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you will distinguish? Do you not know how they come to be? Do you not have the explanations for these things? He who reproves God will answer it, that is: if you think you are able to reprove me as one who has not spoken well, answer the judgment which I have proposed to you, that is: of the things I said, answer concerning their wondrous working. But he says these things not as one ignorant of Job's pious mind, but wanting to show to his friends what he was like in matters concerning God, through the things which he answers. 354 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN The beginning of the saying: And Job, taking it up, says to the Lord: Why am I still judged, being admonished and reproving the Lord, hearing such things, being nothing? Prelude to the chapter the God-loving Job, who is knowledgeable of his own measure, having unexpectedly heard the divine voice calling him to conversation and to a testing of the things being said, became overjoyed, as is likely, but from the outset he confesses his own weakness and gives the victory to God. For in the face of God's wisdom, he says, one must do nothing else than to show wonder in silence and to marvel inexpressibly at the incomprehensible. The words 40, 4 Why am I still judged, being admonished and reproving the Lord, hearing such things, being nothing? Why am I judged, Master, why do I hear these things and am admonished as one about to reprove God, I who am nobody and not even worthy of any account? 355 40, 4 But what answer shall I give to these things? I will place my hand upon my mouth. And what shall I utter in response to the things that have been said? I judge it better to marvel in silence at your incomprehensible wisdom. These are words fitting for Job and also useful for our instruction, that one must not speak against the divine words nor be meddlesome about the things spoken by God, but to assent in faith and to marvel in silence at the ineffable wisdom of God. 40, 5 I have spoken once, but to the second I will not add. I was speaking, he says, when the discourse was with men, when I was being condemned as paying the penalty for sins, but to the second things, that is, those concerning God's wisdom and power, there is nothing to add, nothing to utter, nothing to contradict. 356 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT The beginning of the saying: And again the Lord, taking it up, said to Job from the cloud: No, but gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you answer me. Prelude to the chapter An excess of philanthropy is shown here also by God. For as Job in a holy manner shrinks from discourse with God and confesses that he is nothing, the philanthropic and justice-loving God says to him gently and at the same time friendly: Do not be silent, but speak. For I have not spoken to you for any other reason, but that I might make public your righteousness. And again from the discourse with the righteous one, God teaches us His own power and preeminence. And speaking about beasts, he also introduces the discourse about the dragon, which some, indeed, have supposed to be an animal historically, surpassing in strength and size, but others have said that this is the leviathan who served the devil in the beginning and deceived Eve—and the Hebrews call the great sea-monsters leviathan—but most of those who have shone in the church, in their own exegeses and treatises, have allegorically referred the things written to the devil. But as for me, if such an animal even exists, I cannot say; for neither have I seen it myself, nor have I heard of others who have recorded it. But that the things written are well referred to the apostate dragon, 357 the great mind of the Assyrians, that is Satan, and that such a theory is fitting for the divine saying, I strongly agree. For to whom was it fitting, if not to God alone, to describe as in a bodily form both the malice and the impetuosity of the arch-evil dragon, so that, struck with fear of the beast, we might flee for refuge to the same Lord who subdued it? And that the scripture often, while speaking as if about corporeal things, directs us to intelligible matters, because it speaks of the mysteries not manifestly, but with concealment, is surely manifest to anyone who has even for a short time paid attention to the thought of the divinely inspired scripture, seeing that the Song of Songs, while corporeal

