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because you have humbled yourself. And you will say: I have been proud, 29b and he will save the one with downcast eyes; 22,30a and he will deliver the innocent, 30b and be saved by your clean hands.

23,1 THEN JOB ANSWERED AND SAID: 23,2a And indeed I know that the refutation is from my hands.

That is: "I carry my accuser with me; the refutation, the proof of my evils, I have from within." 23,2b his hand has become heavy upon me, and I groan to myself. "Would that it were possible," he says, "to receive the verdict immediately after the punishments, or to find him. Would that it were possible to plead my case," he says, "and to meet with him and learn what things they were that he was going to say to me about these things, what he was going to say." See how he obtained what he prayed for; for this is what happened at the end of the book. "I wanted to learn what he would say to me and if he would punish me in the same way." But he said these things not as one condemning an injustice. 23,3a Who would know that I might find him 3b and come to an end? 23,4a Then I would state my case, 4b and I would fill my mouth 141 with arguments. 23,5a And I would know the words he would say to me, 5b and perceive what he would report to me, 23,6a and whether he will come against me with great strength, 6b and whether he will not use a threat against me. "For even if he uses great strength and a threat against me, yet still I know that truth is with him." 23,7a For truth and refutation are with him; 7b and he would bring my judgment to an end. He prayed for this, this is what he says: "so that an end may be put to my sufferings." Then he says that "I wanted these things to happen, so that I might die, not as he is about to judge now." 23,8a For if I go to the east, I am no longer there, 8b and at the west, how do I know him? 23,9a When he works on the left, I did not apprehend him, 9b he will encompass the right, and I shall not see him. 23,10a For he already knows my way; 10b and he has tested me like gold. 23,11a And I will go forth in his commands; 11b for I have kept his ways and will not turn aside. 23,12a I will not turn aside from his commandments, lest I die. "He knows," he says, "my way and that I have always striven to obey him. But who, when he judges, will speak against him?" 23,12b And in my bosom, he says, I have hidden his words. 23,13a And if he himself has so judged, who is it that will speak against him? 13b For what he himself willed, he also did. 23,15a Therefore I have been earnest before him, 15b and being admonished I took thought of him. 15c For this reason I am distressed before his face, 15d I will consider and be terrified of him. "I have not sinned," he says, "and what of it?" For it is not only by the authority of sins that God can punish, but also apart from these, I mean sins. 142 23,16a My Lord has softened my heart, 16b and the Almighty has hurried against me. 23,17a For I did not know that darkness would come upon me, 17b and gloom would cover my face. "This has not happened according to human sequence," he says, "the evil was unexpected. I surmise that the blow is from the hand of God." And he said well: before my face. For the darkness is not common, but is of despair. Then again he is likewise perplexed and says: "Why do the impious prosper?"

24,1 Why then, he says, O Lord, have the seasons escaped notice, 24,2a impious men? and they have transgressed the boundary 2b and seized a flock with its shepherd. 24,3a and they have led away the orphans' donkey 3b and taken the widow's ox as a pledge. 24,4a and they have turned the weak out of the just way, 4b and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves with one accord; 24,5a and they went forth like donkeys in the field 5b going out on my behalf by their own action. 24,6a They have reaped a field that was not theirs before its time, 24,5c and their bread has become sweet to the younger. 24,6b And the poor have worked the vineyards of the impious without food and without pay. 24,7a They have made many lie naked without clothing, 7b and they have taken away the covering of their soul. 24,8a They are wet from the drops of the mountains 8b and because they have no shelter they have embraced the rock. For just as this is a matter of perplexity, why one suffers such things unjustly, so too are those things, as

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ὅτι ἐταπείνωσας σεαυτόν. καὶ ἐρεῖς· ὑπερηφανευσάμην, 29b καὶ κύφοντα ὀφθαλμοῖς σώσει· 22,30a ῥύσεται δὲ ἀθῷον, 30b καὶ διασώθητι ἐν καθαραῖς χερσί σου.

