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coming forth from a mother’s womb, 16b or like infants, who have not seen light. What are you saying? Did you not say: if we have received good things from the Lord, shall we not endure the bad? What has happened? You have changed suddenly and you curse your day and you blame your own birth, and this in the presence of your listeners? But do you not marvel that he did not utter those words, that “What do I receive in return for what? These things for my hospitality? These things for my great philanthropy?” But he said none of these things, but as if justly enduring what he endured, and worthily and with reason he prayed not to have been, which Christ also said concerning Judas: it would have been good for him, if that man had not been born; which is what he also says: “Why was I born? It would have been better not to have been.” 3,17a There the wicked have ceased from the heat of anger, 17b there they that are weary in body have rested. 3,18a And with one accord 53 forever 18b they have not heard the voice of the tax-collector. 3,19a The small and the great is there 19b and the servant not fearing his master. What do you say, that I am wicked and evil, but that these also obtained this comfort? 3,20a For why, he says, is light given to those in bitterness of soul, 20b and life to the souls in pain? 3,21a who long for death and do not obtain it, 21b and dig for it as for treasure, 3,22 and would be overjoyed, if they should attain it. 3,23a For death is a rest for a man, whose way has been hidden; 23b for God has shut him in. Marvel also here at his piety, how he desires death and does not obtain it, and did not dare to do away with himself. These are not the words of one who is accusing, but of one who is perplexed and does not find the cause. Just as Christ, when he said it would have been good for him, if he had not been born, indicated nothing else than that terrible and difficult things awaited him, so also here Job, in saying “would that I had not been born,” does not run down the creation of God, but shows the magnitude of his calamity. Why “would that I had not been born”? Because you have suffered some injustice? “Not at all,” he says, “but because I cannot bear the calamity.” And see his piety; he pours out all his anger on the day, not daring to overstep this limit, but always saying the same things continuously, day and night and night and day and nothing more; and yet the first 54 saying was sufficient to show everything. For by saying let the day perish on which I was born he indicated all the things here, so that he might say that “for a time I did not experience the present terrible things, even if I was not receiving a reward for piety.” For what reason did he say may no light come upon it and all such things? It is the custom of those in pain to speak at length. Let us not then bring his words under impious charges; for whom God justifies, who will condemn? That day, he says, let it be darkness, and may the Lord not seek it from above, nor may light come upon it, but may darkness and the shadow of death take it. How does this differ from that? And again: let him curse it who curses that day, he who is about to master the great sea-monster. What does the sea-monster mean here? It indicates the great power of God. For now, he says, had I fallen asleep, I should have been quiet, and having slept, I should have rested with kings and counselors of the earth. Which is what Elijah also says: Let it be enough for me, am I better than my fathers? And with rulers, he says, whose gold is abundant. It seems to me that he is also restraining them and persuading them not to consider human affairs to be great. For he did not bring in the kings here simply or at random, who were exulting, he says, in their swords. See, even in calamity, philosophical words. Their wealth was of no avail, their power did not benefit them. Death overcame all. Or like, he says, an untimely birth coming forth from a mother’s womb. See how, lest he should seem to be exalting himself, he even compares himself to miscarriages; so humble he was and pitiful. 55 There the wicked, he says, have ceased from the heat of anger. Then finally an encomium of death, because some have desisted from wickedness, while others have been freed from misery, some have found a haven from terrible things, others a hindrance to their evil; and the greatest thing, that it is not possible to expect again the

