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that: I am pure in my works and blameless before him. But how might the Lord speak to you and open his lips with you? Then he would tell you the power of wisdom, that it will be double of what concerns you. And then you will know that what has come to you from the Lord is worthy of what you have sinned. Would that, he says, God had conversed with you so that, having learned his wisdom and his superiority in justice, you would no longer dare to say that: I am pure and blameless, but you would know that God has assigned to you what is according to your worth, inflicting punishments equal to your sins. And "that it will be double of what concerns you" signifies this: great is 112 the superiority of God towards one who says, as you do, that he is wise and just. And if he is wiser and more just than we are, he has wisely and justly inflicted the punishments upon you. 11, 7 Will you find the track of the Lord or have you come to the farthest things, which the Almighty has made? Unattainable for you, he says, are the things of God, and it is impossible to find the ways of his providence, or to reach to the end of his counsels or of his creations. 11, 8 The heaven is higher, and what will you do? And deeper than the things in Hades, what do you know? How could you reach, he says, how great the height of heaven is—for this is what "and what will you do?" signifies; instead of: you will be unable to find—or what things are under Hades? 11, 9 Or longer measures of the earth or the breadth of the sea. Do you know, he says, the measure of the earth, how great it is, or the breadth of the sea? 11, 10 And if he should overturn all things, who will say to him: What have you done? And if he should wish to turn all things upside down, who will speak against his commands and so great an authority? Then, so that he might not seem to say that: he inflicted the punishments upon you according to his authority and not according to what is just, he quickly added: 11, 11 For he himself knows the works of the lawless, and seeing lawless things he will not overlook them. As powerful, therefore, and wise, he says, and just, he did not overlook you when you were lawless, but he punished you. 113 11, 12 But a man swims otherwise in words, but a mortal born of a woman is like a wild ass. God, then, he says, is so great and of such a kind, but man prattles idly and in vain, differing in nothing from an ass in the lowliness of his nature, insofar as it relates to the divine wisdom and superiority. And he spoke of a wild ass because of its unsubmissiveness. And saying this, he alluded to Job as being both a babbler and unsubmissive to God. 11, 1314 For if you made your heart pure, and you stretch out your hands to him, if there is anything lawless in your hands, put it far from you, and let not injustice lodge in your dwelling. Symmachus, instead of: "and you stretch out your hands to him," has rendered it _y_o_u_ _w_i_l_l_ _s_t_r_e_t_c_h_ _o_u_t_ _y_o_u_r_ _p_a_l_m_s_ _t_o_ _h_i_m_. The tenses here are therefore interchanged, but the meaning is this: if you listen to me at all, purify your heart and stretch out your hands to God in prayer and no longer act unjustly or lawlessly, and you will have these things and those things which he says next. And Zophar seems to be advising Job, yet he also strikes him as one being punished for sin. 11, 15 For so your face will shine like pure water. For if you repent, he says, your extinguished and troubled face from the calamities will shine forth and be as clear as pure water, so as to say that: you will receive back your former happiness. 