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to be, and being without need he considers it his own benefit for men to pursue the good extensively and lavishly. For this reason, taking great care of you, he reproved you and, as if setting himself against you in judgment, he judges you justly. And making the punishments a proof of your sins, he adds the following: 22, 5 Is not your wickedness great, and are not your sins innumerable? From the multitude of calamities, he conjectures the multitude of sins. 22, 6 You took pledges from your brothers for nothing. Instead of: owing nothing. 22, 6 and you have stripped the naked of their clothing. 193 And these, he says, being poor, you took their clothing as a pledge for nothing. 22, 7 Nor did you give water to the thirsty. Therefore, not only doing wrong, but also not doing good is liable to judgment. And note how far we ought to extend our benefactions, that it is also liable to judgment not to give drink to the thirsty, just as we also receive a reward for a cup of cold water according to the unerring voice of the Savior. 22, 7-8 But you have withheld bread from the hungry, and you have shown partiality to certain persons. By `psomon` he means bread, as it is also found in Ruth: "you shall dip your morsel (`psomon`) in the vinegar." He says then that: you deprived them even of necessary food, either by taking pledges or by not giving the wages of those who toiled. But you also became a respecter of persons, he says, oppressing the humble, but admiring and honoring those in power. 22, 8 And you have made the poor to dwell on the land. Other copies contain: *you have made the poor to sleep on the ground*. According to the first, then: The poor, he says, and the low-lying you have caused to lie on the ground even more, so as to say that: you have ground down the poverty of the poor. But according to the second: and even their very bedding, he says, you took from the po 194 or, so that they sleep on the ground having nothing spread under them. 22, 9 And you have sent widows away empty, and you have afflicted orphans. Again, not sharing with widows is reckoned as a sin, while mistreating the orphaned and helpless is a mark of extreme wickedness. 22, 10 Therefore snares have encircled you, and a sudden war has terrified you. For these reasons, therefore, the seizures of evils have encircled you, and this great and terrible war of punishments has troubled you. 22, 11 Your light has turned to darkness, and water has covered you when you were asleep. For this reason, he says, your affairs have changed from light to darkness, and water has covered you when you were asleep—that is: when you were carefree—which is to say: the temptations of tribulations have overwhelmed you. 22, 12 Does not {not} he who dwells in the high places see. But do you think that God, who dwells in high places, does not see the things that are done? 22, 12 and he has humbled those who are carried away by insolence. Therefore, seeing all things, he humbles those who are dragged down by an insolent disposition and are drawn into arrogance. 22, 13-14 And you said: 'What does the Mighty One know? Does he judge through the deep darkness? A cloud is his hiding place, and he will not be seen, and the circuit of heaven he will tra 195 verse.' Eliphaz condemns Job for great impiety and folly. For thus, he says, you did unjust things, as if God did not know the things on the earth, but as if he judged in deep darkness, that is, in judging not seeing the things on the earth. For you said, he says, that being invisible and walling himself off from our affairs with the clouds and patrolling only the circle of heaven, he does not deign to exercise any providence for the things on earth. This is what some of the pagan philosophers seemed to believe, saying that God does not provide for things beneath the moon. 22, 15-18 Will you keep the ancient path that righteous men have trodden, who were seized untimely? A flowing river are their foundations. Who say: 'What will the Lord do to us, or what will the Almighty bring upon us?' But he filled their houses with good things. Are you able to understand the eternal ways of God, in which the divine men walked? And he speaks of the paths according to piety. Then, even unwillingly, he is carried away to Job's words and: 'Yet,' he says, 'having become righteous, they ended their life prematurely, and some of them were shaken even from their foundations, as if swept away by a torrent.' And these, as righteous men, saying: 'Let us await the help of God, until we see what he will do for us or'

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εἶναι, καὶ ἀπροσδεὴς ὢν ὠφέλειαν ἰδίαν νομίζει τὸ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐξηπλωμένως καὶ δαψιλῶς μετιέναι τὸ ἀγαθόν. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ σοῦ πολλὴν ποιούμενος πρόνοιαν ἤλεγξέ σε καὶ ὥσπερ εἰς κρίσιν ἀντικαθιστάμενός σοι δικαίως σε κρίνει. ἀπόδειξιν δὲ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὰς τιμωρίας ποιούμενος ἐπάγει τὰ ἑξῆς· 22, 5 πότερον οὐχὶ ἡ κακία σού ἐστι πολλή, ἀναρίθμητοι δέ σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι; ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν συμφορῶν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων εἰκάζει τὸ πλῆθος. 22, 6 ἠνεχυρίαζες τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου διὰ κενῆς. ἀντὶ τοῦ· μηδὲν ἐποφειλόμενος. 22, 6 ἀμφίασιν δὲ γυμνῶν ἀφείλου. 193 καὶ ταῦτα, φησίν, πενήτων ὄντων τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἠνεχυρίαζες διὰ κενῆς. 22, 7 οὐδὲ ὕδωρ διψῶντας ἐπότισας. οὐκοῦν οὐ μόνον τὸ ἀδικεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ μὴ εὐεργετεῖν ὑπεύθυνον. καὶ σημειοῦ, μέχρι πόσου τὰς εὐεργεσίας ἐκτείνειν ὀφείλομεν, ὅτι καὶ ὑπεύθυνον τὸ μὴ ποτίσαι διψῶντας, ὡσπεροῦν καὶ ποτηρίου ψυχροῦ ὕδατος μισθὸν λαμβάνομεν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἀψευδῆ φωνήν. 22, 78 ἀλλὰ πεινώντων ἐστέρησας ψωμόν, ἐθαύμασας δέ τινων πρόσωπα. ψωμὸν λέγει τὸν ἄρτον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν Ῥοὺθ κεῖται· βάψεις τὸν ψωμόν σου ἐν τῷ ὄξει. λέγει οὖν ὅτι· καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τροφῶν ἐστέρησας ἢ ἐνεχυριάζων ἢ τῶν καμνόντων τὸν μισθὸν οὐ διδούς. ἀλλὰ καὶ προσωπολήπτης, φησίν, γέγονας τοὺς μὲν ταπεινοὺς βιαζόμενος, τοὺς δὲ ἐν δυναστείαις θαυμάζων καὶ τιμῶν. 22, 8 ᾤκισας δὲ πτωχοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς. ἄλλα ἀντίγραφα· _ἐ_κ_ο_ί_μ_ι_σ_α_ς_ _π_τ_ω_χ_ο_ὺ_ς_ _ἐ_π_ὶ_ _γ_ῆ_ς περιέχουσιν. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὸ πρῶτον· τοὺς πτωχούς, φησίν, καὶ χαμαιπετεῖς ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐπὶ γῆς παρεσκεύασας κεῖσθαι, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· ἐπέτριψας τὴν πενίαν τοῖς πένησιν. κατὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον· καὶ αὐτήν, φησίν, τὴν στρωμνὴν τῶν πτω 194 χῶν ἀφείλου ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους αὐτοὺς κοιμᾶσθαι μηδὲν ἔχοντας ὑπεστορεσμένον. 22, 9 χήρας δὲ ἐξαπέστειλας κενάς, ὀρφανοὺς δὲ ἐκάκωσας. πάλιν τὸ μὴ μεταδοῦναι ταῖς χήραις εἰς ἁμαρτίαν λογίζεται, τὸ δὲ τοὺς ὀρφανοὺς καὶ ἀβοηθήτους κακοῦν ἐσχάτης κακίας γνώρισμα. 22, 10 τοιγαροῦν ἐκύκλωσάν σε παγίδες καὶ ἐσπούδασέ σε πόλεμος ἐξαίσιος. διὰ ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν αἱ συλλήψεις τῶν κακῶν περιεκύκλωσάν σε καὶ ἐθορύβησέ σε ὁ μέγας οὗτος καὶ φοβερὸς τῶν τιμωριῶν πόλεμος. 22, 11 τὸ φῶς εἰς σκότος ἀπέβη, κοιμηθέντα δὲ ὕδωρ σε ἐκάλυψε. διὰ τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐκ φωτὸς εἰς σκότος μετέστη τὰ κατὰ σὲ καὶ κοιμηθένταἀντὶ τοῦ· ἀμεριμνοῦνταὕδωρ σε ἐκάλυψεν, τουτέστιν· οἱ τῶν θλίψεων ἐπέκλυσαν πειρασμοί. 22, 12 μὴ {οὐχὶ} ὁ τὰ ὑψηλὰ ναίων οὐκ ἐφορᾷ. ἀλλὰ νομίζεις ὅτι οὐχ ὁρᾷ τὰ πραττόμενα ὁ ἐν ὑψηλοῖς κατοικῶν θεός; 22, 12 τοὺς δὲ ὕβρει φερομένους ἐταπείνωσεν. οἷα τοίνυν πάντα ἐφορῶν τοὺς ὑπὸ τῆς ὑβριστικῆς ἕξεως κατασυρομένους καὶ εἰς ὑπερηφανίαν ἑλκομένους ταπεινοῖ. 22, 1314 καὶ εἶπας· τί ἔγνω ὁ ἰσχυρός; ἦ κατὰ τοῦ γνόφους κρινεῖ; νεφέλη ἀποκρυβὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐχ ὁραθήσεται καὶ γῦρον οὐρανοῦ δια 195 πορεύσεται. μεγάλην ἀσέβειαν καὶ ἄνοιαν τοῦ Ἰὼβ ὁ Ἐλιφὰζ καταψηφίζεται. οὕτω γάρ, φησίν, ἔπραττες τὰ ἄδικα, ὡς μὴ γινώσκοντος τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν γνόφῳ κρίνοντος, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ κρίνειν οὐχ ὁρῶντος τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς. ἔλεγες γάρ, φησίν, ὅτι ἀόρατος ὢν καὶ τοῖς νέφεσιν ἀποτειχίζων ἑαυτοῦ τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ μόνον τὸν κύκλον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ περιπολῶν οὐκ ἀξιοῖ τινα πρόνοιαν ποιεῖσθαι τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς. τοῦτό τινες τῶν ἔξωθεν φιλοσόφων ἔδοξαν φήσαντες τῆς ὑπὸ σελήνης μὴ προνοεῖν τὸν θεόν. 22, 1518 μὴ τρίβον αἰώνιον φυλάξεις, ἣν ἐπάτησαν ἄνδρες δίκαιοι, οἳ συνελήφθησαν ἄωροι; ποταμὸς ἐπιρρέων οἱ θεμέλιοι αὐτῶν. οἱ λέγοντες· κύριος τί ποιήσει ἡμῖν ἢ τί ἐπάξεται ἡμῖν ὁ παντοκράτωρ; ὃς δὲ ἐνέπλησε τοὺς οἴκους αὐτῶν ἀγαθῶν. μὴ τὰς αἰωνίους τοῦ θεοῦ πορείας δύνῃ ἐπιστῆσαι, καθ' ἃς οἱ θεῖοι ἄνδρες ὥδευσαν; λέγει δὲ τὰς κατ' εὐσέβειαν ὁδούς. εἶτα καὶ ἄκων εἰς τοὺς τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἐκφέρεται λόγους καί· ὅμως γάρ, φησίν, δίκαιοι γεγονότες ἐν ἀωρίᾳ τὸν βίον κατέλυσαν, τινὲς δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκ θεμελίων κατεσείσθησαν, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ χειμάρρου κατασυρόμενοι. οὗτοι δὲ ὡς δίκαιοι λέγοντες· ἀναμένωμεν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βοήθειαν, ἕως ἴδωμεν, τί ποιήσει ἡμῖν ἢ