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of creation and of understanding and of knowledge, in which he, trusting, was led forth to speak. Note again, that he says the Holy Spirit is the cause of the creation of man. For even if through whom all things † the Father, the 280 same also of the Son † being inseparable from him, since it is also by nature proper to the only-begotten. 33, 5 But if you are able, give me an answer to these things, wait. Wait, therefore, to hear the things from me, and if you have a word of contradiction, answer. 33, 56 Stand against me and I against you. You have been formed from clay just as I have, we have been formed from the same. Therefore, be in no way afraid to answer, for the contest is on equal terms; for we both are of the same nature, from clay and earth, and having nothing extraordinary. And he says these things, rebuking him as one who wanted to go to law against God. Therefore he also adds: 33, 7 my fear will not confound you, nor will my hand be heavy upon you. Since Job was saying: "and let not his fear confound me," behold, he says, there is nothing fearful or powerful with me as there is with God, nor will your mind be twisted and turned about by my fear, nor, if you should speak against me, can I bring any blow upon you, making my hand heavy against you. For you were saying that, if you did not fear these things, you would wish to contend with God. But Elihu says these things, as we have already said before, not befitting the meaning from which Job uttered his words. 281 33, 8 But you have said in my ears, I have heard the sound of your words. And you dared to say such words, of which I have become an ear-witness. 33, 9-11 Because you say: "I am pure, without sin, and I am blameless, for I did not transgress; but he has found blame against me, and has considered me as an adversary. He has put my foot in the stocks, and he has watched all my paths." And you dared to say: "I am pure and blameless, but God, like some enemy, having precisely searched out my affairs, if I transgressed anything unwillingly, if I sinned anything in my youth, having tracked it down, found blame against me, in order to punish me." And the phrase "he put my foot in the stocks" either means this, as Job said that: "as with a so-called foot-shackle he measured out my foot," so as to say that: "he also numbered precisely the measures of my words;" or that "he shut up all the ways," like those who bind the foot in a perforated wood, signifying the inescapability of the punishment. 33, 12-13 For how do you say: "I am righteous, and he has not hearkened to me?" For eternal is he who is above mortals. And you say: "Why has he not hearkened to every word of my righteousness?" But you also dared to say that: "I am righteous and I made a just prayer to God, but he did not assent nor did he listen to my words." And yet you ought to understand that the eternal and beginningless God, excellently guiding the affairs of the world, will overlook nothing of what is just. 282 33, 14 For in the Lord's speaking once. And all things that God has determined and ordained, he has not legislated as a