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Where then is my hope? 15b or shall I yet see my good things? 17,16a Or will it go down with you to Hades? 16b or shall I go down to the dust together? ‘You say to me,’ he says, ‘“Endure.”’ Where? To Hades? For he receives me next. ‘For death,’ he says, ‘I have called to be my father,’ that is: ‘death is desirable to me, by all means I must depart there.’

18,1 THEN BILDAD THE SHUHITE ANSWERED AND SAID: 18,2a How long will you not cease?

2b Hold on, that we also may speak. 18,3 Why have we been silent like four-footed beasts before you, 18,4a and you have given way to anger? See them judging him, see them wanting to silence him. This is not the act of comforters, but on the contrary of those provoking and mocking him. Hold on, he says, that we also may speak. ‘For why did we come? Was it not that we also might speak?’ Why then, he says, have we been silent like four-footed beasts before you? Do you see the ambition? They consider it a shame and the utmost folly to be silent. This is not the act of comforters. ‘You will carry off more from more,’ he says, ‘having conquered and overcome us.’ See them all accusing him of long-windedness, see them blaming and accusing. 125 18,4b For what? he says, if you die, will the world under heaven be uninhabited, 4c or will the earth be dug up from its foundations? Since he continually lamented this, that ‘I want to die,’ what sort of comfort is this? How could one have cast him down otherwise? For did he really say this, that the world under heaven will be uninhabited, or as if contributing something great to this common life did he thus mention his end? And yet on the contrary he says, that man is nothing, nor worthy of any account. For what reason then do you say these things? Then he himself also simply and at random accuses the impious, or in relation to the present subject. For they have nothing evil that he has done to convict him of. But see the wickedness; for in saying that great evils happen to the impious, they speak of these evils, which Job endured, and they weave their speech through his misfortunes as if wishing to show that they are alluding to him. For see and look both in the case of others and in his. 18,5a And the light of the impious, he says, will be extinguished. Since he was formerly in prosperity. 18,5b And their flame will not go out, he says. 18,6a His light shall be darkness in his dwelling, 6b and his lamp over him shall be extinguished. 18,7a May the least hunt down his possessions. And this happened to him. 18,7b and may his counsel be overthrown, 18,8a and may his foot be cast into a snare. That is: he is held and cannot escape. 18,8b and may he be entangled in a net. 18,9a And may snares come upon him from all sides, 9b and thirsty men shall prevail against him. 18,10a And his cord is hidden in the earth, 10b and his trap is on the paths round about, 18,11a and may pains destroy him. 11b and may he come among the feet of many in dire famine, 18,12 and a signal fall has been prepared for him. 126 18,13a And may the branches of his feet be eaten, 13b death will devour his beauties. This happened to this man. 18,14a And may healing be torn from his dwelling. And this has happened to this man. 18,14b And may necessity and a royal charge hold him. Royal, that is, of God, it seems to me. But if he means a human one, he mixes in also things that did not happen to him, so that he might not seem to be speaking about him. 18,15a It shall dwell in his tent and in his body, 15b his comely things shall be scattered with brimstone. 18,16a His roots beneath shall be dried up, 16b and his harvest shall fall from above; 18,17a May his memorial perish from the earth. ‘From his children,’ he says, ‘he will not be recognized,’ which is what happened to this man. My friends and my neighbors, he says, drew near and stood opposite me. 18,17b and he has a name in the face of an outsider 18,18 and they shall thrust him from light into darkness. 18,19a He will not be known to his people 19b nor his house saved under heaven, 19c but among his own

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ποῦ οὖν ἐστί μου ἡ ἐλπίς; 15b ἢ τὰ ἀγαθά μου ὄψομαι ἔτι; 17,16a ἢ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς ᾅδην καταβήσεται; 16b ἢ ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐπὶ χώματος καταβήσομαι; «λέγετέ μοι», φησίν, «"ὑπόμεινον". ποῦ; εἰς τὸν ᾅδην; ἐκεῖνος γάρ με διαδέχεται λοιπόν. θάνατον γάρ», φησίν, «προσεκαλεσάμην πατέρα μου εἶναι», τουτέστιν· «ποθεινός μοι ὁ θάνατος, πάντως ἐκεῖ με δεῖ ἀπελθεῖν.»

18,1 ΥΠΟΛΑΒΩΝ ∆Ε ΒΑΛ∆Α∆ Ο ΣΑΥΧΙΤΗΣ ΛΕΓΕΙ· 18,2a μέχρι τίνος οὐ παύσῃ;

2b ἐπίσχες, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ λαλήσωμεν. 18,3 διὰ τί δὲ ὥσπερ τετράποδα σεσιωπήκαμεν ἐναντίον σου, 18,4a κέχρησαι δὲ ὀργῇ; ὅρα αὐτοὺς κρινομένους αὐτῷ, ὅρα βουλομένους ἐπιστομίζειν αὐτόν. τοῦτο οὐχὶ παραμυθουμένων ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον παροξυνόντων καὶ σκωπτόντων αὐτόν. ἐπίσχες, φησίν, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ λαλήσωμεν. «διὰ τί γὰρ παρεγενόμεθα; οὐχ ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ λαλήσωμεν;» διὰ τί δέ, φησίν, ὥσπερ τετράποδα σεσιωπήκαμεν ἐναντίον σου; ὁρᾷς τὴν φιλοτιμίαν; αἰσχύνην ἡγοῦνται καὶ ἀλογίαν ἐσχάτην τὸ σιγᾶν. οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο παραμυθουμένων. «πλειόνων πλέον ἀποίσῃ», φησίν, «αὐτὸς νικήσας ἡμᾶς καὶ περιγεγονώς.» ὅρα πάντας αὐτῷ μακρηγορίαν ἐγκαλοῦντας, ὅρα μεμφομένους καὶ αἰτιωμένους. 125 18,4b τί γάρ; φησίν, ἐὰν σὺ ἀποθάνῃς, ἀοίκητος ἔσται ἡ ὑπ' οὐρανὸν 4c ἢ κατασκαφήσεται ἡ γῆ ἐκ θεμελίων; ἐπειδὴ συνεχῶς τοῦτο ἐθρήνει, ὅτι «ἀποθανεῖν βούλομαι», ποία τοῦτο παραμυθία; πῶς δὲ ἄν τις αὐτὸν κατέβαλεν ἑτέρως; μὴ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν, ὅτι ἀοίκητος ἔσται ἡ ὑπ' οὐρανόν, ἢ ὡς μέγα τι τῷ κοινῷ τούτῳ βίῳ συντελῶν οὕτως ἐμνημόνευσε τῆς τελευτῆς; καὶ μὴν τοὐναντίον φησίν, ὅτι οὐδέν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος οὐδὲ ἄξιος λόγου τινός. τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν ταῦτα λέγεις; εἶτα καὶ αὐτὸς ἁπλῶς καὶ εἰκῇ κατηγορεῖ τῶν ἀσεβησάντων ἢ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχουσιν ἐλέγξαι τι πεπραγμένον αὐτῷ πονηρόν. ὅρα δέ μοι τὴν πονηρίαν· λέγοντες γάρ, ὅτι μεγάλα κακὰ τοῖς ἀσεβέσι συμβαίνει, ταῦτα λέγουσι τὰ κακά, ἅπερ ὁ Ἰὼβ ὑπέμεινεν, καὶ τὸν λόγον πλέκουσι διὰ τῶν τούτου συμφορῶν ὥσπερ ἐνδείξασθαι βουλόμενοι, ὅτι αὐτὸν αἰνίττονται. ὅρα γὰρ καὶ βλέπε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου. 18,5a καὶ φῶς ἀσεβῶν, φησίν, σβεσθήσεται. ἐπειδὴ ἐν εὐπραγίᾳ ἦν τὸ παλαιόν. 18,5b καὶ οὐκ ἀποβήσεται αὐτῶν ἡ φλόξ, φησίν. 18,6a τὸ φῶς αὐτοῦ σκότος ἐν διαίτῃ αὐτοῦ, 6b ὁ δὲ λύχνος ἐπ' αὐτῷ σβεσθήσεται. 18,7a θηρεύσειαν αὐτοῦ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα ἐλάχιστοι. καὶ τοῦτο αὐτῷ συνέβη. 18,7b καὶ σφαλείη αὐτοῦ ἡ βουλή, 18,8a ἐμβληθείη δὲ ὁ ποὺς αὐτοῦ ἐν παγίδι. τουτέστιν· κατέχεται καὶ διαφυγεῖν οὐ δύναται. 18,8b καὶ ἐν δικτύῳ εἱλιχθείη. 18,9a ἔλθοιεν δὲ ἐπ' αὐτῷ παγίδες κυκλόθεν, 9b καὶ κατισχύσουσιν ἐπ' αὐτὸν διψῶντες. 18,10a κέκρυπται δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ σχοινίον αὐτοῦ 10b καὶ ἡ σύλληψις αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τρίβων κυκλόθεν, 18,11a καὶ ὀλέσειαν αὐτὸν ὀδῦναι. 11b πολλῶν δὲ περὶ πόδας ἔλθοι ἐν λιμῷ στενῷ, 18,12 καὶ πτῶμα αὐτῷ ἡτοίμασται ἐξαίσι126 ον. 18,13a βρωθείησαν δὲ αὐτοῦ κλῶνες ποδῶν, 13b κατέδεται αὐτοῦ τὰ ὡραῖα θάνατος. τοῦτο τούτῳ συνέβη. 18,14a ἐκραγείη δὲ ἐκ διαίτης αὐτοῦ ἴασις. καὶ τοῦτο τούτῳ συμβέβηκεν. 18,14b σχοίη δὲ αὐτὸν ἀνάγκη καὶ αἰτία βασιλική. βασιλική, τουτέστιν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ. εἰ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνην λέγει, ἀναμίγνυσι καὶ τὰ μὴ συμβάντα αὐτῷ, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ δι' αὐτὸν λέγειν. 18,15a κατασκηνώσει ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ, 15b κατασπαρήσεται τὰ εὐπρεπῆ αὐτοῦ θείῳ. 18,16a ὑποκάτωθεν αἱ ῥίζαι αὐτοῦ ξηρανθήσονται, 16b καὶ ἐπάνωθεν ἐπιπεσεῖται θερισμὸς αὐτοῦ· 18,17a τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτοῦ ἀπόλοιτο ἐκ γῆς. «ἀπὸ τῶν παίδων», φησίν, «οὐκ ἔσται ἐπίγνωστος», ὅπερ τούτῳ συνέβη. οἱ φίλοι μου καὶ οἱ πλησίον μου ἐξ ἐναντίας μου, φησίν, ἤγγισαν καὶ ἔστησαν. 18,17b καὶ ὑπάρχει ὄνομα αὐτῷ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον ἐξωτέρῳ 18,18 καὶ ἀπώσειαν αὐτὸν ἐκ φωτὸς εἰς σκότος. 18,19a οὐκ ἔσται ἐπίγνωστος τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ 19b οὐδὲ σεσῳσμένος ἐν τῇ ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ὁ οἶκος αὐτοῦ, 19c ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