114 11, 15 And you will cast off filth and will not be afraid. Since Job said: "you have dipped me sufficiently in filth," Zophar says that: and this filth—that is, adversity—you will cast off and will no longer be afraid, lest anything difficult should meet you in the future. 11, 16 And you will forget your labor like a wave that has passed by, and you will not be dismayed. But not even a trace of your labors will be left for you, nor a memory of the calamities, just as no traces are left of a wave that has passed. 11, 17 And your prayer will be like the morning star. Instead of: most bright, pure, that is: effectual. 11, 17 And from the noonday life will arise for you. Or he says this, that: your life will shine forth like the sun at noonday; or since at noonday, being overhead, the sun makes a shadow neither behind nor in front, he says that: since now your affairs lie as if in the middle of a balance on a razor's edge, from this precipitous situation of yours your life will shine forth, if

37

ὅτι· καθαρός εἰμι τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ ἄμεμπτος ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ. ἀλλὰ πῶς ἂν ὁ κύριος λαλήσαι πρὸς σὲ καὶ διανοίξαι χείλη αὐτοῦ μετὰ σοῦ; εἶτα ἀναγγελεῖ σοι δύναμιν σοφίας, ὅτι διπλοῦς ἔσται τῶν κατὰ σέ. καὶ τότε γνώσῃ, ὅτι ἄξια σοι ἀπέβη παρὰ κυρίου ὧν ἡμάρτηκας. εἴθε, φησίν, ἦν θεὸν διαλεχθῆναί σοι ἵνα μαθὼν τὴν αὐτοῦ σοφίαν καὶ τὴν κατὰ δικαιοσύνην ὑπεροχὴν μηκέτι τολμήσῃς λέγειν ὅτι· καθαρός εἰμι καὶ ἄμεμπτος, ἀλλὰ γνῷς ὅτι τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἀπένειμέ σοι ὁ θεὸς ἰσομέτρους τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι τὰς τιμωρίας ἐπαγαγών. τὸ δὲ ὅτι διπλοῦς ἔσται τῶν κατὰ σέ τοῦτο δηλοῖ· πολλή ἐστιν 112 ἡ ὑπεροχὴ τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν λέγοντα ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ σὺ σοφὸν εἶναι καὶ δίκαιον. εἰ δὲ καὶ σοφώτερος ἡμῶν ἐστι καὶ δικαιότερος, σοφῶς καὶ δικαίως ἐπήγαγέν σοι τὰς τιμωρίας. 11, 7 ἦ ἴχνος κυρίου εὑρήσεις ἢ εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα ἀφίκου, ἃ ἐποίησεν ὁ παντοκράτωρ; ἀνέφικτά σοι, φησίν, τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ τῆς προνοίας εὑρεῖν ἀμήχανον ἢ ἄχρι τέλους τῶν βουλευμάτων αὐτοῦ φθάσαι ἢ τῶν ποιημάτων. 