινόμενον ἰχῶρας ῥέον, κατὰ δὲ τὸ νοούμενον εὐφημίας γέμον. Οἱ ἰχῶρες τοῦ ἕλκους ἐν ὀλίγοις χρόνοις ἐγένοντο, αἱ δὲ εὐφημίαι, ἃς ἀπέτεκεν ἡ ἄθλησις, εἰς πάντα τὸν αἰῶνα οὐκ ἀναλίσκονται. Ἔπαισεν αὐτὸν ἕλκει πονηρῷ ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς, ἵνα ὅλος δι' ὅλου τῶν μελῶν στεφανίτης ἀναδειχθῇ. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ τὸν οὕτω δυσπραγήσαντα τῷ σώματι τόπος ἐντείχιος οὐκ ἐδέχετο, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα ἡ οἰκία ἐξωθεῖτο τοῦτον, ὡς λελωβημένον (οὐ γὰρ ἦν τι ἕτερον τὸ τραῦμα τοῦ Ἰὼβ, εἰ μὴ λώβησις), ἐξῆλθεν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ὁ τοῦ κόσμου ἀλλότριος· ἐξῆλθεν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἐκάθητο ἐπὶ κοπρίας· ἐξῆλθεν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως οὐ κοσμικὸν ἔχων τὸν ἀγῶνα, ἀλλ' ὑπερβαίνοντα τὴν παροῦσαν κατάστασιν. Τὸ γὰρ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως εἶναι καὶ τοῦ τείχους, εἰκὼν ἦν τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· Ὧν δὲ εἰσφέρεται ζώων τὸ αἷμα εἰς τὰ ἅγια, τούτων τὰ σώματα κατακαίεται ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἵνα ἁγιάσῃ τὸν λαὸν, ἔξω τῆς πύλης ἔπαθε. Χριστὸς ἔξω τῆς πύλης· Ἰὼβ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ κοπρίας· ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας σπόρος, ὁ σπόρος τῆς ὑπομονῆς, ἐπὶ τῶν θλίψεων κοπριζόμενος, ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ κοπρίας, ἀναμένων τὸν ἐγείροντα ἀπὸ γῆς πτωχὸν, καὶ ἀπὸ κοπρίας ἀνιστάντα τὸν πένητα. Ἔβλεπεν, ἀδελφοὶ, τὸ σῶμα διαῤῥέον, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἐστηριγμένην· ἔβλεπε τὸ σῶμα σκώληκας φέρον, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν εὐσέβειαν ἀποτίκτουσαν· ἔβλεπε τὸ γήϊνον σκεῦος φθειρόμενον, καὶ ἐμέμνητο πρὸ τοῦ Παύλου τῶν τοῦ Παύλου ῥημάτων· ἔπρεπε γὰρ αὐτῷ λέγειν· Ὅσον ὁ ἔξωθεν ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται, τοσοῦτον ὁ ἔσωθεν ἀνακαινίζεται ἡμέραν καθ' ἡμέραν. Ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον, ἵνα τὸν ἰχῶρα ξέσῃ, τῷ ὀστράκῳ τὸν ἰχῶρα ἀποξέων, τῇ ὑπομονῇ τὸν ἀνταγωνιστὴν ἐκλύων. Ἔπρεπε καὶ αὐτῷ λέγειν κατέχοντι τὸ ὄστρακον· Ἔχομεν δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν τοῦτον ἐν ὀστρακίνῳ σκεύει. Ἐκάθητο ἐπὶ κοπρίας ὁ πολλοὺς ἀπὸ κοπρίας ἐγείρας· ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον, ἵνα τὸν ἰχῶρα ξέσῃ· τῷ νεκρῷ πηλῷ τὸν ζῶντα πηλὸν ἔξεεν. Ἦλθον οἱ τρεῖς φίλοι· καλοῦσι γὰρ αἱ συμφοραὶ τοὺς φίλους εἰς παραμυθίαν· ἦλθεν Ἐλιφὰζ, Σοφὰρ, καὶ Βαλδὰδ, τρεῖς βασιλεῖς πρὸς ἕνα βασιλέα. Βασιλεὺς γὰρ ἦν πρὸ τούτου ὁ λέγων· Ἤμην δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς ὡς βασιλεὺς ἐν μονοζώνοις. Καὶ ἐκάθισαν, φησὶν, ἐναντίον τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας καὶ ἑπτὰ νύκτας, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐλάλησεν. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ μέτριαι συμφοραὶ δέχονται παραμυθίαν· τὰ δὲ μεγέθη τῶν συμφορῶν τῇ σιωπῇ τιμᾶται. Ἔστι γὰρ, ἀδελφοὶ, ὅτε νικᾷ παραμυθίαν τὸ πάθος· καὶ ὥσπερ τὰ νοσήματα ἐν ἀκμῇ πᾶσαν θεραπείαν ἀποπέμπεται, οὕτω καὶ τὰ πάθη ἐν τῇ ἀκμῇ τῶν συμφορῶν πᾶσαν νουθεσίαν ἐκβάλλει. Ἐσιώπησαν, τῇ σιωπῇ κοινωνοῦντες τῷ πάθει. Καὶ τί ποιεῖ; Ἐπειδὴ ἐκείνους ἐνίκησεν ἡ συμφορὰ, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμησε ῥῆξαι φωνὴν παραμυθίας, πρῶτος ἄρχεται τῶν λόγων. Ἰώβ· ἀνοίγει θύραν τοῖς μὴ πάσχουσιν ὁ πάσχων. Ἴσμεν γὰρ, ἀδελφοὶ, ὅτι ἐν ταῖς συμφοραῖς, ἢ ἐν τοῖς πένθεσιν, ἢ ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ κατηφείας πράγματι, ἕκαστος αἰδεῖται πρῶτος ῥῆξαι φωνὴν, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ ἄκαιρός τις εἶναι ἀρετῆς ἢ γνώμης εἰσηγητής· ἐὰν δὲ ἴδῃ ἄλλον ἀρξάμενον, ἀκολουθεῖ ἀκινδύνως. Τοῦτο, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκει, καὶ τὰ πράγματα ὑποτίθεται. Ὡς οὖν εἶδεν ἀποκλεῖσαν τὸ πάθος τὴν παραμυθίαν τῶν φίλων, ἀνοίγει θύραν ὁ πάσχων, καὶ ἄρχεται εὐθέως ἐκτραγῳδεῖν τὴν συμφορὰν, πανταχοῦ βλασφημίας φεύγων τὴν ὑπόνοιαν· Πρώτη φωνὴ τοῦ Ἰώβ· Ἐπικατάρατος ἡ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθην, καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη εἴη σκότος. Οὐκ ἀσεβῶν ταῦτα λέγει, ἀλλὰ πάσχων. Καὶ βλέπε τί ποιεῖ· Ὥσπερ ἐπειδάν τις δεινῷ ἀποστήματι περιεχόμενος τέμνηται σιδήρῳ παρὰ τοῦ ἰατροῦ, οὐκ ἔχων πῶς ἀντιστῇ τῷ τέμνοντι, τῶν περιεστώτων ἅπτεται, καὶ δάκνει τοὺς παρεστῶτας, ἐκείνοις μὲν ἐγκαλεῖν οὐδὲν ἔχων, πρὸς δὲ ἰατρὸν ἐκτεῖναι τὴν χεῖρα οὐκ ἰσχύων· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ φοβούμενος τῆς βλασφημίας