23,1 ΥΠΟΛΑΒΩΝ ∆Ε ΙΩΒ ΛΕΓΕΙ· 23,2a καὶ δὴ οἶδα, ὅτι ἐκ χειρῶν μου ἡ ἔλεγξίς

ἐστιν. τουτέστιν· «τὸν κατήγορον μετ' ἐμαυτοῦ περιφέρω· τὸν ἔλεγχον, τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῶν κακῶν οἴκοθεν ἔχω.» 23,2b ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖα γέγονεν ἐπ' ἐμοί, στενάζω δὲ ἐπ' ἐμαυτόν. «εἴθε ἐνῆν», φησίν, «παραυτὰ τῶν τιμωριῶν τὴν ψῆφον φέρεσθαι ἢ εὑρεῖν αὐτόν. εἴθε ἐνῆν δικάσασθαι», φησίν, «καὶ ἐντυχεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ μαθεῖν, τίνα ἦν, ἃ ἔμελλέ μοι πρὸς ταῦτα ἐρεῖν, ἃ ἔμελλε λέγειν.» ὅρα, πῶς ἐπέτυχεν, ὅπερ ηὔχετο· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔσχατον γέγονεν ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ. «ἤθελον μαθεῖν, τί μοι ἔμελλεν ἐρεῖν καὶ εἰ ἔμελλε με ὁμοίως κολάζειν.» ταῦτα δὲ εἶπεν οὐχ ὡς καταγινώσκων ἀδικίαν. 23,3a τίς ἂν γνῴη, ὅτι εὕροιμι αὐτὸν 3b καὶ ἔλθοιμι εἰς τέλος; 23,4a εἴποιμι δὲ ἐμαυτοῦ κρίμα, 4b τὸ δὲ στόμα μου 141 ἐμπλήσαιμι ἐλέγχου. 23,5a γνοίην δὲ ῥήματα, ἅ μοι ἐρεῖ, 5b αἰσθοίμην δέ, τίνα μοι ἀπαγγελεῖ, 23,6a καὶ εἰ πολλῇ ἰσχύι ἐπελεύσεταί μοι 6b καὶ εἰ ἐν ἀπειλῇ οὐ χρήσεταί μοι. «καὶ γάρ, εἰ πολλῇ ἰσχύι χρήσεταί μοι καὶ ἀπειλῇ, ἀλλ' ὅμως οἶδα, ὅτι ἀλήθεια παρ' αὐτῷ ἐστιν.» 23,7a ἀλήθεια γὰρ καὶ ἔλεγχος παρ' αὐτῷ· 7b ἐξαγάγοι δὲ εἰς τέλος τὸ κρίμα. τοῦτο ηὔξατο, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὅ φησιν· «ὥστε πέρας ἐπιτεθῆναί μου τοῖς δεινοῖς.» εἶτά φησιν, ὅτι «ταῦτα ἤθελον γενέσθαι, ὥστε ἀποθανεῖν οὐχ ὡς νῦν μέλλοντος αὐτοῦ κρίνειν». 23,8a ἐὰν γὰρ πορευθῶ εἰς τὰ πρῶτα, οὐκέτι εἰμί, 8b τὰ δὲ ἐπ' ἐσχάτοις τί οἶδα αὐτόν; 23,9a ἀριστερὰ ποιήσαντος αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ κατέσχον, 9b περιβαλεῖ δεξιὰ καὶ οὐκ ὄψομαι. 23,10a οἶδε γὰρ ἤδη ὁδόν μου αὐτὸς 10b καὶ διέκρινέ με ὥσπερ χρυσίον. 23,11a ἐξελεύσομαι δὲ ἐν ἐντάλμασιν αὐτοῦ· 11b ὁδοὺς γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἐφύλαξα καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκλίπω. 23,12a ἀπὸ ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ παρέλθω, ἵνα μὴ ἀποθάνω. «οἶδεν», φησίν, «τὴν ὁδόν μου καὶ ὅτι ἐσπούδασα ἀεὶ ὑπακούειν αὐτῷ. ἀλλὰ τίς, ὅταν κρίνῃ, ἀντερεῖ αὐτῷ;» 23,12b ἐν δὲ κόλπῳ μου, φησίν, ἔκρυψα ῥήματα αὐτοῦ. 23,13a εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἔκρινεν οὕτω, τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀντερῶν αὐτῷ; 13b ὃ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἠθέλησεν, καὶ ἐποίησεν. 23,15a διὰ τοῦτο ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐσπουδάκειν, 15b νουθετούμενος δὲ ἐφρόντισα αὐτοῦ. 15c ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐπὶ προσώπου αὐτοῦ κατασπουδασθῶ, 15d κατανοήσω καὶ πτοηθήσομαι ἐξ αὐτοῦ. «οὐχ ἥμαρτον», φησίν, «καὶ τί τοῦτο;» οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐξουσίας ἔξεστι κολάζειν θεῷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων χωρίς, τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων λέγω. 142 23,16a κύριός μου ἐμαλάκυνε τὴν καρδίαν, 16b ὁ δὲ παντοκράτωρ ἐσπούδασεν ἐπ' ἐμέ. 23,17a οὐ γὰρ ᾔδειν, ὅτι ἐπελεύσεταί μοι γνόφος, 17b πρόσωπον δέ μου καλύψει σκότος. «οὐ κατὰ ἀκολουθίαν ἀνθρωπίνην γέγονε τοῦτο», φησίν, «ἀπροσδόκητον τὸ κακόν. στοχάζομαι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ χειρὸς εἶναι τὴν πληγήν.» καὶ καλῶς εἶπεν· πρὸ προσώπου μου. οὐ γὰρ κοινὸν τὸ σκότος ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀθυμίας ἐστίν. εἶτα πάλιν ὁμοίως ἀπορεῖ καί φησιν· «διὰ τί ἀσεβεῖς εὐπραγοῦσιν;»

