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I will speak and from my heart I will say and I will set forth my own justifications. And by *rod* he means the examination and the torments; and *let it twist* instead of *let it strangle, let it turn about, let it strike with terror*. And he makes the deliverance from torments a proof of his superintendence. 10, 1 *Groaning, I will let loose my words upon myself. I will speak, being seized by bitterness of soul.* Observe how he secures us from conceiving anything amiss concerning him. For these things, he says, groaning and being seized by evils, I will not bring any blasphemy against God, but I will turn the words of despair against myself. And he said these things because from the beginning he had said, *Let the day perish in which I was born*, showing that he uttered nothing against God, but turned the words of despair against himself, and this while being seized by bitterness of soul. And he all but clearly says as follows: Against God indeed I utter nothing, may it not be; but if I speak at all, I speak because of the excessive affliction, and the speaking is not mine, but the words belong to the disease. He shows, then, that he did not even speak words against himself nor utter anything at all, but was philosophical and persevered and loved silence, if not that the magnitude of the pains themselves, and then also the provocation of his friends, compelled him to speak. But he speaks, as we said, nothing unseemly nor discordant against God, as we have shown through all his words and God in addition 103 bore witness, declaring him to be righteous. Therefore, in behalf of Job, the following serves as his defense for whatever, even if something despairing, he uttered at all: the very fact of being human and not bearing the torments without feeling, and the excesses of his misfortunes, and the precision of his virtue, and the simplicity and guilelessness of his character, as of a son speaking with boldness to a father, and the fact that through all his words he uttered nothing difficult concerning God, but only showed that he not unreasonably longed for death, and that the suspicion of his friends concerning him was not true, and, the chief point of all, God's own impartial verdict, declaring him righteous. For *if it is God who justifies, who is he that condemns?* the holy apostle says somewhere. 10, 2 *And I will say to the Lord: Do not teach me to be impious; {and why have you judged me so?}* These things I ask, he says, all but saying: Cease, O Master, the evils against me, lest, being terrified as is likely, I should utter something inconsistent, or, despairing under the torments, I should let slip a word of impiety. And he seems in a way, and according to another reason, to express the same thought as the blessed David. For when he says that *the Lord will not permit the rod of sinners to be upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to iniquities*, and implores that the unjust not prevail over the just for long, lest the just, being constrained by necessity, should themselves also do something impious, this man also expresses the same thought, that: Do not prolong the torments for me for long, 104 Master, lest, as is likely, I do something unwillingly. Wherefore he also adds: 10, 23 *And why have you judged me so? Or is it good for you, if I should do wrong?