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For he himself first opposed Job, then Baldad, and after him Sophar. According to the fitting succession of speeches, therefore, he again stands up against what has been said and says: The words 15, 23 Will a wise man give an answer with a spirit of understanding and has he filled his belly with pain, refuting with words which are not needed, in speeches in which there is no profit. A spirit of understanding he calls the knowledge of the spirit. Therefore he says this to Job reproachfully, that: the perfect wise man never ostentatiously brings forth the knowledge of the spirit, nor as a zealot for the truth and as if struck in the belly by the truth does he bring forth unprofitable words. For a wise man does not do this, which you have done. He therefore makes two accusations against Job, that first of all a wise man does not ostentatiously bring forth wisdom, then that: what you said, as if refuting us and as if supposedly suffering for the sake of truth—for this is what "he filled his belly with pain" indicates—you spoke vainly and unprofitably. It is also possible to understand it this way: When, he says, O Job, does a wise man answer in such a way as to fill the souls of others with pain—for by "belly" he means the soul, as that which receives the nourishment from words—and yet 138 through words having no benefit? so that he might say: you have struck us by speaking in this way and by bringing forth vain words, which a wise man does not do. 15, 4 Have you not also cast off fear, and uttered such words before the Lord? You dared, he says, and spoke fearlessly to God, wishing to be judged. And in a manner of piety, as if avengers of God, Eliphaz and his companions say these things. 15, 56 You are guilty by the words of your mouth nor have you judged the words of the mighty. Your own mouth will convict you, and not I, and your lips will testify against you. By "mighty" he means the wise, either those older than him or even the friends who have already spoken. Not having understood, therefore, he says, nor having discerned the words of those mighty in wisdom, you spoke in such a way, that you are condemned not from elsewhere, but from your own words. 15, 79 What then? Were you born the first of men, or were you formed before the hills, or have you heard the ordinance of the Lord, and has wisdom come to you? For what do you know that we do not know, or what do you understand which we do not also? Were you, he says, born before all and before creation itself, or did God ordain with you—instead of: counsel—or have you become an initiate of his wisdom? And what more do you know than we? 15, 10 And indeed an elder and indeed an aged man is among us, older in days than your father. 139 But what are you saying, he says, that time has made you wiser? But there is one of the three of us who happens to be older not only than you, but also than your father. Or he also says this: Let us grant, he says, that you are old and older than your father, which is impossible, is it then fitting for you to boast because of your age? 15, 11 For few of your sins have you been scourged; you have spoken greatly and exceedingly. Know, therefore, that in comparison to your sins you have been lightly punished. Then, since he has no sin of Job to point out, he tries to judge from his words and says: 15, 1213 Why has your heart been so bold, that your eyes have endured it, that you have vented your wrath before the Lord, and brought such words out of your mouth? By "eyes" he means the intellective and seeing part of the soul. How then, he says, did you dare to be so lifted up in your mind and with anger, as if suffering unjustly, to speak to God as one who happens to be sinless? 15, 1416 For what mortal being will be blameless, or he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous, if he does not trust his holy ones, and heaven is not pure in his sight? Yea, abominable and unclean, a man who drinks iniquity like a drink. For what man, he says, can be blameless or profess: "I will be righteous"? For if the exceedingly holy ones, whether angels or men, and the very purity of heaven itself are impure in comparison with the purity of God, what might we say about 140 the abominable and unclean man, who drinks iniquities like a drink? And he said this because men sin by choice. And the phrase "he does not trust his holy ones" can also be understood this way: that even the angels themselves have become changeable in their