11, 8 ὑψηλότερος ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ τί ποιήσεις; βαθύτερα δὲ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου τί οἶδας; πῶς δ' ἂν ἐφίκοιο, φησίν, πόσον ἐστὶ τὸ ὕψος τοῦ οὐρανοῦτοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ καὶ τί ποιήσεις; ἀντὶ τοῦ· ἀμηχανήσεις εὑρεῖν, ἢ τίνα εἰσὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τὸν ᾅδην; 11, 9 ἢ μακρότερα μέτρα γῆς ἢ εὖρος θαλάσσης. οἶδας, δέ φησιν, τῆς γῆς τὸ μέτρον, πόσον ἐστίν, ἢ τῆς θαλάσσης τὸ πλάτος; 11, 10 ἐὰν δὲ καταστρέψῃ τὰ πάντα, τίς ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ· τί ἐποίησας; εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰ πάντα ἀναστρέψαι βουληθῇ, τίς ἀντερεῖ τοῖς αὐτοῦ νεύμασι καὶ τῇ τοσαύτῃ ἐξουσίᾳ; εἶτα, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ λέγειν ὅτι· κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐπήγαγέ σοι τὰς τιμωρίας καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον, ταχέως ἐπήγαγεν· 11, 11 αὐτὸς γὰρ οἶδεν ἔργα ἀνόμων, ἰδὼν δὲ ἄνομα οὐ παρόψεται. ὡς δυνατὸς τοίνυν καὶ σοφός, φησίν, καὶ δίκαιος ἀνομοῦντά σε οὐ παρεῖδεν, ἀλλ' ἐτιμωρήσατο. 113 11, 12 ἄνθρωπος δὲ ἄλλως νήχεται λόγοις, βροτὸς δὲ γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ἴσα ὄνῳ ἐρημίτῃ. ὁ μὲν οὖν θεός, φησίν, τοσοῦτός ἐστι καὶ τοιοῦτος, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος εἰκῇ καὶ μάτην φλυαρεῖ οὐδὲν ὄνου κατὰ τὸ εὐτελὲς τῆς φύσεως ὅσον πρὸς τὴν θείαν σοφίαν καὶ ὑπεροχὴν διαφέρων. ἐρημίτην δὲ ὄνον ἔφη διὰ τὸ ἀνυπότακτον. τοῦτο δὲ αἰνιττόμενος τὸν Ἰὼβ ἔφησεν ὡς καὶ φλύαρον καὶ πρὸς θεὸν ἀνυπότακτον. 11, 1314 εἰ γὰρ σὺ καθαρὰν ἔθου τὴν καρδίαν σου, ὑπτιάζεις δὲ καὶ χεῖρας πρὸς αὐτόν, εἰ ἄνομόν τί ἐστιν ἐν χερσί σου, πόρρω ποίησον αὐτὸ ἀπὸ σοῦ, ἀδικία δὲ ἐν διαίτῃ σου μὴ αὐλισθήτω. ὁ Σύμμαχος ἀντὶ τοῦ· ὑπτιάζεις δὲ χεῖρας πρὸς αὐτόν _ἁ_π_λ_ώ_σ_ε_ι_ς_ _π_ρ_ὸ_ς_ _α_ὐ_τ_ὸ_ν_ _τ_ὰ_ς_ _π_α_λ_ά_μ_α_ς_ _σ_ο_υ ἐκδέδωκεν. οἱ οὖν χρόνοι ἐνταῦθα ἐνηλλαγμένοι εἰσίν, ὁ δὲ νοῦς οὗτος· εἴ τι μοι πείθῃ, κάθαρόν σου τὴν καρδίαν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἅπλωσον πρὸς θεὸν εἰς εὐχὴν καὶ μηκέτι ἀδικήσῃς ἢ ἀνομήσῃς, καὶ ἔσονταί σοι τάδε καὶ τάδε ἅπερ ἐφεξῆς φησιν. καὶ δοκεῖ μὲν ὁ Σωφὰρ παραινεῖν τῷ Ἰώβ, πλὴν καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτὸν πλήττει ὡς δι' ἁμαρτίας κολαζόμενον. 11, 15 οὕτω γὰρ ἀναλάμψει σου τὸ πρόσωπον ὥσπερ ὕδωρ καθαρόν. εἰ γὰρ μετανοήσεις, φησίν, τὸ ἐσβεσμένον καὶ συγκεχυμένον σου πρόσωπον ἀπὸ τῶν συμφορῶν ἐκλάμψει καὶ ὡς καθαρὸν ὕδωρ διαυγάσει, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· τὴν παλαιὰν εὐδαιμονίαν ἀπολήψῃ. 114 11, 15 ἐκδύσει δὲ ῥύπον καὶ οὐ φοβηθήσῃ. ἐπειδὴ ὁ Ἰὼβ ἔφη· ἱκανῶς ἐν ῥύπῳ με ἔβαψας, ὁ Σωφάρ φησιν ὅτι· καὶ τοῦτον τὸν ῥύπονὅ ἐστιν· τὴν δυσπραγίανἀποδύσῃ καὶ οὐδὲ ἔτι φοβηθήσῃ, μή τι σοι ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς δυσχερὲς ἀπαντήσῃ. 11, 16 καὶ τὸν κόπον ἐπιλήσει ὥσπερ κῦμα παρελθὸν καὶ οὐ πτοηθήσει. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἴχνος ὑποληφθήσεταί σοι τῶν κόπων οὐδὲ μνήμη τῶν συμφορῶν ὥσπερ οὐδὲ κύματος παρελθόντος ἴχνη καταλιμπάνονται. 11, 17 ἡ δὲ εὐχή σου ὥσπερ ἑωσφόρος. ἀντὶ τοῦ· ὑπέρλαμπρος, καθαρά, τουτέστιν· ἀνύουσα. 11, 17 ἐκ δὲ μεσημβρίας ἀνατελεῖ σοι ζωή. ἢ τοῦτο λέγει, ὅτι· ὡς ἥλιος ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ διαλάμψει σου ἡ ζωή· ἢ ἐπειδὴ ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ὢν ὁ ἥλιος οὔτε ὄπισθεν ποιεῖ σκιὰν οὔτε ἔμπροσθεν, φησὶν ὅτι· ἐπειδὴ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐν μέσῳ ζυγῷ ἐπὶ ξυροῦ κεῖται τὰ κατὰ σέ, ἐκ ταύτης σου τῆς ἀμφικρήμνου καταστάσεως ἀναλάμψει σου ἡ ζωή, ἐὰν