* The *why*, as we have also often said above, he says not in an explanatory way, but in a supplicatory way, as if saying: It is not good for you, Master, nor pleasing that I should be turned to injustice; have mercy, therefore. For many, not bearing their misfortunes, have been turned to injustice. And see if the apostle also, having understood something of this kind, said: *reaffirm your love for him, so that such a one may not be swallowed up by excessive sorrow;* then he adds: *lest we be outwitted by Satan,* since men are by nature prone in excessive trials to despair and to do something of those things that seem good to the devil. As from his own person, therefore, on behalf of us all the blessed Job beseeches God to allow temptations against us sparingly, lest we be swallowed up by excessive sorrow. 10, 3 *that I should renounce the works of your hands, and you have had regard for the counsel of the impious?* Again, as to a maker he beseeches God not to overlook his own creation. And the saint is gently fully convinced that he has been handed over to the devil; for he calls this one and the demons with him 'impious'; but the providence, on account of which the evil one rises up against him, he has not yet been able to learn. Wherefore it seems to me that he also turns various arguments, on the one hand

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λαλήσω καὶ ἀπὸ καρδίας εἴπω καὶ τὰς ἐμὰς δικαιολογίας παραθῶμαι. ῥάβδον δὲ τὸ ἐταστικὸν καὶ τὰς βασάνους φησίν· στροβείτω δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγχέτω, περιστρεφέτω, καταπλησσέτω. δεῖγμα δὲ ποιεῖται τῆς ἐπιτροπῆς τὴν τῶν βασάνων ἀπαλλαγήν. 10, 1 στένων ἐπαφήσω ἐπ' ἐμαυτὸν τὰ ῥήματά μου. λαλήσω πικρίᾳ ψυχῆς συνεχόμενος. θεώρει, πῶς ἡμᾶς ἀσφαλίζεται, μηδὲν ἄτοπον ἐννοεῖν περὶ αὐτοῦ. καὶ ταῦτα γάρ, φησίν, στένων καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς συνεχόμενος οὐ κατὰ θεοῦ βλασφημίαν ἐποίσω τινά, ἀλλὰ κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ τὰ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας τρέψω ῥήματα. ταῦτα δὲ εἶπεν, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔλεγεν· ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθην, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐδὲν κατὰ θεοῦ ἐφθέγξατο, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας ἔτρεψεν ῥήματα, καὶ ταῦτα πικρίᾳ ψυχῆς συνεχόμενος. καὶ μονονουχὶ σαφῶς λέγει ὡς· κατὰ θεοῦ μὲν οὐδὲν φθέγγομαι, μὴ γένοιτο· εἰ δέ τι ὅλως καὶ λαλῶ, ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν κακώσεως φθέγγομαι, καὶ οὐκ ἐμὸν τὸ λαλεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῆς νόσου τὰ ῥήματα. δείκνυσιν οὖν, ὅτι οὐδὲ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐλάλει ῥήματα οὐδὲ ὅλως ἐφθέγξατό τι, ἀλλ' ἐνεφιλοσόφει καὶ ἐνεκαρτέρει καὶ ἠγάπα τὴν σιωπήν, εἰ μὴ τὸ μέγεθος αὐτῶν τῶν ὀδυνῶν, εἶτα καὶ ὁ τῶν φίλων παροξυσμὸς λαλεῖν ἠνάγκαζεν. λαλεῖ δέ, ὡς ἔφημεν, οὐδὲν ἀπρεπὲς οὐδὲ ἀπηχὲς κατὰ θεοῦ, ὡς ἡμεῖς τε δι' ὅλων αὐτοῦ τῶν λόγων ἐπεδείξαμεν καὶ ὁ θεὸς προσε 103 μαρτύρησε δίκαιον αὐτὸν ἀποφηνάμενος. ἀπολογεῖται οὖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰὼβ ὑπὲρ ὧν ὅλως, κἂν ὀλίγωρόν τι, ἐφθέγξατο αὐτὸ τὸ ἄνθρωπον εἶναι καὶ μὴ ἀναλγήτως τὰς