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γὰρ αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἀντικατέστη τῷ Ἰώβ, εἶτα ὁ Βαλδάδ, καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ὁ Σωφάρ, κατὰ τὴν προσήκουσαν τοίνυν τῶν λόγων διαδοχὴν πάλιν αὐτὸς ἵσταται πρὸς τὰ εἰρημένα καί φησιν· Αἱ λέξεις 15, 23 πότερον σοφὸς ἀπόκρισιν δώσει συνέσεως πνεύματι καὶ ἐνέπλησε πόνον γαστρὸς ἐλέγχων ἐν ῥήμασιν, οἷς οὐ δεῖ, ἐν λόγοις οἷς οὐδὲν ὄφελος. συνέσεως πνεῦμά φησιν τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ πνεύματος. τοῦτο οὖν ἐντρεπτικῶς λέγει πρὸς τὸν Ἰὼβ ὅτι· ὁ τέλειος σοφὸς οὐδέποτε ἐπιδεικτικῶς προφέρει τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ὡς ζηλωτὴς τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ὥσπερ πληττόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς τὴν γαστέρα προφέρει λόγους ἀνωφελεῖς. τοῦτο γὰρ σοφὸς οὐ ποιεῖ, ὅπερ σὺ πεποίηκας. δύο τοίνυν κατηγορεῖ τοῦ Ἰώβ, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν ὁ σοφὸς οὐκ ἐπιδεικτικῶς προφέρει τὴν σοφίαν, ἔπειτα ὅτι· ἃ ἐλάλησας ὡς ἐλέγχων ἡμᾶς καὶ ὡς δῆθεν πάσχων ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείαςτοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ ἐνέπλησε πόνον γαστρός, ματαίως ἐφθέγξω καὶ ἀνωφελῶς ἔστι δὲ καὶ οὕτω νοῆσαι· πότε, φησίν, σοφός, ὦ Ἰώβ, οὕτως ἀποκρίνεται ὡς ἄλλων τὰς ψυχὰς πληρῶσαι πόνουγαστέρα γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν λέγει ὡς ἀναδοτικὴν τῶν ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τροφῶνκαίτοιγε 138 διὰ ῥημάτων μηδεμίαν ἐχόντων ὄνησιν; ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· ἔπληξας ἡμᾶς οὕτω διαλεχθεὶς καὶ ματαίους προκομίσας λόγους, ὅπερ σοφὸς οὐ ποιεῖ. 15, 4 οὐ καὶ σὺ ἀπεποιήσω φόβον, συνετέλεσας δὲ ῥήματα τοιαῦτα ἐναντίον κυρίου; ἀπετόλμησας, φησίν, καὶ ἀφόβως ἐλάλησας πρὸς τὸν θεὸν θελήσας κρίνεσθαι. τρόπῳ δὲ θεοσεβείας ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ ἔκδικοι ταῦτα λέγουσιν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἐλιφάζ. 15, 56 ἔνοχος εἶ ῥήμασι στόματός σου οὐδὲ ἔκρινας ῥήματα δυναστῶν. ἐλέγξει σε τὸ σὸν στόμα καὶ μὴ ἐγώ, τὰ δὲ χείλη σου καταμαρτυρήσαισάν σε. δυναστῶν λέγει τῶν σοφῶν, ἢ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ παλαιοτέρων ἢ καὶ τῶν προειρηκότων φίλων. μὴ κατανενοηκώς, οὖν φησιν, μηδὲ διακρίνας τὰ τῶν ἐν σοφίᾳ δυνατῶν ῥήματα οὕτως ἐλάλησας, ὡς μὴ ἀλλαχόθεν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν σῶν λόγων καταδικάζεσθαι. 15, 79 τί γάρ; μὴ πρῶτος ἀνθρώπων ἐγεννήθης, ἢ πρὸ θινῶν ἐπάγης, ἢ σύνταγμα κυρίου ἀκήκοας, εἰς δέ σε ἀφίκετο σοφία; τί γὰρ οἶδας ὃ οὐκ οἴδαμεν, ἢ τί συνίεις ὃ οὐχὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς; μὴ πρὸ πάντων, φησίν, ἐγένου καὶ πρὸ αὐτῆς τῆς κτίσεως, ἢ μετὰ σοῦ ὁ θεὸς συνετάξατοἀντὶ τοῦ· ἐβουλεύσατο, ἢ μύστης τῆς αὐτοῦ σοφίας γέγονας; τί δὲ καὶ πλέον ἡμῶν ἐπίστασαι; 15, 10 καί γε πρεσβύτης καί γε παλαιὸς ἐν ἡμῖν πρεσβύτερος τοῦ πατρός σου ἡμέραις. 139 ἀλλὰ τί λέγεις, φησίν, ὅτι ὁ χρόνος σε σοφώτερον κατεσκεύασεν; ἀλλ' ἔστι τις ἐξ ἡμῶν τῶν τριῶν τυχὼν οὐ μόνον σου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ πατρός σου παλαιότερος. ἢ καὶ τοῦτο λέγει· δῶμεν, φησίν, ὅτι καὶ παλαιὸς εἶ καὶ τοῦ σοῦ πατρὸς πρεσβύτερος, ὅπερ ἀμήχανον, ἆρα ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου σε προσήκει μεγαλαυχεῖν; 15, 11 ὀλίγα ὧν ἡμάρτηκας μεμαστίγωσαι· μεγάλως ὑπερβαλλόντως λελάληκας. ἴσθι τοίνυν, ὡς πρὸς σύγκρισιν τῶν σῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐλαφρῶς ἐτιμωρήθης. εἶτα, ἐπεὶ μηδὲν ἔχει δεικνύναι τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἁμάρτημα, ἐκ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ πειρᾶται κρίνειν καί φησιν· 15, 1213 τί ἐτόλμησεν ἡ καρδία σου, ὅτι ὑπήνεγκαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου, ὅτι θυμὸν ἔρρηξας ἐναντίον κυρίου, ἐξήγαγες δὲ ἐκ στόματος ῥήματα τοιαῦτα; ὀφθαλμούς φησιν τὸ νοητικὸν καὶ ὁρατικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς. πῶς οὖν, φησίν, ἐτόλμησας τῇ διανοίᾳ σου οὕτως ἀρθῆναι καὶ μετ' ὀργῆς ὡς ἄδικα πάσχων πρὸς θεὸν διαλεχθῆναι οἷά τις ἀναμάρτητος τυγχάνων; 15, 1416 τίς γὰρ ὢν βροτὸς ἔσται ἄμεμπτος ἢ ὡς ἐσόμενος δίκαιος γεννητὸς γυναικός, εἰ κατὰ ἁγίων οὐ πιστεύει, οὐρανὸς δὲ οὐ καθαρὸς ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ; ἔα δὲ ἐβδελυγμένος καὶ ἀκάθαρτος, ἀνὴρ πίνων ἀδικίας ἴσα ποτῷ. τίς γάρ, φησίν, ἄνθρωπος ὢν δύναται ἄμεμπτος εἶναι ἢ ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι ὅτι· δίκαιος ἔσομαι; εἰ γὰρ οἱ σφόδρα ἅγιοι, εἴτε ἄγγελοι εἴτε ἄνθρωποι, καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἡ καθαρότης πρὸς τὴν σύγκρισιν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ καθαρότητος ἀκάθαρτοι, τί ἂν εἴποιμεν περὶ 140 τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ βδελυκτοῦ καὶ ἀκαθάρτου, ὃς ἴσα πώματι τὰς ἀδικίας ἐκπίνει; τοῦτο δὲ εἶπε διὰ τὸ προαιρετικῶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἁμαρτάνειν. τὸ δὲ κατὰ ἁγίων οὐ πιστεύει δυνατὸν καὶ οὕτω νοῆσαι ὅτι· καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τρεπτοὶ γεγόνασι τὴν