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ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ μήτρας μητρὸς 16b ἢ ὥσπερ νήπιοι, οἳ οὐκ εἶδον φῶς. τί λέγεις; οὐχὶ σὺ εἶπας· εἰ τὰ μὲν ἀγαθὰ ἐδεξάμεθα παρὰ κυρίου, τὰ δὲ κακὰ οὐχ ὑποίσομεν; τί γέγονεν; ἀθρόον μετέπεσες καὶ ἐπαρᾷ σου τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν γένεσιν αἰτιᾷ σὺ τὴν σεαυτοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα παρόντων τῶν ἀκροατῶν; σὺ δὲ οὐ θαυμάζεις, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκεῖνα ἐφθέγξατο τὰ ῥήματα, ὅτι «τίνα ἀντὶ τίνων ἀπολαμβάνω; ταῦτά μοι ἀντὶ τῆς φιλοξενίας; ταῦτα ἀντὶ τῆς πολλῆς φιλανθρωπίας;» ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν εἶπεν, ὥσπερ δὲ δικαίως ὑπομένων, ἅπερ ὑπέμενεν, καὶ κατ' ἀξίαν καὶ κατὰ λόγον ηὔξατο μὴ γενέσθαι, ὅπερ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα ἔλεγεν ὁ Χριστός· καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ, εἰ μὴ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ οὗτός φησιν· «διὰ τί ἐγενόμην; βέλτιον ἦν μὴ γενέσθαι.» 3,17a ἐκεῖ ἀσεβεῖς ἔπαυσαν θυμὸν ὀργῆς, 17b ἐκεῖ ἀνεπαύσαντο κατάκοποι τῷ σώματι. 3,18a ὁμοθυμαδὸν δὲ δι' 53 αἰῶνος 18b οὐκ ἤκουσαν φωνὴν φορολόγου. 3,19a μικρὸς καὶ μέγας ἐκεῖ ἐστι 19b καὶ θεράπων οὐ δεδοικὼς τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ. τί λέγεις, ὅτι ἀσεβὴς καὶ πονηρὸς ἐγώ, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτοι ταύτης ἔτυχον τῆς παραμυθίας; 3,20a ἵνα τί γάρ, φησίν, δέδοται τοῖς ἐν πικρίᾳ ψυχῆς φῶς, 20b ζωὴ δὲ ταῖς ἐν ὀδύναις ψυχαῖς; 3,21a οἳ ὁμείρονται τοῦ θανάτου καὶ οὐ τυγχάνουσιν, 21b ἀνορύσσουσι δὲ αὐτὸν ὥσπερ θησαυρόν, 3,22 περιχαρεῖς δὲ ἐγένοντο, ἐὰν κατατύχωσιν αὐτοῦ. 3,23a θάνατος γὰρ ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυσις, οὗ ἡ ὁδὸς ἀπεκρύβη· 23b συνέκλεισε γὰρ ὁ θεὸς κατ' αὐτοῦ. θαύμασον καὶ ἐνταῦθα αὐτοῦ τὴν εὐλάβειαν, πῶς ἐπιθυμεῖ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ οὐ τυγχάνει, καὶ οὐκ ἐτόλμα ἑαυτὸν διαχρήσασθαι. ταῦτα δὲ οὐχὶ ἐγκαλοῦντός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ διαποροῦντος καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν οὐχ εὑρίσκοντος. ὥσπερ ὁ Χριστὸς εἰπὼν καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ, εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἐδήλωσεν, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτι δεινὰ αὐτὸν ἀναμένει καὶ χαλεπά, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ Ἰὼβ λέγων «εἴθε μὴ ἐγεννήθην» οὐ τῆς δημιουργίας τοῦ θεοῦ κατατρέχει, ἀλλὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς παρίστησιν. διὰ τί «εἴθε μὴ ἐγεννήθην»; ὅτι ἄδικόν τι πέπονθας; «οὐδαμῶς» φησίν, «ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐ φέρω τὴν συμφοράν.» καὶ ὅρα τὴν εὐλάβειαν· ἅπαντα τὸν θυμὸν εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκχέει οὐ τολμῶν τοῦτον ὑπερβῆναι τὸν ὅρον, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ συνεχῶς λέγων ἡμέρα καὶ νὺξ καὶ νὺξ καὶ ἡμέρα καὶ πλέον οὐδέν· καίτοι ἤρκει τὸ πρῶτον 54 ῥῆμα ἅπαντα παραστῆσαι. εἰπὼν γὰρ ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθην πάντα τὰ ἐνταῦθα ἐδήλωσεν, ἵνα εἴπῃ, ὅτι «τέως τῶν παρόντων οὐκ ἐπειρώμην δεινῶν, κἂν μὴ μισθὸν εὐσεβείας ἐκομιζόμην.» τίνος ἕνεκεν εἶπε τὸ μὴ ἔλθοι εἰς αὐτὴν φέγγος καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα; ἔθος τοῖς ἀλγοῦσι περιττολογεῖν. μὴ τοίνυν ὑπὸ ἀσεβεῖς εὐθύνας τοὺς λόγους ἀγάγωμεν· ὃν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς δικαιοῖ, τίς κατακρινεῖ; ἡ ἡμέρα, φησίν, ἐκείνη εἴη σκότος καὶ μὴ ἀναζητήσαι αὐτὴν ὁ κύριος ἄνωθεν μηδὲ ἔλθοι εἰς αὐτὴν φέγγος, ἐκλάβοι δὲ αὐτὴν σκότος καὶ σκιὰ θανάτου. τί τοῦτο ἐκείνου διαφέρει; καὶ πάλιν· καταράσαιτο αὐτὴν ὁ καταρώμενος τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ὁ μέλλων τὸ μέγα κῆτος χειροῦσθαι. τί βούλεται ἐνταῦθα τὸ κῆτος; τὴν πολλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν ἐνδείκνυται. νῦν ἂν κοιμηθείς, φησίν, ἡσύχασα, ὑπνώσας δὲ ἀνεπαυσάμην μετὰ βασιλέων καὶ βουλευτῶν γῆς. ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Ἠλίας φησίν· ἱκανούσθω μοι, μὴ ἐγὼ κρείττων εἰμὶ τῶν πατέρων μου; καὶ μετὰ ἀρχόντων, φησίν, ὧν πολὺς ὁ χρυσός. ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ καὶ ἐκείνους καταστέλλειν καὶ πείθειν μὴ μέγα νομίζειν εἶναι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα πράγματα. οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ ὡς ἔτυχε τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἐνταῦθα παρήγαγεν, οἳ ἐγαυριῶντο, φησίν, ἐπὶ ξίφεσιν. ὅρα καὶ ἐν τῇ συμφορᾷ φιλόσοφα ῥήματα. οὐδὲν ἐκείνων ὁ πλοῦτος προέστη, οὐδὲν ἐκείνους ἡ δύναμις ὠφέλησεν. ὁ θάνατος πάντων περιεγένετο. ἢ ὥσπερ, φησίν, ἔκτρωμα ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ μήτρας μητρός. ὅρα, πῶς, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ ἑαυτὸν ἐπαίρειν, καὶ τοῖς ἀμβλωθριδίοις ἑαυτὸν παραβάλλει· οὕτω ταπεινὸς ἦν καὶ ἐλεεινός. 55 ἐκεῖ ἀσεβεῖς, φησίν, ἔπαυσαν θυμὸν ὀργῆς. εἶτα λοιπὸν ἐγκώμιον θανάτου, ὅτι οἱ μὲν τῆς κακίας ἀπέστησαν, οἱ δὲ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας ἀπηλλάγησαν, οἱ μὲν εὗρον λιμένα τῶν δεινῶν, οἱ δὲ κώλυμα τῆς πονηρίας· καὶ τὸ μέγιστον, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἔστι πάλιν προσδοκῆσαι τὰ