The Instability of Wickedness
The wicked prepare for malice, while some of them, being saints, take them away from those being held by the divine proclamation, which the blessed apostles have established having been sent to 'make disciples of all nations' (Matt 28:19). And pay attention, that he did not say 'what they have done', but 'what they have prepared', and they prepared through malice, through pleasures, through other evils.
Neither shall he be enriched, nor shall his existing things remain with him. Of those prepared with diligence, how can they still be enriched? For the poor and the gap... gap prepared... gap of his deception... gap good teachers. Similar to this is 'the partridge has hatched what she did not lay; at the end of it they will leave it, at the end of it it will be a fool' (Luke 12:20). It will not cast a shadow upon the earth. Bodies are the makers of shadows, and it is impossible for a shadow to exist without a body. And this one, since having undergone a certain way, does not remain—I do not say that his essence does not remain, but that he does not remain as he wished to be—therefore he does not cast a shadow; 'for he was not from the beginning' (Job 15:13), he says, and malice 'will not be unto the age' (Job 15:35). Nor shall he escape the darkness.
And rightly so; for the one who is an instigator for others toward malice receives an irrecoverable punishment. A wind withers his sprout. Even if it seemed to flourish in those whom he deceived and in those in whom he would fulfill his malice, but this sprout is withered by the wind; for he does not have a root. For malice is not essential, but entering from without, which, when struck by temptation, which is called wind, is rebuked and falls and withers. And his flower will fall. The flower is the beginning and the precursor of fruit, and this therefore falls. Even if the one participating in malice boasts, a little later he is humbled. And this is often even beneficial, just as a physician often cuts away the tumor attached to the body with iron and does not cease to apply painful things, until he fulfills the goal, the healthy state. Let the impious, falling toward God, not consider what he thinks of himself to be secure, he says. For it will result in nothing for him. For all his action is vanity because of the gap.
Greek
παρασκευάζουσιν οἱ φαῦλοι εἰς κακίαν, ἄλλοι αὐτῶν ὄντες οἱ ἅγιοι λαμβάνουσιν ἀποσπῶντες αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν κατεχόντων διὰ τοῦ θείου κηρύγματος, ὅπερ οἱ μακάριοι ἀπόστολοι 404 πεποιήκασι ἀποσταλέντες "μαθητεῦσαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη". καὶ πρόσσχες, ὅτι οὐκ εἶπεν «ἃ ἐκεῖνοι ἔκ τισανʹ, ἀλλ' "ἃ ἐκεῖνοι ἡτοίμασαν", ἡτοίμασαν δὲ διὰ κακίας, δι' ἡδονῶν, διὰ τῶν ἄλλων κ̣ακῶν. οὔτε μὴ πλουτισθῇ, οὔτε μὴ μείνῃ αὐ#6τοῦ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα. τ̣ῶν σπο̣υ̣δ̣ῇ ἑτοιμασθέντων ε᾿̣ξαιτουμένων πῶς ἂν ἔτι π̣λουτοίη̣; πένης γὰρ καὶ ϊροσγ̣····· ····ν̣ ἡτοιμασμένων ······ ···· α τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀπάτης ····· ·· ἀγαθοὺς διδασκαλ····· ···· νων. τούτῳ ὅμοιον τὸ "ἐφώνησεν πέρδιξ, συνήγαγεν ἃ οὐκ ἔτεκεν· ἐπ' ἐσχάτου αὐτοῦ ἐγκαταλείψουσιν αὐτόν, ἐπ' ἐσχάτου αὐτοῦ ἔσται ἄφρων." οὐ μὴ βάλῃ ἐπὶ γῆς̣ σκιάν. τὰ σώματα ποιητικὰ τῶν σκιῶν ει᾿̣σιν καὶ ἀδύνατον σώματος μὴ ὄντος σκιὰν εἶναι. καὶ οὗτος οὖν ἐπεὶ τρόπον τινὰ ὑφεστηκὼς οὐ μένει– οὐ λέγω, ὅτι ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ οὐ μένει, ἀλλ' οὕτως ὡς ἠθέλησεν εἶναι οὐ μένει–, διὸ οὐ 101 βάλλει σκιάν· "οὔτε γὰρ ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς", φησίν, ἡ κακία "οὔτε εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔσται." οὐδὲ μὴ ἐκφύγῃ τὸ σκό#6τος. καὶ εἰκότως· ὁ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων παραίτιος εἰς κακίαν ἀναπόδραστον ἔχει τὴν κόλασιν. τὸν βλαστὸν αὐτοῦ μαράναι ἄνεμος. εἰ καὶ ἔδοξε βλαστάνειν ἐν οἷς ἠπάτησεν καὶ ἐν οἷς ἐκπληροῖ αὐτοῦ τὴν κακίαν, ἀλλ' ὁ βλαστὸς οὗτος ὑπὸ ἀνέμου μα405 ραίνεται· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ῥίζαν ἔχων. οὐ γὰρ οὐσιώδης ἡ κακία, ἀλλὰ ἔξωθεν ἐπεισελθοῦσα, ἥτις προσβολῇ πειρασμοῦ, ὅστις ἄνεμος εἴρηται, ἐλέγχεται καὶ πίπτει καὶ μαραίνεται. ἐκπέσοι δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἄνθος. τὸ ἄνθος ἀρχὴ καὶ προοίμιόν ἐστιν καρποῦ, καὶ τοῦτο οὖν ἐκπίπτει. κἂν γὰρ ἀλαζονεύηται ὁ μετέχων κακίας, ἀλλὰ μικρὸν ὕστερον ταπεινοῦται. τοῦτο δὲ πολλάκις καὶ εὐεργετικόν ἐστιν, καθὰ καὶ ὁ ἰατρὸς τὴν ἐπιφυομένην λύμην τῷ σώματι πολλάκις διὰ σιδήρου ἐκτέμνει καὶ οὐδὲ παύεται προσάγων τὰ ἀνιαρά, ἕως οὗ τὸν σκοπόν, τὸ ὑγιεινόν, ἀποπληρώσῃ. ξατ 12 μὴ ἀσφαλῆ, φησίν, τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν νομιζέτω ὁ ἀσεβὴς πταίων εἰς θεόν. κενὰ γὰρ ἀποβήσεται αὐτῷ. ματαιότης γάρ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ πᾶσα πρᾶξις διὰ τὸ
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Job.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.