Job opens his mouth; hard words wear the soul; fortress and laugh

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desires death for the reasons already given. Toward understanding he speaks mysteries; he philosophizes about what has already happened and assures what is coming — the way holy prophets always speak. Coming to the words themselves, let us clarify the sense, guided by the same one who strengthened holy Job for the contests.

"After this Job opened his mouth." When a righteous man opens his mouth, do not attend casually; hunt the benefit in the words. Such sayings are always full of help, and a righteous mouth publishes hidden treasures. So the vessel of election writes, "My mouth has opened toward you, Corinthians," and of the Lord it is written that "opening his mouth he taught." The one witnessed to open a mouth is first taught the measures of silence. Job opens his mouth after the great trophy and those sufferings — not letting the tongue outrun devout prudence under bodily pain, but showing temperance in the voices. The witness that he opened his mouth also shows the soul’s calm and the seemliness of the words.

Chapter 19: "Until when will you make my soul weary?" Heavy loads make beasts weary; heavy words do the same to a hearer. Pressed by the harsh, insulting speech of the other two who came with Baldad, Job feels a heavy load and asks how long they will weary his soul. The Sauchean is labeled tyrant beforehand; his words are tyrannical. Nothing reaches a human soul like a hard word. Many endure bodily torments and still cannot endure speech. The perfect athlete, even weary, endures harsh words; bearing insult belongs to a great man. So the Apostle lists among his brave deeds: "Being reviled we bless, being persecuted we endure, being defamed we exhort; we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all until now." Job’s book especially holds his courage and endurance — and still he feels the toil of hard words from those who came to visit.

"Know only that the Lord made me thus." What you see about me has not come from elsewhere than God. Fear: the one who brings this on me can bring it on you. "You speak against me; unashamed, you press upon me." Evil speech happens often; when the speaker does not blush, he says it to the face — not to refute or tell truth, but to reproach and insult. One must not insult those God is punishing, but mourn and fear. "Yes, in truth I have wandered; a wanderer lodges with me — to speak a word one ought not." By hypothesis he grants their view that he suffers for sins — was it then necessary to reproach him so? Even if he had done what he ought not, seeing scourges, ichor, worms, and lost goods, should they not have felt shame? Instead they tread further, without pity. "Allow that you magnify yourselves against me and leap on me with reproach" — not moderate rebuke, but leaping as if trampling. "His fortress he raised against me": under the wall of circumstance he is a fortress he cannot flee until God judges to take it down. "Look, I laugh at reproach, and I will not speak" — that is, "conquer the evil in the good." At their reproach he is thought to laugh, not to speak. Chapter 20.

