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209 mi....... since the friends thought that those who are in affliction ought to appeal to God concerning sin, as if this were the cause of their troubles, he prays that he might make known to them why He set him as an object of His attack, that it was because of a contest and not because of sin; for not everyone who appeals to God suffers this because of sin. Am I a burden to you? I seem to be a burden to you; for they weigh me down, saying that: you suffer because of sin. And for this reason, they in a way place a burden on you through me, as one who is punishing the guiltless. But I say that you are not punishing me, but training me, even if they indiscriminately think that anyone who receives a trial of unpleasant things suffers because of sin. And why did you not bring about a forgetting of my iniquity and a cleansing of sin? He teaches his friends to investigate the things concerning him and to consider, “that,” even if he sinned in some way, yet the God who loves good overlooks failings, just as he does those of his friends, if indeed they themselves were not suffering, so that from this they might understand that he suffers not because of sin, but because of contests. And this is a questioning, leading them 210 to reflection and not a neglect of the just man, as we have said, so that He, through His own goodness, might cleanse him, not observing the things concerning him; and a cleansing for sin occurs without punishment following. But now I will depart to the earth, and rising early I am no more. He explains the disposition of those who do not understand correctly, that: if they take me for a sinner and one who suffers because of sin, they think that I have lived as if I were nothing after this, "having hoped in this life alone," and according to them, if I should depart to the earth, I will be no more; and when the day succeeds, I will be no more; for according to them, another age will not succeed me at all. But it is the voice of a holy one, in which the blessed one also hoped, who says: "I will be raised up early," and again: "from the night my spirit rises early to you, O God," and: "O God, my God, to you I rise early"; which indicates both being watchful day by day and the rising from this age into the age to come. And someone might plausibly say that: as long as I am in sad circumstances, I am in night, but having risen early and come to be in day, I am no longer in trying circumstances. And as 211 we noted before, he does not utter these things out of despair; for otherwise he would not have been testified to as just. But Bildad the Shu_6_h_i6te, taking up, says: How long will you speak these things? A wordy spirit of your mouth. Will the Lord do wrong in judging, or will he who made all things pervert justice? This one also, being of the same opinion as the one before—that afflictions are always sent because of sin—and sharing with the first friend in positing a single cause for the painful things, addresses his words to Job. But he ought to have considered that as many things as are of affliction happen not only to the wicked, but also to the virtuous; for they are indifferent matters. And further still, he ought to have understood that the just man is more admirable when enduring tribulations and labors. Therefore this one also rebukes the blessed one, saying: How long—as if to say: Until when? —will you not understand the cause of your labors? And he charges him with long-windedness, he who ought rather to have admired him, because as if forgetting his pains he was making these arguments about doctrines, which his friends were ignorant of, not even applying themselves to inquiry, although they were 212 constrained by nothing painful. Then, further confirming his own opinion, as if also bringing reasoning to him, he says: "Will the Lord do wrong in judging, or will he who made all things pervert justice?" For it was a perversion of justice according to their supposition, if he suffered while being just. But they are ignorant of these things; for the allowance against him has come about for the demonstration and purpose of his manliness. If your sons sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their iniquity. This one also confuses the argument and is carried along with the doctrines, saying that: even if you yourself have not sinned, yet your sons have, not considering that one would not be punished on behalf of another. But

