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tears, wherefore he was also assured of the cause of the contests. And the shedding of tears before the Lord happens to those who weep blessedly.

CHAPTER 19

“And Job answered and said: How long will you vex my soul?” See how they not only offer no consolation, but do the opposite, cooperating with the devil, and allying with him, and tearing down the strength of the just man; for he adds: “And you break me in pieces with words?” Instead of, you hasten to cast down my justifications with contradictions, and like enemies you send words instead of arrows, until having exhausted the endurance of my soul, you carry away an unjust victory; the past was not enough, but even now you three, as from one mouth, utter the same things. “Neighbors of my house, and my maidservants, I was a stranger before them.” Great is the trial of the devil. Those of his household who were left to him made the calamity harder to bear than those who had departed; for the latter were no longer doing anything, but the former also reproached, and disobeyed, and spoke against him, and did the other things which he adds: “They that saw me abhorred me; those whom I had loved rose up against me.” I have become, he says, one to be shunned by those who formerly conversed with me, and I have as enemies those who formerly loved me; for my companions, seeing me approach and in need of their consolation, fled as from an evil omen; and those who were formerly familiar, and in need of my assistance, and indeed, having been well-treated by me, did evil to me. David also sings something of this kind: They have rendered me evil for good, and hatred for my love. “With an iron pen and lead, or to be engraved in the rocks?” For behold, it was written, not with an iron pen, but much more than he had asked; for those things, even if they had happened, time would have consumed, but these things have been written more greatly. “To raise up my skin which endures these things.” Would that, he says, God would raise my skin that has endured these things. And from this we are taught an ecclesiastical dogma, that the body which endures temptations and torments, it rises together with the soul, so that it may also enjoy together; for this reason he said, that which 64.621 endures these things. For it is not just for one thing to suffer, and another to rise. Therefore he knew about the resurrection, it seems to me, and about the resurrection of bodies, unless someone says the resurrection is the release from the terrible things that held him. And he well proposes a reasonable cause for the change. He himself, he says, struck, he himself will also heal, and he who surrounded me with terrible things, he himself will also show this wretched body to be pure from sufferings; at last, then, having delivered me from my many sufferings, may he grant a truce from the labors that lie upon me. However, Theodotion's version, *My kinsman lives, and at the last he shall stand upon the earth*, persuades one to join the two verses, and to read thus: For I know that he is eternal who is about to release me upon the earth, to raise up my skin which endures these things. And the meaning is this: God is immortal, whose offspring we are; and having dissolved me into the earth through death, he will raise me again from the earth through the resurrection; or also having released me from the sickness, that is, having set me free, he will renew my skin which has been corrupted by the discharge; for he himself causes pain, and again restores, he kills and he makes alive. Wherefore he adds:

CHAPTER 20

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δάκρυα, διὸ καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπληροφόρησε. Γίνεται δὲ τὸ στάζειν ἔναντι Κυρίου τὰ δάκρυα τοῖς μακαρίως κλαίουσιν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΘʹ

«Ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ἰὼβ, λέγει· Ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπονποιήσητε ψυχήν μου;» Ὅρα οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν εἰσφέροντας ἀπὸ τῆς παραμυθίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ποιοῦντας, συμπράττοντας τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ συμμαχοῦντας, καὶ καθαιροῦντας τοῦ δικαίου τὴν ἰσχύν· ἐπάγει γάρ· «Καὶ καθαιρεῖτέ με λόγοις;» Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Καταβαλεῖν σπουδάζετε ταῖς ἀντιλογίαις τὰς ἐμὰς δικαιολογίας, καὶ πολεμίων δίκην ἀντὶ βελῶν τοὺς λόγους πέμπετε, ἄχρις οὗ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἔνστασιν ἐκλύσαντες, ἄδικον ἀπενέγκησθε τὴν νίκην· οὐκ ἤρκεσε τὰ παρελθόντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν οἱ τρεῖς, ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος, τὰ αὐτὰ φθέγγεσθε. «Γείτονες οἰκίας, θεράπαιναί τέ μου, ἀλλογενὴς ἤμην ἐναντίον αὐτῶν.» Πολλὴ ἡ πεῖρα τοῦ διαβόλου. Οἱ περιλειφθέντες αὐτῷ οἰκείων, χαλεπωτέραν εἰργάσαντο τὴν συμφορὰν τῶν ἀπελθόντων· ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐποίουν λοιπὸν, οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ὠνείδιζον, καὶ παρήκουον, καὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐλάλουν, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔπραττον ἅπερ ἐπάγει· «Ἐβδελύξαντό με οἱ ἰδόντες με· οὓς δὴ ἠγαπήκειν, ἐπανέστησάν μοι.» Φευκτὸς, φησὶν, ὑπὸ τῶν πρώην συνομιλούντων γέγονα, καὶ πολεμίους ἔσχον τοὺς πρώην ἀγαπῶντας· οἵ τε γὰρ συνόμιλοί μου προϊόντα βλέποντες, καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν δεόμενον παραμυθίας, ὥσπερ ἀποτρόπαιον ἔφυγον· οἵ τε ᾠκειωμένοι πρότερον, καὶ τῆς παρ' ἐμοῦ ἐπικουρίας δεόμενοι, καὶ μέντοι καὶ εὐεργετηθέντες παρ' ἐμοῦ, διέθεσάν μοι κακά. Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ∆αβὶδ ψάλλει· Ἔθεντο κατ' ἐμοῦ κακὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μῖσος ἀντὶ τῆς ἀγαπήσεώς μου. «Ἐν γραφείῳ σιδηρῷ καὶ μολίβῳ, ἢ ἐν πέτραις ἐγγλυφῆναι;» Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐγράφη, οὐκ ἐν γραφείῳ σιδηρῷ, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ᾔτησεν· ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ, εἰ καὶ ἐγένετο, χρόνος ἀνάλωσε, ταῦτα δὲ μειζόνως ἐγράφη. «Ἀναστῆσαι τὸ δέρμα μου τὸ ἀναντλοῦν ταῦτα.» Εἴθε, φησὶν, ἀναστήσαι ὁ Θεὸς τὸ δέρμα μου τὸ ὑπομεῖναν ταῦτα. ∆όγμα δὲ ἐντεῦθεν διδασκόμεθα ἐκκλησιαστικὸν, ὅτι τὸ σῶμα τὸ τοὺς πειρασμοὺς ὑπομένον καὶ τὰς βασάνους, αὐτὸ συνανίσταται τῇ ψυχῇ, ἵνα καὶ συναπολαύσῃ· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπε, τὸ 64.621 ἀναντλοῦν ταῦτα. Οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον, ἄλλο μὲν πάσχειν, ἄλλο δὲ ἀνίστασθαι. Ἄρα ᾔδει περὶ ἀναστάσεως, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, καὶ περὶ ἀναστάσεως σωμάτων, εἰ μή τις λέγει ἀνάστασιν εἶναι τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν κατεχόντων αὐτὸν δεινῶν. Καλῶς δὲ αἰτίαν εὔλογον τίθησι τῆς μεταβολῆς. Αὐτὸς, φησὶν, ἔπληξεν, αὐτὸς καὶ ἰάσεται, καὶ ὁ τοῖς δεινοῖς περιβαλὼν, αὐτὸς καὶ καθαρὸν τῶν παθῶν ἀναδείξει καὶ τουτὶ τὸ δύστηνον σῶμα· ὀψὲ γοῦν ποτε τῆς πολυπαθείας ἀπαλλάξας, ἐκεχειρίαν τῶν ἐπικειμένων παράσχοι πόνων. Ὁ μέντοι Θεοδοτίων ἐκδοὺς, Ὁ ἀγχιστεύς μου ζῇ, καὶ ἔσχατον ἐπὶ χώματος ἀναστήσει, πείθει συνάπτειν τοὺς δύο στίχους, καὶ οὕτως ἀναγινώσκειν· Οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι ἀένναός ἐστιν ὁ ἐκλύειν με μέλλων ἐπὶ γῆς, ἀναστῆσαι τὸ δέρμα μου τὸ ἀναντλοῦν ταῦτα. Ὁ δὲ νοῦς οὗτος· Ἀθάνατός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, οὗ γένος ἐσμέν· ἐμὲ δὲ εἰς γῆν ἀναλύσας διὰ θανάτου, πάλιν ἐκ γῆς ἐγερεῖ διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως· ἢ καὶ τῆς νόσου ἐκλύσας, τουτέστιν, ἐλευθερώσας, πάλιν ἀνακαινίσει τὸ δέρμα μου τὸ τοῖς ἰχῶρσι διαφθαρέν· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ, καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθίστησιν, ἀποκτείνει καὶ ζωοποιεῖ. ∆ιὸ ἐπάγει·

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Κʹ