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they were reasoning, he shows them gently, that this is not so, by saying that your years, O God, are not a man's, that you have searched out my lawlessness. For according to their reasoning, you pursue me as one who has sinned and you seek our lawlessness or sins through the afflictions, according to those who are so disposed. For you know that I have not been impious. He reveals the knowledge of the matter to them, saying to God: "You know that I have not been impious." But these men think that the things brought upon me were inflicted as against an impious man. But who is he who is taken out of your hands? Again he suggests to understand, that it is possible even for one who has not sinned to fall into hardships; for indeed God knows that Job has not been impious. But he adds "But who is he who is taken out of your hands?" teaching his friends to suppose that even one who has not sinned nor been impious comes under the hand of God in hardships for the sake of a contest and a display of endurance. At any rate, those who are afflicted, but do not fall because of the afflictions, say: "Afflicted in every way, but not crushed." And again it is said: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and from them all He will deliver them." But to be delivered from afflictions is not to not be afflicted at all, but chiefly not to be defeated by them, not to be ensnared 273 by those who bring the nets of afflictions. Your hands have made me and fashioned me. And this he added appropriately; for so that no one should suppose him to be speaking of God as cruel and inexorable through the phrase "But who is he who is taken out of your hands", he adds "Your hands have made me and fashioned me," saying that even if he brings afflictions, yet he spares his own creations; for it is said: "But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord, you who love souls." And well is the phrase "Your hands have made me and fashioned me," so that "made" might be taken for the soul, and "fashioned" for the body; for "fashioned me" signifies support, which is proper to the body. And in Genesis it is said: "God made man, in the image of God he made him;" for the body is not in the image, but the soul; for God is not anthropomorphic. And after other things it is said: "God fashioned man, dust from the earth," taking the body, so that, as we said, we might accept the making for the soul, and the fashioning for the flesh. But if the making is also applied to the flesh, one should not be surprised; for 274 to fashion is generically to make. Therefore someone will object, saying that to be fashioned is also applied to the soul and that this is signified by: "He who fashions their hearts individually." To which, what is said about the hands of God must also be understood wisely; and one says that the hands, in the plural or dual, are more simply said to mean the active power of God; but it is also possible to take more precisely the hand to be the Son—for it is said: "My hand has made all these things"—and the Spirit, as it is said: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power." And it is also said: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the holy one to be born in you will be called the Son of God." For in order that the temple of the Savior might be formed, there was both the coming of the Holy Spirit and of the power of the Most High, which is the Son. After this, having changed, you struck me. Through these things he presents God's creative and at the same time providential work, through "Your hands have made me" the creative, and through "After this, having changed, you struck me" the providential. For this too is a work of God's providence, 275 to envelop the courageous man in afflictions for a contest, so that he might establish a model and a goal for men, looking to whom they might become imitators. And "having changed" must be understood as "having made a change concerning my body;" for he was ulcerated and grievously maimed, all things concerning him having been utterly changed. Remember that you fashioned me from clay, and to earth you are returning me again. And consequently