24,1 διά τί δέ, φησίν, κύριε, ἔλαθον ὥρας 24,2a ἀσεβεῖς ἄνδρες; ὅριον δὲ

ὑπερέβησαν 2b καὶ ποίμνιον σὺν ποιμένι ἥρπασαν. 24,3a ὑποζύγιον δὲ ὀρφανῶν ἀπήγαγον 3b καὶ βοῦν χήρας ἠνεχύρασαν. 24,4a ἐξέκλιναν δὲ ἀδυνάτους ἐξ ὁδοῦ δικαίας, 4b ὁμοθυμαδὸν δὲ ἐκρύβησαν πραεῖς γῆς· 24,5a καὶ ἀπέβησαν ὥσπερ ὄνοι ἐν ἀγρῷ 5b ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ ἐξελθόντες τῇ ἑαυτῶν πράξει. 24,6a ἀγρὸν πρὸ ὥρας οὐκ αὐτῶν ὄντα ἐθέρισαν, 24,5c ἡδύνθη δὲ αὐτῶν ἄρτος εἰς νεωτέρους. 24,6b ἀδύνατοι δὲ ἀσεβῶν ἀμπελῶνας ἀσιτὶ καὶ ἀμισθὶ εἰργάσαντο. 24,7a γυμνοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκοίμισαν ἄνευ ἱματίων, 7b ἀμφίασιν δὲ ψυχῆς αὐτῶν ἀφείλοντο. 24,8a ἀπὸ ψεκάδων ὀρέων ὑγραίνονται 8b καὶ παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν αὐτοὺς σκέπην πέτραν περιεβάλοντο. ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῦτο ἀπορίας ἐστίν, διὰ τί ὁ μὲν ἀδίκως πάσχει τοιαῦτα, οὕτω κἀκεῖνα, ὡς