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διακρινεῖς; μὴ οἶσθα, πῶς γίνονται; μὴ τούτων ἔχεις τοὺς λόγους; ἐλέγχων θεὸν ἀποκριθήσεται αὐτήν, τουτέστιν· εἰ νομίζεις δύνασθαί με ἐλέγχειν ὡς οὐκ εὖ εἰρηκότα, ἀποκρίθητι τὴν κρίσιν, ἣν προέτεινά σοι, τουτέστιν· ὧν εἶπον, τούτων τὴν θαυματουργίαν ἀποκρίθητι. λέγει δὲ ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς ἀγνοῶν τοῦ Ἰὼβ τὴν εὐσεβῆ γνώμην, ἀλλὰ τοῖς φίλοις δεῖξαι βουλόμενος, οἷος ἦν τὰ πρὸς θεόν, δι' ὧν ἀνταποκρίνεται. 354 ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΕΙΚΟΣΤΟΝ ΕΒ∆ΟΜΟΝ Ἀρχὴ τοῦ ῥητοῦ· ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ἰὼβ λέγει τῷ κυρίῳ· τί ἔτι ἐγὼ κρίνομαι νουθετούμενος καὶ ἐλέγχων {τὸν} κύριον, ἀκούων τοιαῦτα οὐδὲν ὤν; Προθεωρία τοῦ κεφαλαίου ὁ φιλόθεος καὶ τῶν οἰκείων μέτρων ἐπιστήμων Ἰὼβ θείας ἀδοκήτως φωνῆς ἀκροασάμενος προσκαλουμένης αὐτὸν εἰς ὁμιλίαν καὶ τῶν λεγομένων ἔλεγχον περιχαρὴς μὲν γέγονεν, ὡς εἰκός, ὁμολογεῖ δὲ ἐκ προοιμίων τὴν οἰκείαν ἀσθένειαν καὶ δίδωσι θεῷ τὰ νικητήρια. πρὸς γὰρ θεοῦ σοφίαν, φησίν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον δεῖ ποιεῖν ἢ τῇ σιωπῇ δεικνύναι τὸ θαῦμα καὶ τῷ ἀρρήτῳ θαυμάζειν τὸ ἀκατάληπτον. Αἱ λέξεισ 40, 4 τί ἔτι ἐγὼ κρίνομαι νουθετούμενος καὶ ἐλέγχων κύριον, ἀκούων τοιαῦτα οὐδὲν ὤν; εἰς τί ἐγὼ κρίνομαι, δέσποτα, εἰς τί ἐγὼ ταῦτα ἀκούω καὶ νουθετοῦμαι ὡς μέλλων ἐλέγχειν θεόν, ὁ μηδεὶς ὢν καὶ μηδὲ λόγου τινὸς ἄξιος; 355 40, 4 ἐγὼ δὲ τίνα ἀπόκρισιν δώσω πρὸς ταῦτα; χεῖρα θήσω ἐπὶ στόματί μου. ἐγὼ δὲ τί πρὸς τὰ εἰρημένα φθέγξομαι; ἄμεινον κρίνω τῇ σιωπῇ τὴν ἀκατάληπτόν σου θαυμάζειν σοφίαν. ταῦτα καὶ τῷ Ἰὼβ πρέποντα ῥήματα καὶ ἡμῖν εἰς διδασκαλίαν ὠφέλιμα πρὸς τὸ μὴ χρῆναι τοῖς θείοις ἀντιφθέγγεσθαι λόγοις μηδὲ πολυπραγμονεῖν τὰ ὑπὸ θεοῦ λεγόμενα, ἀλλὰ τῇ πίστει συγκατατίθεσθαι καὶ τῇ σιωπῇ θαυμάζειν τὴν ἄρρητον τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίαν. 40, 5 ἅπαξ ἐλάλησα, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ οὐ προσθήσω. ἐλάλουν, φησίν, ὅτε πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἦν ἡ διάλεξις, ὅτε κατεδικαζόμην ὡς ἁμαρτίας ἐκτίνων δίκας, πρὸς δὲ τὰ δεύτερα, τουτέστι τὰ περὶ θεοῦ σοφίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως, οὐδέν ἐστι προσθεῖναι, οὐ φθέγγεσθαι, οὐκ ἀντειπεῖν. 356 ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΕΙΚΟΣΤΟΝ ΟΓ∆ΟΟΝ Ἀρχὴ τοῦ ῥητοῦ· ἔτι δὲ ὑπολαβὼν ὁ κύριος εἶπε τῷ Ἰὼβ ἐκ τοῦ νέφους· μή, ἀλλὰ ζῶσαι ὥσπερ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀσφύν σου· ἐρωτήσω δέ σε, σὺ δέ μοι ἀποκρίθητι. Προθεωρία τοῦ κεφαλαίου ὑπερβολὴ φιλανθρωπίας κἀνταῦθα τοῦ θεοῦ δείκνυται. ἁγιοπρεπῶς γὰρ τοῦ Ἰὼβ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ἀναδυομένου διάλεξιν καὶ τὸ μηδὲν εἶναι ὁμολογοῦντος ὁ φιλάνθρωπος θεὸς καὶ φιλοδίκαιος πράως ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλικῶς φησι πρὸς αὐτόν· μὴ σιωπήσῃς, ἀλλὰ λάλει. οὐ γὰρ δι' ἄλλο τί σοι κεχρημάτικα, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὴν σὴν δημοσιεύσω δικαιοσύνην. πάλιν δὲ ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸν δίκαιον διαλέξεως ἡμᾶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν καὶ ὑπεροχὴν ὁ θεὸς ἐκδιδάσκει. καὶ περὶ θηρίων διαλεγόμενος εἰσάγει καὶ τὸν περὶ τοῦ δράκοντος λόγον, ὃν δή τινες μὲν ζῷον εἶναι καθ' ἱστορίαν ὑπειλήφασιν ὑπερφερὲς ἰσχύι καὶ μεγέθει, ἕτεροι δὲ τοῦτον ἔφασαν εἶναι τὸν λευιαθὰν τὸν τῷ διαβόλῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπηρετησάμενον καὶ τὴν Εὕαν ἐξαπατήσανταλευιαθὰν δὲ οἱ Ἑβραῖοι τὰ μεγάλα κήτη προσαγορεύουσιν, οἱ δὲ πλείονες τῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ διαλαμψάντων ἐν οἰκείαις ἐξηγήσεσι καὶ λογογραφίαις εἰς τὸν διάβολον ἀλληγορικῶς ἀνήνεγκαν τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα. ἐγὼ δέ, εἰ μὲν καὶ ζῷόν ἐστι τοιοῦτον, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν· οὔτε γὰρ αὐτὸς εἶδον, οὔτε ἑτέρων ἱστορησάντων ἤκουσα. ὅτι δὲ εἰς τὸν ἀποστάτην δράκοντα, 357 τὸν νοῦν τὸν μέγαν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, τουτέστι τὸν Σατανᾶν, καλῶς ἀναφέρεται τὰ γεγραμμένα καὶ τῇ θείᾳ ῥήσει πρέπουσα ἡ τοιαύτη θεωρία, σφόδρα συντίθεμαι. τίνι γὰρ ἔπρεπεν ἢ μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου δράκοντος διαγράψαι ὡς ἐν σωματοποιίᾳ τήν τε κακίαν καὶ ἰταμότητα, ἵνα τῷ δέει τοῦ θηρίου βαλλόμενοι πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν χειρωσάμενον καταφύγωμεν κύριον; ὅτι δὲ πολλάκις ἡ γραφὴ ὡς περὶ σωματικῶν διαλεγομένη ἐπὶ νοητὰ ἡμᾶς παραπέμπει πράγματα διὰ τὸ μὴ προδήλως, ἀλλὰ μετ' ἐπικρύψεως τὰ μυστηριώδη διαλέγεσθαι, παντί που πρόδηλον τῷ καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ τῇ διανοίᾳ τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς ἐπιστήσαντι, ὅπουγε τὸ Ἆισμα τῶν ᾀσμάτων σωματικὰ μὲν