man who repents or considers something better, but all things that he has defined are blameless and praiseworthy. For this is what "the Lord speaks once" signifies, that whereas men often repent of what they say or do, God does not undergo this. 33, 14-16 but in the second, a dream, as a vision in a nightly meditation, as when a dreadful fear falls upon men in their slumberings upon the bed; then he uncovers the mind of men. Therefore, he says, God, the guardian of our affairs, has indeed determined certain things, which we ought to keep according to nature, such as to love God and one's neighbor as oneself; for this is the law of equality according to nature. But if we should turn aside in anything, like a loving father he often instructs us through dreams and visions of the night. For since we did not keep the natural law, he at other times brings on an instructive fear through dreams, as in a meditation, that is, a discourse, making certain apparitions in a dream and terrifying the soul, when it is roused from sleep on the bed; and through these terrors, turning them back, he uncovers the mind of men, that is: he brings them to an awareness of God, so that, being driven by fear, we may return to him, correcting our own life. For thus also the

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ποιήσεως καὶ τῆς συνέσεως καὶ τῆς γνώσεως, ᾥτινι πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ τὸ λέγειν προήχθη. σημειοῦ δὲ πάλιν, ὡς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα αἴτιον εἶναι λέγει τῆς ἀνθρώπου ποιήσεως. εἰ γὰρ καὶ δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα † ὁ πατήρ, τὸ 280 αὐτὸ καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ † ἀχώριστον αὐτοῦ τυγχάνον, ἐπειδὴ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦ μονογενοῦς. 33, 5 ἐὰν δὲ δύνῃ, δός μοι ἀπόκρισιν πρὸς ταῦτα, ὑπόμεινον. ὑπόμεινον τοιγαροῦν ἀκοῦσαι τὰ παρ' ἐμοῦ καί, εἰ ἔστι σοι λόγος ἀντιλογίας, ἀπόκριναι. 33, 56 στῆθι κατ' ἐμὲ καὶ ἐγὼ κατὰ σέ. ἐκ πηλοῦ διήρτισαι σὺ ὡς καὶ ἐγώ, ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ διηρτίσμεθα. μηδὲν οὖν εὐλαβηθῇς πρὸς τὸ ἀποκρίνασθαι, ἰσοπαλὴς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἀγών· τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς ἄμφω τυγχάνομεν φύσεως τῆς ἐκ πηλοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ οὐδὲν ἐχούσης ὑπέρογκον. ταῦτα δὲ λέγει ἐντρέπων αὐτὸν ὡς θελήσαντα πρὸς θεὸν δικάσασθαι. διὸ καὶ ἐπάγει· 33, 7 οὐχ ὁ φόβος μού σε στροβήσει, οὐδὲ ἡ χείρ μου βαρεία ἔσται ἐπὶ σοί. ἐπειδὴ ἔλεγεν ὁ Ἰώβ· καὶ ὁ φόβος αὐτοῦ μή με στροβείτω, ἰδού, φησίν, οὐδὲν φοβερὸν οὐδὲ δυνατὸν παρ' ἐμοὶ ὥσπερ παρὰ θεῷ, οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ φόβου μου περιστρέφῃ καὶ περιτρέπῃ τὴν διάνοιαν, οὐδέ, ἐὰν ἀντείπῃς, δύναμαί σοί τινα πληγὴν ἐπαγαγεῖν βαρύνων κατὰ σοῦ τὴν ἐμὴν χεῖρα. ἔφασκες γάρ, ὡς, εἰ μὴ ταῦτα ἐδεδοίκεις, διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς θεὸν ἤθελες. ταῦτα δὲ λέγει ὁ Ἐλιούς, ὡς ἤδη φθάσαντες εἴπαμεν, οὐ καθήκοντα τῆς ἐννοίας, ἐξ ἧς τοὺς λόγους προέφερεν ὁ Ἰώβ. 281 33, 8 πλὴν εἶπας ἐν ὠσί μου, φωνὴν ῥημάτων σου ἀκήκοα. ἐτόλμησας δὲ εἰπεῖν τοιαῦτα ῥήματα, ὧν αὐτήκοος γέγονα. 