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he leads out. But I know that when I said these things, he did not prolong it, but quickly brought forth the judgment concerning me. And the God-loving Job speaks, both trusting in himself and in the divine just judgment, and refuting his friends as not holding sound opinions concerning him. 23, 8-9 For I shall go to the first things and I am no more; but what do I know of the last things? When he acts on the left, I have not apprehended him; he will encompass the right and I shall not see. 3 Interpreting the power of the sayings more clearly, Symmachus has rendered it thus: _B_e_h_o_l_d_,_ _i_f_ _I_ _g_o_ _f_o_r_w_a_r_d_ _t_o_ _h_i_m_,_ _h_e_ _i_s_ _u_n_s_e_e_n_,_ _a_n_d_ _i_f_ _I_ _f_o_l_l_o_w_,_ I shall not perceive him. And the meaning is this: I would gladly, he says, have my affairs judged under the divine eyes, but what can I do? God is invisible by nature. I will seek him behind, he is unseen; he is before me, I do not perceive him; when he has turned to the left, I am unable to lay hold of him; being on the right, I do not see him at all. And he said these things not as if God wanders about places bodily or by moving from place to place, but wishing to show that although God is present everywhere, to us he is unattainable and invisible and incomprehensible. And the phrase "I am no more" means this: if I extend the search further, I go out of my mind and in a dizzying darkness of thoughts I seek to comprehend the incomprehensible. 23, 10 For he already knows my way, and he has tested me like gold. For this reason, he says, I am confident to be judged by God, because even before my words he knows my deeds, and if he judged my case, he would have declared me pure, equal to gold. 23, 11 And I shall go forth in his commandments; for I have kept his ways and will not turn aside. 4 For I have walked, he says, by his commandments and have kept his laws. And by commandments he means not the audible and written ones—for he lived before the law—but those sown in nature, those spoken by God in the mind. And the phrase "I will not turn aside" has a wondrous meaning: for even if I suffer countless things, he says, I will not be turned from the straight path, similar to the one who says: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution?" And he adds: 23, 12 from his commandments, and I shall not transgress. I will not turn aside from his commandments nor will I transgress the things that seem good to God. 23, 12 And in my bosom I have hidden his words. In my bosom: in rest, not by necessity, but fulfilling the divine will {my} through divine love. And "in my bosom" can also be understood as: in the depth of the mind. And in another way, since the bosom signifies that which is united, so that he might say that: As one molded together with and made of the same quality as the divine commandments, so I have embraced them and have joyfully carried them out. 23, 13 But if he himself has also judged so, who is he that has spoken against him? For what he himself has willed, he has also done. 5 Therefore, what I am conscious of in myself are these things. Nevertheless, let what seems good to God prevail and let no one oppose his judgments. 23, 15 For this reason I have been earnest toward him, and being admonished I took thought of him. For this reason, he says, I was troubled, not knowing the cause of the blow, yet even being rebuked I bore it with gratitude and take care to think nothing reviling about him. 23, 15a For this reason I will be earnest before his face, I will consider and be terrified of him. And thinking these things to myself I am disturbed, considering these things I am terrified, being conscious of nothing in myself, but understanding that it is God who is punishing, yet not knowing the cause of the affliction. 23, 16-17 But the Lord has softened my heart, and the Almighty has made me earnest. For I did not know that darkness would come upon me, and gloom has covered me before my face. And the divine and unexpectedly inflicted punishment causes my agony and loosens the tension of my soul. And by "darkness" and "gloom before my face" he means the impasse of his misfortunes. For just as, he says, when there is blindness before the eyes, I am not able to overcome the terrible things. 24, 1-4 But why have times escaped the Lord's notice, and the impious have transgressed the boundary, seizing a flock with its shepherd? And they have led away the beast of burden of the orphans and have taken the widow's ox as a pledge.