βασάνους φέρειν καὶ αἱ τῶν συμφορῶν ὑπερβολαὶ καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀκρίβεια καὶ τὸ ἁπλοῦν τοῦ τρόπου καὶ ἄδολον ὡς υἱοῦ πρὸς πατέρα μετὰ παρρησίας φθεγγομένου καὶ τὸ διὰ πάντων αὐτοῦ τῶν λόγων μηδὲν μὲν δυσχερὲς φθέγξασθαι περὶ θεοῦ, δεικνύναι δὲ μόνον, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπεικότως ποθεῖ τὸν θάνατον, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἀληθὴς ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ τῶν φίλων ὑπόνοια, καὶ τὸ δὴ πάντων κεφάλαιον αὐτὴ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ ἀδέκαστος ψῆφος δίκαιον αὐτὸν ἀποφηναμένη. εἰ γὰρ θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν, τίς ὁ κατακρίνων; ὁ ἱερός πού φησιν ἀπόστολος. 10, 2 καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς κύριον· μή με ἀσεβεῖν δίδασκε: {καὶ διὰ τί με οὕτως ἔκρινας;} ταῦτα ἱκετεύω, φησίν, μονονουχὶ λέγων· παῦσον, ὦ δέσποτα, τὰ κατ' ἐμοῦ κακά, ἵνα μὴ ὡς εἰκὸς ἐκπλαγεὶς ἀνακόλουθόν τι φθέγξωμαι ἢ κατολιγωρήσας ὑπὸ τῶν βασάνων ἀσεβείας ἀφήσω λόγον. καὶ ἔοικέ πως καὶ καθ' ἕτερον λόγον τὴν αὐτὴν ἔννοιαν λέγειν τῷ μακαρίῳ ∆αυίδ. ἐκείνου γὰρ λέγοντος, ὅτι οὐκ ἀφήσει κύριος τὴν ῥάβδον τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐπὶ τὸν κλῆρον τῶν δικαίων, ὅπως ἂν μὴ ἐκτείνωσιν οἱ δίκαιοι ἐν ἀνομίαις χεῖρας αὐτῶν, καὶ ἱκετεύοντος μὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ κατισχῦσαι τοὺς ἀδίκους τῶν δικαίων, ἵνα μὴ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης οἱ δίκαιοι συγκλειόμενοι καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀσεβές τι πράξωσιν, καὶ οὗτος τὴν αὐτὴν ἔννοιάν φησιν ὅτι· μὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ παρατείνῃς μοι τὰς βασάνους, 104 δέσποτα, ἵνα μὴ ἀβούλητόν τι ὡς εἰκὸς πράξω. διὸ καὶ ἐπιφέρει· 10, 23 καὶ διὰ τί με οὕτως ἔκρινας; ἢ καλόν σοι, ἐὰν ἀδικήσω; τὸ διὰ τί, ὡς καὶ ἀνωτέρω πολλάκις εἴπομεν, οὐκ αἰτιολογικῶς, ἀλλ' ἱκετευτικῶς λέγει, οἱονεὶ λέγων· οὐ καλόν σοι, δέσποτα, οὐδὲ ἀρεστὸν τὸ εἰς ἀδικίαν με τραπῆναι, οἰκτείρησον τοίνυν. πολλοὶ γὰρ τὰς συμφορὰς οὐ φέροντες εἰς ἀδικίαν ἐτράπησαν. καὶ ὅρα, εἰ καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος τοιοῦτόν τι νοήσας ἔλεγεν· κυρώσατε εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπην, ἵνα μὴ ὑπὸ τῆς περισσοτέρας λύπης καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος· εἶτα ἐπάγει· ἵνα μὴ πλεονεκτηθῶμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ, ὡς πεφυκότων τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν ταῖς ἄγαν περιστάσεσι κατολιγωρεῖν καὶ πράττειν τι τῶν τῷ διαβόλῳ δοκούντων. ὡς ἐξ οἰκείου τοίνυν προσώπου ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων ὁ μακάριος Ἰὼβ ἱκετεύει τὸν θεὸν πεφεισμένως συγχωρεῖν καθ' ἡμῶν τοὺς πειρασμούς, ἵνα μὴ τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθῶμεν. 10, 3 ὅτι ἀπείπω ἔργα χειρῶν σου, βουλῇ δὲ ἀσεβῶν προσέσχες. πάλιν ὡς ποιητὴν ἱκετεύει θεὸν μὴ παριδεῖν ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ποίημα. καὶ ἠρέμα μὲν πληροφορεῖται ὁ ἅγιος, ὅτι τῷ διαβόλῳ παραδέδοται· τοῦτον γὰρ καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ δαίμονας ἀσεβεῖς φησιν· τὴν δὲ πρόνοιαν, δι' ἣν ὁ πονηρὸς αὐτοῦ κατεξανίσταται, οὔπω μαθεῖν δεδύνηται. διό μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ποικίλους περιστρέφειν λόγους, τοῦτο μὲν