33, 911 διότι λέγεις· καθαρός εἰμι οὐχ ἁμαρτών, ἄμεμπτος δέ εἰμι, οὐ γὰρ ἠνόμησα· μέμψιν δὲ κατ' ἐμοῦ εὗρεν, ἥγηται δέ με ὥσπερ ὑπεναντίον. ἔθετο δὲ ἐν ξύλῳ μου τὸν πόδα, ἐφύλαξε δὲ τὰς ὁδούς μου πάσας. ἐθάρρησας δὲ εἰπεῖν· καθαρὸς μέν εἰμι καὶ ἄμεμπτος, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ὥσπερ τις ἐχθρὸς ἀκριβῶς ἀναζητήσας τὰ κατ' ἐμέ, εἴ τι ἄκων παρέβην, εἴ τι ἐν νεότητι ἥμαρτον, ἀνιχνεύσας εὗρεν κατ' ἐμοῦ μέμψιν, ὅπως με τιμωρήσηται. τὸ δὲ ἔθετο ἐν ξύλῳ τὸν πόδα μου ἢ τοῦτο λέγει, ὡς τοῦ Ἰὼβ εἰρηκότος ὅτι· ὥσπερ τῷ καλουμένῳ καλοποδίῳ διεμέτρησέ μου τὸν πόδα, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· καὶ μέτρα τῶν ἐμῶν ῥημάτων ἀκριβῶς ἐξηριθμήσατο· ἢ ὅτι συνέκλεισε πάσας τὰς πορείας ὥσπερ οἱ ἐν τετρυπημένῳ ξύλῳ τὸν πόδα δεσμοῦντες, τὸ ἀδιεξίτητον τῆς τιμωρίας αἰνιττόμενος. 33, 1213 πῶς γὰρ λέγεις· δίκαιός εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἐπακήκοέ μου; αἰώνιος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐπάνω βροτῶν. λέγεις δέ· διὰ τί τῆς δικαιοσύνης μου οὐκ ἐπακήκοε πᾶν ῥῆμα; ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπετόλμησας εἰπεῖν ὅτι· ἐγὼ μέν εἰμι δίκαιος καὶ δικαίαν ἐποιησάμην πρὸς θεὸν τὴν δέησιν, ὁ δὲ οὐ κατένευσεν οὐδὲ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐπήκουσε λόγων. καίτοιγε ἐχρῆν σε ἐννοεῖν, ὡς ὁ αἰώνιος καὶ ἄναρχος θεὸς ἄριστα τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον ἡνιοχῶν οὐδὲν τοῦ δικαίου παρόψεται. 282 33, 14 ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἅπαξ λαλήσαι ὁ κύριος. καὶ πάντα, ἃ ὥρισε καὶ διετάξατο ὁ θεός, οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος μεταμελόμενος ἢ ἐπιλογιζόμενός τι κρεῖττον ἐνομοθέτησεν, ἀλλὰ πάντα, ἃ διωρίσατο, ἄμεμπτα καὶ ἐπαινετά. τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ ἅπαξ λαλῆσαι ὁ κύριος ὡς τῶν μὲν ἀνθρώπων πολλάκις ἐφ' οἷς λέγουσιν ἢ πράττουσι μεταμελομένων, θεοῦ δὲ τοῦτο οὐχ ὑπομένοντος. 33, 1416 ἐν δὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ ἐνύπνιον, ὡς φάσμα ἐν μελέτῃ νυκτερινῇ, ὡς ὅταν ἐπιπίπτῃ δεινὸς φόβος ἐπ' ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ νυσταγμάτων ἐπὶ κοίτης· τότε ἀνακαλύπτει νοῦν ἀνθρώπων. ὁ μὲν οὖν, φησίν, κηδεμὼν τῶν ἡμετέρων θεὸς ὥρισε μέν τινα, ἃ κατὰ φύσιν φυλάττειν ὀφείλομεν οἷον τὸ ἀγαπᾶν θεὸν καὶ τὸν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν· οὗτος γὰρ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἰσότητος νόμος. ἐὰν δὲ ἔν τινι παρατραπῶμεν, οἷα πατὴρ φιλόστοργος πολλάκις ἡμᾶς δι' ὀνειράτων παιδεύει καὶ φασμάτων νυκτερινῶν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸν φυσικὸν οὐκ ἐφυλάξαμεν νόμον, τὸν παιδευτικὸν ἐσθότε φόβον ἐπιφέρει δι' ἐνυπνίων, ὡς ἐν μελέτῃ, τουτέστιν· διαλέξει, ποιῶν τινα κατ' ὄναρ φάσματα καὶ ἐκδειματῶν τὴν ψυχήν, ὅταν ἐπὶ κοίτης ἀφυπνώσῃ· καὶ διὰ τούτων τῶν δειμάτων ἐπιστρέφων ἀνακαλύπτει νοῦν ἀνθρώπων, ἀντὶ τοῦ· εἰς συναίσθησιν ἄγει τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα τῷ φόβῳ συνελαυνόμενοι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιστρέφωμεν τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐπανορθοῦντες βίον. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸν