The Premature Decay of the Wicked
Having achieved nothing, its cutting will be destroyed before its time. For this reason its flower falls and its shoot withers, because it does not remain for the time of perfect fruit. This is similar to the saying, 'Do not become hardened, so that you do not die before your time.'me.'me.' Some, being disturbed by such words, propose fate and say, 'we are under the time in which we act.' But 'before the time' refers to 'before the bringing to completion,'ust as we say a time is early or late.
Thus indeed Job says that he 'has come into a tomb like grain ripe, being gathered according to the season' (Job 29:17). And it is a blessing of God that the shoot is destroyed by wickedness before its time. And its rose will not thicken; it might be as early as an eye, and it would fall like the flower of an olive... Its flower is not permitted to come to a perfect fruit-bearing. And nothing less than this, as it is foretold, is effective and useful; it is a sign of the wickedness present in those who act.
But for the righteous it is not so; for the branches of the true vine, remaining in their nature, grow and bear fruit. For the death of the impious is a testimony. After passing through what perishes, the end appears as the death of the impious. For the working of wickedness achieves death, not the common death, but the death of punishment. And fire will burn the houses of the bribe-takers.
And according to immediate benefit it has utility, because the bribe-takers certainly undergo this upon injustices and impieties. For it has been said: 'The ruler asks, and the judge spoke peaceful words; it is the incense of his soul' (Proverbs 17:8). How then the house of the bribe-taker burns, it must be understood. It has been said: 'And I will take away their good things like a shepherd turning away and walking according to a rule in a day of scrutiny.' For in the examination of things there will be a repayment according to what is said: 'Go into the eternal fire' (Matthew 25:41). There is a time even in this life when the repayment begins...
Greek
μηδὲν ὑφεστηκὸς ἔχειν. ἡ τομὴ αὐτοῦ πρὸ ὥρας φθαρήσεται. διὰ τοῦτο τὸ ἄνθος αυ᾿̣τ̣οῦ ἐκπίπτει καὶ ὁ βλαστὸς αὐτοῦ μαραίνεται, ὅτι οὐ μένει καιρὸν τελείου καρποῦ. ὅμοιον τούτῳ τὸ "μὴ γίνου σκληρός, ἵνα μὴ ἀποθάνῃς ἐν οὐ καιρῷ σου." τινὲς ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων λέξεων ταραττόμενοι εἱμαρμένην εἰσηγοῦνται καὶ λέγουσιν ὅτι «ὑπὸ καιρόν ἐσμεν ἐν οἷς πράττομεν». τὸ δὲ "πρὸ ὥρας" ἐνταῦθα «πρὸ τῆς τελεσφορήσεως» λέγει, καθὸ λέγομεν ὥραν εἶναι τρυγητοῦ ἢ ἀμήτου. οὕτω γοῦν ὁ Ἰὼβ "ἐλήλυθεν ἐν τάφῳ ὡς σῖτος ὥριμος κατὰ καιρὸν συνκομισθείς". εὐεργεσία δὲ θεοῦ 406 ἐστιν τῆς κακίας τὸν βλαστὸν πρὸ ὥρας φθαρῆναι. καὶ ὁ ῥόδαμνος αὐτοῦ οὐ πυκάσει· τρυγηθείη δὲ ὥσπερ ὄμφαξ πρὸ ὥρας, ἐκπέσοι δὲ ὡς ἄνθος ἐλαίας. οὐκ ἐπιτρέπεται εἰς τελείαν καρποφορίαν ἐλθεῖν τὸ ἄνθος αὐτοῦ. οὐδὲν δ' ἧττον καὶ τοῦτο ὡς προείρηται λυσιτελές ἐστιν καὶ χρήσιμον̣ ··ε̣λετην κακίαν εἶναι τῶν ἐν̣εργ̣ο̣ύν̣τ̣ων. τὰ δὲ τῶν δικαίων οὐχ οὕτως· τὰ γὰρ κλήματα τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀμπέλου μένοντα ἐν τῇ συμφυίᾳ βλαστοῦσιν καὶ καρποφοροῦσιν. μαρτύριον γὰρ ἀσεβοῦς θάνατος. τὰ φθάσαντα διελθὼν τὸ πέρας τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς θάνατον ἀποφαίνεται. ἡ γὰρ τῆς κακίας τελεσιουργία θάνατον ἀπεργάζεται, οὐ τὸν κοινόν, ἀλλὰ τὸν τῆς κολάσεως. πῦρ δὲ καύσει οἴκους δωροδεκτῶν. καὶ κατὰ τὸ πρόχειρον ὠφέλειαν ἔχει, ὅτι οἱ δωροδοκοῦντες πάντως ἐπὶ ἀδικήμασι καὶ ἀσεβήμασιν τοῦτο ὑπομένουσιν. εἴρηται γάρ· "ὁ ἄρχων αἰτεῖ καὶ ὁ κριτὴς εἰρηνικοὺς λόγους ἐλάλησεν, καταθύμιον ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐστιν." πῶς δὲ καίεται τοῦ δωροδέκτου ὁ οἶκος, ἐπισ̣τῆσαι δεῖ. εἴρηται· "καὶ ἐξελοῦμαι τὰ ἀγαθὰ αὐτῶν ὡς σὴς ἐκτρώγων καὶ βαδίζων ἐπὶ κανόνος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σκοπιᾶς." ἐν γὰρ ἐξετάσει τῶν πραγμάτων ἔσται ἀπόδοσις κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον· "ὑπάγετε εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον." ἔστιν δὲ ὅτε καὶ ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ ἡ ἀνταπόδοσις
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Job.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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