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209 μ̣ι̣······. ἐπειδὴ τοὺς ἐν κακώσει ὑπάρχοντας ὡς ὀφείλοντας ἐντυγχάνειν τῷ θεῷ περὶ ἁμαρτίας ὡς ἂν ταύτης αἰτίας οὔσης τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἐνόμιζον οἱ φίλοι, εὔχεται, ὅπως γνωρίσῃ αὐτοῖς, διὰ τί αὐτὸν ἔθετο κατεντευκτὴν ἑαυτοῦ, ὅτι δι' ἀγῶνα καὶ οὐ διὰ ἁμαρτίαν· οὐ γὰρ πᾶς ὁ ἐντυγχάνων θεῷ δι' ἁμαρτίας τοῦτο πάσχει. εἰμὶ δὲ ἐπὶ σοὶ φορτίον; δοκῶ φορτίον εἶναι ἐπὶ σοί· βαροῦσι γάρ με λέγοντες ὅτι· δι' ἁμαρτίας πάσχεις. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τρόπον τινὰ φορτίον σοι ἐκεῖνοι δι' ἐμὲ ἐπιτιθέασιν ὡς κολάζοντος τὸν ἀνεύθυνον. ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω, ὅτι οὐ κολάζεις με, ἀλλὰ γυμνάζεις, κἂν ἐκεῖνοι ἀδιακρίτως νομίσωσιν πάνθ' ὁντινοῦν τὸν πεῖραν δεχόμενον ἀηδῶν δι' ἁμαρτίας πάσχειν. καὶ διὰ τί οὐκ ἐποιήσω τῆς ἀνομίας μου λήθην καὶ καθαρισμὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας; ἐπιζητεῖν τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διδάσκει τοὺς φίλους καὶ λογίζεσθαι, «ὅτι», εἰ καὶ ἥμαρτέν τι, ἀλλ' ὁ φιλ άγαθος θεὸς παρορᾷ τὰ πταίσματα ὡσπεροῦν καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων, εἴ γε οὐκ ἔπασχον αὐτοί, ἵν' ἐκ τούτου νοήσωσιν, ὡς οὐ διὰ ἁμαρτίας, ἀλλὰ δι' ἀγωνίσματα πάσχει. πεῦσις δέ ἐστι καὶ ταῦτα εἰσάγουσα ἐκείνους 210 εἰς σύννοιαν καὶ οὐκ ὀλιγωρι´̣α τοῦ δικαίου, ὡς εἰρήκαμεν, ὅπως αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγαθότητα καθάρῃ μὴ παρατηρούμενος τὰ κατ' αὐτόν· καθαρισμὸς δὲ ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας γίνεται οὐχ ἑπομένης κολάσεως. νυνὶ δὲ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσομαι, ὀρθρίζων δὲ οὐκέτι εἰμί. τὴν τῶν οὐκ ὀρθῶς διαλαμβανόντων ἐξηγεῖται διάθεσιν ὅτι· εἰ ἁμαρτωλόν με καὶ διὰ ἁμαρτίαν πάσχοντα οὗτοι ἐκλάβωσιν, ὡς μηδενὸς ὄντος μετὰ ταῦτα οὕτω με βεβιωκέναι νομίζ̣ουσιν "ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ μόνῃ ἠλπικότα", καὶ κατ' αὐτούς, εἰ ἀπέλθοιμι εἰς γῆν, οὐκέτι ἔσομαι· καὶ διαδεχομένης ἡμέρας οὐκέτι ἔσομαι· οὐδ' ὅλως γάρ με κατ' αὐτοὺς διαδέξεται ἕτερος αἰών. ἀλλὰ ἁγίου φωνή ἐστιν, ἐφ' ᾗ καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἤλπιζεν, λέγοντος· "ἐξεγερθήσομαι ὀρθρίου", καὶ πάλιν· "«ἐκ» νυκτὸς ὀρθρίζει τὸ πνεῦμά μου πρὸς σέ, ὁ θεός", καί· "ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός μου, πρὸς σὲ ὀρθρίζω"· ὅπερ καὶ τὸ καθ' ἡμέραν ἐπαγρυπνεῖν δηλοῖ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου εἰς τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα ἔγερσιν. εἴποι δ' ἄν τις πιθανῶς ὅτι· ἕως ἐν τοῖς σκυθρωποῖς εἰμι, ἐν νυκτὶ τυγχάνω, ὀρθρίσας δὲ καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ γενόμενος οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν περιστατικοῖς. ὡς καὶ 211 πρότερον δὲ ἐπεσημηνάμεθα, οὐκ ἐξ ὀλιγωρίας ταῦτα φθέγγεται· ἦ γὰρ ἂν οὐκ ἐμαρτυρεῖτο ὡς δίκαιος. ὑπολαβὼν δὲ βαλδὰδ ὁ Σαυ_6_χ_ί6της λέγει· μέχρι τίνος λαλήσεις ταῦτα; πνεῦμα πολυρῆμον τοῦ στόματός σου. μὴ ὁ κύριος ἀδικήσει κρίνων ἢ ὁ τὰ πάντα ποιήσας ταράξει τὸ δίκαιον; τῆς αὐτῆς τῷ φθάσαντι διαλήμψεως ὑπάρχων καὶ οὗτος-τῆς ὅτι δι' ἁμαρτίας τὰ κακωτικὰ πάντως ἐπιπέμπεται-καὶ κοινωνῶν τῷ προτέρῳ φίλῳ κατὰ τὸ μίαν αἰτίαν θέσθαι τῶν ἐπιπόνων ποιεῖται πρὸς τὸν Ἰὼβ τοὺς λόγους. ἔδει δὲ λογίζεσθαι, ὅτι ὅσα κακώσεώς εἰσιν, οὐ μόνοις φαύλοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ σπουδαίοις συμβαίνει· ἀδιάφορα γάρ. καὶ ἔτι πλέον ἔδει ἐννοεῖν, ὅτι θαυμαστότερος ὁ δίκαιός ἐστιν ὑπομένων θλίψεις καὶ πόνους. ἐπιτιμᾶ οὖν καὶ οὗτος τῷ μακαρίῳ λέγων· μέχρι τίνος-μονονουχὶ λέγων· ἕως πότε; -οὐκ ἐννοεῖς τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν πόνων; καὶ πολυλογίαν δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπικαλεῖ, ὃς ὤφειλεν πλέον αὐτὸν θαυμάζειν, ὅτι καθάπερ τῶν πόνων ἐπιλαθόμενος περὶ δογμάτων ἐποιεῖτο τούτους λόγους, ὧν οἱ φίλοι ἠγνόουν οὐδὲ εἰς ἔρευναν ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιβάλλοντες, καίτοι μη212 δὲν ἐξ ἀνιαρῶν συνεχόμενοι. εἶτα ἔτι βεβαιῶν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν διάλημψιν ὡς καὶ αὐτῷ λογισμὸν προσάγων λέγει· "μὴ ὁ κύριος ἀδικήσει κρίνων ἢ ὁ τὰ πάντα ποιήσας ταράξει τὸ δίκαιον;" ταραχὴ γὰρ ἦν τῆς δικαιοσύνης κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ὑπόλημψιν, εἰ δίκαιος ὢν ἔπασχεν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα ἀγνοοῦσιν· πρὸς γὰρ ἀνάδειξιν καὶ σκοπὸν ἀνδρείας ἡ κατ' αὐτοῦ συνχώρησις γέγο νεν. εἰ οἱ υἱοί σου ἥμαρτον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, ἀπέστειλεν ἐν χειρὶ ἀνομίας αὐτῶν. συνχεῖ καὶ οὗτος τὸν λόγον καὶ συν περιφέρεται τοῖς δόγμασιν λέγων ὅτι· εἰ καὶ μὴ αὐτὸς ἥμαρτες, ἀλλ' οἱ υἱοί σου, οὐ προσνοήσαντες ὅτι ἕτερος ὑπὲρ ἑτέρου οὐκ ἂν κολάζοιτο. ἀλλὰ