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ἐλογίζοντο, δείκνυσιν αὐτοῖς ἠρέμα, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχει τοῦτο οὕτως, διὰ τοῦ λέγειν, ὅτι τὰ ἔτη σου, ὦ θεέ, μὴ ἀνθρώπου ὑπάρχει, ὅτι ἀνεζήτησας τὴν ἀνομίαν μου. κατὰ τούτων γὰρ λόγον ὡς ἡμαρτηκότα μετέρχῃ καὶ ἐπιζητεῖς ἀνομίας ἢ ἁμαρτίας ἡμετέρας διὰ τῶν ἐπαγωγῶν κατὰ τοὺς οὕτω διακειμένους. οἶδας γάρ, ὅτι οὐκ ἠσέβησα. τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ πράγματος ἀνακαλύπτει αὐτοῖς λέγων πρὸς θεόν· "οἶδας, ὅτι οὐκ ἠσέβησα." ἀλλ' οὗτοι οἴονται τὰ ἐπιφερόμενα ὡς κατὰ ἀσεβοῦς ἐπενεχθῆναι. ἀλλὰ τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν σου ἐξαιρούμενος; πάλιν ὑποβάλλει νοεῖν, ὅτι ἔστιν καὶ μὴ ἡμαρτηκότα ἐπιπόνοις περιπίπτειν· καὶ γὰρ οἶδεν ὁ θεός, ὅτι οὐκ ἠσέβησεν ὁ Ἰώβ. ἐπάγει δὲ τὸ "ἀλλὰ τίς ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν σου ἐξαιρούμενος;" τοὺς φίλους παιδεύων̣ ο̣ἰ´̣ε̣σθαι καὶ τὸν μὴ ἡμαρτηκότα μηδὲ ἠσεβηκότα ὑπὸ χεῖρα τοῦ θεοῦ γίνεσθαι ἐν ἐπιπόνοις διὰ ἀγῶνα καὶ καρτερίας ἐπίδ»ε»ιξιν. λέγουνσιν γοῦν οἱ θλιβόμενοι μέν, μὴ πίπτοντες δὲ διὰ τὰς θλίψεις· "ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι, ἀλλ' οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι." καὶ πάλιν λέγεται· "πολλαὶ αἱ θλίψεις τῶν δικαίων, καὶ ἐκ πασῶν αὐτῶν ῥύσεται αὐτούς." οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ τὸ ῥυ σθῆναι ἐκ τῶν θλίψεων τὸ μὴ θλίβεσθαι πάντως, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ ἡττηθῆναι προηγουμένως ὑπ' αὐτῶν, τὸ μὴ παγιδευθῆναι 273 ὑπὸ τῶν τὰ δίκτυα τῶν θλίψεων ἐπιφερόντων. αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με. καὶ τοῦτο οἰκείως ἐπήνεγκεν· ἵνα γὰρ μή τις ὡς ὠμὸν καὶ ἀπαραίτητον τὸν θεὸν ὑπονοήσῃ αὐτὸν λέγειν διὰ τοῦ "ἀλλὰ τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν σου ἐξαιρούμενος", ἐπιφέρει τὸ "αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με", λέγων ὅτι κἂν ἐπάγει θλίψεις, ἀλλὰ φείδεται τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων· εἴρηται γάρ· "φείδῃ δὲ πάντων, ὅτι σά ἐστιν, δέσποτα φιλόψυχε." εὖ δὲ τὸ "αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με", ἵνα τὸ μὲν "ἐποίησαν" ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς λαμβάνηται, τὸ δὲ "ἔπλασαν" ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος· ἀντέρεισιν γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ "ἔπλασάν με", ὅπερ οἰκεῖον σώματι. καὶ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει δὲ εἴρηται· "ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν·" οὐ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα κατ' εἰκόνα, ἀλλ' ἡ ψυχή· οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρωπόμορφος ὁ θεός. καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα εἴρηται· "ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς" τὸ σῶμα λαμβάνων, ἵν' ὡς εἴπομεν τὴν μὲν ποίησιν ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς δεχώμεθα, τὴν δὲ πλάσιν ἐπὶ τῆ»ς» σαρκός. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς σαρκὸς κεῖται ἡ ποίησις, οὐ ξενιστέον· καὶ γὰρ 274 τὸ πλάσαι τῷ γένει ποιῆσαί ἐστιν. ἀντιθήσει μὲν οὖν τις λέγων λεγων καὶ τὸ πεπλάσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς κεῖσθαι καὶ τοῦτο σημαίνεσθαι ἐκ τοῦ· "ὁ πλάσας κατὰ μόνας τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν." πρὸς ὃ σο̣φῶς δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ χειρῶν θεοῦ νοητέον· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἁπλουστέρως εἰρῆσθαί φησι τὰς χεῖρας πληθυντικῶς ἢ δυϊκῶς τὴν δραστήριον τοῦ θ̣εου῀̣ δύναμιν· ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ἀκριβέστερον λαβεῖν χεῖρα τὸν υἱόν- εἴρηται γάρ· "ἡ χείρ μου ἐποίησεν ταῦτα πάντα"-καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, καθὸ εἴρηται· "τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτοῦ." εἴρηται δὲ καί· "πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ ἡ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι, διὸ τὸ γεννώμενον ἐν σοὶ ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς θεοῦ." ἵνα γὰρ συστῇ ὁ ναὸς τοῦ ςωτῆρος, καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐπέλευσις γέγονεν καὶ τῆς τοῦ ὑψίστου δυνάμεως, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ υἱός. μετὰ ταῦτα μεταβαλών με ἔπαισας. τὸ δημιουργικὸν ἅμα καὶ προνοητικὸν τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τούτων παρίστησιν, διὰ μὲν τοῦ "αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με" τὸ δημιουργικόν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ "μετὰ ταῦτα μεταβαλών με ἔπαισας" τὸ προνοητικόν. καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ προνοίας ἐστὶν θεοῦ ἔργον 275 τὸ ἐν θλίψεσιν δι' ἀγῶνα περιβαλεῖν τὸν ἀνδρεῖον, ἵνα χαρακτῆρα καὶ σκοπὸν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις στήσῃ, πρὸς ὃν ἀποβλέποντες μιμηταὶ καταστῶσιν. τὸ δὲ "μεταβαλὼν" νοητέον ἀντὶ τοῦ μεταβολὴν περὶ ἐμὲ ποιήσας τοῦ σώματος· εἵλ κωτο γὰρ καὶ λελώβητο ἀνι̣αρω῀̣ς πάντων ἁπαξαπλῶς τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν μεταβληθέντων. μνήσθητι, ὅτι πηλόν με ἔπλασας, εἰς δὲ γῆν με πάλιν ἀποστρέφεις. ἀκολούθως καὶ