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ἐξάγει. οἶδα δέ, ὅτι ταῦτά μου λέγοντος οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ παρέτεινεν, ἀλλὰ συντόμως τὴν περὶ ἐμοῦ κρίσιν ἐξέφερεν. λέγει δὲ ὁ φιλόθεος Ἰὼβ ἑαυτῷ τε θαρρῶν καὶ τῇ θείᾳ δικαιοκρισίᾳ καὶ τοὺς φίλους διελέγχων ὡς οὐχ ὑγιεῖς τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ ποιοῦντας δόξας. 23, 89 εἰς γὰρ πρῶτα πορεύσομαι καὶ οὐκέτι εἰμί· τὰ δὲ ἐπ' ἐσχάτοις τί οἶδα; ἀριστερὰ ποιήσαντος αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ κατέσχον, περιβαλεῖ δεξιὰ καὶ οὐκ ὄψομαι. 3 σαφέστερον τῶν ῥητῶν τὴν δύναμιν ἑρμηνεύων ὁ Σύμμαχος οὕτως ἐκδέδωκεν· _ἰ_δ_ο_ὺ_ _ἐ_ὰ_ν_ _π_ρ_ο_έ_ρ_χ_ω_μ_α_ι_ _α_ὐ_τ_ό_ν_,_ _ἀ_φ_α_ν_ή_ς_ _ἐ_σ_τ_ι_ν_,_ _κ_ἂ_ν_ _ἀ_κ_ο_λ_ο_υ_θ_ῶ_,_ οὐκ αἰσθήσομαι. ὁ δὲ νοῦς οὗτος· ἡδέως μέν, φησίν, ὑπὸ τοῖς θείοις ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔχω κριθῆναι τὰ κατ' ἐμέ, ἀλλὰ τί πάθω; ἀόρατός ἐστι τὴν φύσιν ὁ θεός. ἐν τοῖς ὄπισθεν αὐτὸν ἐπιζητήσω, ἀφανής ἐστιν· ἔμπροσθέν μου τυγχάνει, οὐκ αἰσθάνομαι· εἰς εὐώνυμα τραπέντος ἐπιλαβέσθαι ἀμηχάνως ἔχω· ἐκ δεξιῶν γεγενημένον παντελῶς οὐχ ὁρῶ. ταῦτα δὲ ἔφη οὐχ ὡς σωματικῶς ἢ μεταβατικῶς τοὺς τόπους τοῦ θεοῦ περινοστοῦντος, ἀλλὰ δεῖξαι θέλων, ὡς πανταχοῦ μὲν ὁ θεὸς πάρεστιν, ἡμῖν δὲ ἀνέφικτος καὶ ἀόρατος τυγχάνει καὶ ἀκατάληπτος. τὸ δὲ οὐκέτι εἰμί, τουτέστιν· ἐὰν ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐπεκτείνω τὴν ἔρευναν, ἔξω ἐμαυτοῦ γίνομαι καὶ ἐν σκοτοδινίᾳ λογισμῶν ζητῶν καταλαβεῖν τὸν ἀκατάληπτον. 23, 10 οἶδεν γὰρ ἤδη ὁδόν μου, διέκρινε δέ με ὥσπερ τὸ χρυσίον. διὰ τοῦτο δέ, φησίν, ἐπὶ θεοῦ θαρρῶ τὸ κρίνεσθαι, ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων τὰς ἐμὰς ἐπίσταται πράξεις, καὶ εἰ ἔκρινε τὰ κατ' ἐμέ, ἀπέφηνεν ἄν με ἴσα καὶ χρυσίῳ καθαρόν. 23, 11 ἐξελεύσομαι δὲ ἐν ἐντάλμασιν αὐτοῦ· ὁδοὺς γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἐφύλαξα καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκκλινῶ. 4 ὥδευσα γάρ, φησίν, διὰ τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ νόμους ἐφύλαξα. ἐντολὰς δὲ λέγει οὐ τὰς ἀκουστὰς καὶ ἐγγραμμάτους πρὸ νόμου γὰρ ἐτύγχανεν, ἀλλὰ τὰς τῇ φύσει συνεσπαρμένας, τὰς κατὰ διάνοιαν ὑπὸ θεοῦ λαλουμένας. τὸ δὲ οὐ μὴ ἐκκλινῶ θαυμασίαν ἔχει διάνοιαν· κἂν γὰρ μυρία πάθω, φησίν, οὐ παρατραπήσομαι τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ, ὅμοιον τῷ λέγοντι· τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ, θλῖψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ διωγμός; καὶ ἐπάγει· 23, 12 ἀπὸ ἐνταλμάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ παρέλθω. οὐ μὴ ἐκκλινῶ ἀπὸ ἐνταλμάτων αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ὑπερβήσομαι τὰ θεῷ δοκοῦντα. 23, 12 ἐν δὲ κόλπῳ μου ἔκρυψα ῥήματα αὐτοῦ. ἐν κόλπῳ· ἐν ἀναπαύσει, οὐ διὰ ἀνάγκην, ἀλλὰ τῇ θείᾳ ἀγάπῃ τὸ θεῖον ἐκπληρῶν {μου} βούλευμα. δύναται δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐν κόλπῳ νοεῖσθαι· ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς διανοίας. καὶ ἄλλως δέ, ἐπειδὴ τὸ ἡνωμένον ὁ κόλπος σημαίνει, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· ὡς συναναπεπλασμένος καὶ πεποιωμένος ταῖς θείαις ἐντολαῖς, οὕτως αὐτὰς ἐνεκολπωσάμην καὶ περιχαρῶς ἐξετέλεσα. 23, 13 εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἔκρινεν οὕτως, τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀντειπὼν αὐτῷ; ὃ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἠθέλησεν, καὶ ἐποίησεν. 5 ἃ μὲν οὖν ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα, ταῦτά ἐστιν. κρατείτω δὲ ὅμως τὸ θεῷ δοκοῦν καὶ μηδεὶς τοῖς αὐτοῦ κρίμασιν ἀντιπιπτέτω. 23, 15 διὰ τοῦτο ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐσπούδακα, νουθετούμενος δὲ ἐφρόντισα αὐτοῦ. διὰ τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐθροήθην οὐκ εἰδὼς τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς πληγῆς, πλὴν καὶ ἐλεγχόμενος εὐχαρίστως ἤνεγκα καὶ διὰ φροντίδος ἔχω, μηδὲν περὶ αὐτοῦ παλίμφημον ἐννοεῖν. 23, 15α ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐπὶ προσώπου αὐτοῦ κατασπουδάσω, κατανοήσω καὶ πτοηθήσομαι ἐξ αὐτοῦ. ταῦτα δὲ κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἐννοῶν θορυβοῦμαι, ταῦτα κατανοῶν πτοοῦμαι, οὐδὲν μὲν ἐμαυτῷ συνειδώς, ἐννοῶν δέ, ὅτι θεὸς ὁ τιμωρούμενος, τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν τῆς κακώσεως οὐκ ἐπιστάμενος. 23, 1617 κύριος δὲ ἐμαλάκυνε τὴν καρδίαν μου, ὁ δὲ παντοκράτωρ ἐσπούδασέ με. οὐ γὰρ ᾔδειν ὅτι ἐπελεύσεταί μοι σκότος, πρὸ προσώπου δέ μου ἐκάλυψέ με γνόφος. ποιεῖ δέ μου τὴν ἀγωνίαν καὶ ἐκλύει τοὺς τόνους τῆς ψυχῆς μου ἡ θεία καὶ ἀδοκήτως ἐπενεχθεῖσα τιμωρία. σκότος δὲ καὶ γνόφον πρὸ προσώπου λέγει τὸ τῶν συμφορῶν ἀδιεξόδευτον. ὡς γὰρ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν, φησίν, ἀορασίας οὔσης ὑπερβαίνειν οὐκ ἔχω τὰ δεινά. 24, 14 διὰ τί δὲ κύριον ἔλαθον ὧραι, ἀσεβεῖς δὲ ὅριον ὑπερέβησαν ποίμνιον σὺν ποιμένι ἁρπάσαντες; ὑποζύγιον δὲ ὀρφανῶν ἀπήγαγον καὶ βοῦν χήρας ἠνεχύρασαν.