Greek

θάνατον ἐπιποθεῖ, διὰ τὰς ἀνω τέρω λεχθείσας αἰτίας. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν μυστήρια λαλεῖ· καὶ περὶ τῶν ἤδη προγεγονότων φιλοσοφεῖ, καὶ πληροφορεῖ τὸ μέλλον. Τοιαῦται γὰρ ἀεὶ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν αἱ ῥήσεις. Ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτῶν τῶν λέ ξεων γενόμενοι, σαφηνίσωμεν τὴν διάνοιαν, αὐτοῦ ποδηγοῦντος πρὸς τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, τοῦ καὶ τὸν ἅγιον Ἰὼβ πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐνισχύσαντος. Στίχ. αʹ. Μετὰ τοῦτο ἤνοιξεν Ἰὼβ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. Ὅτι δίκαιος ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα, οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὑτωσὶ προσήκει προσέχειν τοῖς λεγομένοις, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐκ τῶν λόγων ἀναζητεῖν ὠφέλειαν. Μεστὰ γὰρ ἀεὶ ὠφε λείας τὰ τοιαῦτα ῥήματα τῶν ἁγίων· καὶ ἀνοίγων τὸ στόμα δίκαιος, κεκρυμμένους δημοσιεύει θησαυ ρούς. ∆ιὸ καὶ τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς ὁ Παῦλος ἐπι στέλλων φησί· Τὸ στόμα μου ἀνέῳγε πρὸς ὑμᾶς, Κορίνθιοι. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου γέγραπται ὅτι Ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ ἐδίδασκε. Καὶ ἁπλῶς ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρεῖται στόμα ἀνοίγειν, ὁ σιωπῆς μέτρα πρότερον διδαχθείς. Οὐκοῦν καὶ Ἰὼβ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα 17.69 μετὰ τοῦτο· τουτέστι μετὰ τὸ μέγα τρόπαιον, μετ' ἐκεῖνα τὰ πάθη, οὐκ ἀβασανίστως φθέγγεται περιαλ γῶν τῷ σώματι, τῆς γλώσσης φθανούσης τὸ τῆς φρο νήσεως ἔνθεσμον, ἀλλὰ σωφρονῶν καὶ ταῖς φωναῖς ὑποδείκνυται. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὴν γαλήνην τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τῶν ῥημάτων τὸ ἐμπρεπὲς ἡ τοῦ ἀνοῖξαι τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ μαρτυρία. ΚΕΦ. ΙΘʹ. Στίχ. αʹ. Ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσετε ψυχήν μου; Ὥσπερ σώματα βαρέα ἐπιτιθέμενα ζώων σώμα σιν, κάμνειν ποιεῖν τὰ βαστάζοντα· οὕτως εἰσί τι νες λόγοι βαρεῖς, οὓς ἀκούσας τις κάμνει. Ὡς ὑπὸ βάρους πιεζόμενος, τῆς δυνάμεως τῶν λόγων τῶν οὐ κακῶς, καὶ χαλεπῶς, ἢ ἐπὶ λοιδορίας εἰρημέ νων ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων δύο μετὰ Βαλδὰδ ἐληλυθότων, οἱονεὶ φορτίου αἴσθησις βαρέος, ὁ Ἰώβ φησι καμὼν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐφ' οἷς εἰρήκασιν· Ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσετε ψυχήν μου; –Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον· Ὁρᾷς ὡς προγέγραπται ὁ Σαυχαίων τύραννος. Τυ ραννικοὶ αὐτοῦ εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι, οὓς ἀκούσας ὁ Ἰὼβ, λέ γει· Ἕω τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσετε τὴν ψυχήν μου; Οὐχ οὕτως καθικνεῖται ψυχῆς ἀνθρώπου ἄλλο τι, ὡς λόγος σκληρός. Πολλάκις ὑπομείνας τὰς βασάνους σώματι προσφερομένας, λόγους οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν. Ὁ μέντοιγε τέλειος ἀθλητὴς, εἰ καὶ κάμνων, ἀλλ' ὑπο μένει τοὺς χαλεποὺς λόγους. Ὕβριν γὰρ ὑπομένειν μεγάλου ἀνδρός ἐστιν. ∆ιόπερ ἐν τοῖς ἀνδραγαθήμα σιν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγει· Λοιδορούμενοι εὐλο γοῦμεν, διωκόμενοι ἀνεχόμεθα, δυσφημούμενοι παρακαλοῦμεν. Ὥσπερ καθάρματα τοῦ κόσμου ἐγενήθημεν, πάντων περίψημα ἕως ἄρτι. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον φησὶν εἶτα, διὰ τὸ, Ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιή σετε ψυχήν μου; Ὁρᾷς; Ἰώβ ἐστιν, οὗ καὶ τὸ βιβλίον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐξαιρέτως περιέχει ἢ τὴν ἀνδρίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως αἰσθάνεται τῶν καμάτων, ὧν κεκμήκει ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ σκλη ροῦ τῶν ἐληλυθότων αὐτὸν ἐπισκοπῆσαι. Στίχ. γʹ. Γνῶτε μόνον, ὅτι ὁ Κύριος ἐποίησέ με οὕτως. Ἃ βλέπετε περὶ ἐμὲ, μὴ νομίσητε ἄλλοθεν ἐληλυ θέναι μοι ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Φοβήθητε τοίνυν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐμοὶ ταῦτα ἐπάγων δύναται καὶ ὑμῖν ἐπαγαγεῖν. Στίχ. γʹ. Καταλαλεῖτέ μου· οὐκ αἰσχυνόμενοί με, ἐπίκεισθέ μοι. Πολλάκις καὶ καταλαλεῖ τις κακῶς ποιῶν. Ὅτε ἂν δὲ οὐκ ἀπερυθριάσῃ, εἰς πρόσωπον λέγει ἐκείνῳ, οὐχὶ ἐλέγχων, οὐδὲ τἀληθῆ λέγων, ἀλλ' ὀνει δίζων καὶ ὑβρίζων. Τοῖς γὰρ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ τιμωρου μένοις ἐπεμβαίνειν οὐ χρὴ, ἀλλὰ θρηνεῖν καὶ φο βεῖσθαι. Στίχ. δʹ. Ναὶ δὴ ἐπ' ἀληθείας ἐγὼ ἐπλανήθην, παρ' ἐμοὶ δὲ αὐλίζεται πλάνος· λαλῆσαι ῥῆμα, ὃ οὐκ ἔδει. Εἶτά φησιν καθ' ὑπόθεσιν· Ὑμῖν δίδωμι, ὡς ὑπο 17.72 λαμβάνεται, ὅτι διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ταῦτα πάσχω· ἆρ' οὖν ἐχρῆν ὑμᾶς οὕτω μοι ὀνειδίζειν; Παρ' ἐμοὶ δὲ αὐλίζεται πλάνος. Εἰ καὶ καθ' ὑπόθεσιν τοιαῦτα ἐπεποιήκειν, οἷα οὐκ ἔδει· εἰ καὶ τοιοῦτος ἤμην, ἆρ' οὐκ ἐχρῆν ὑμᾶς βλέποντας μάστιγας, τοὺς ἰχῶ ρας, τοὺς σκώληκας, τὴν ἀπώλειαν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων, αἰδεσθῆναι; Ἀλλὰ προσεπιβαίνετέ μοι μὴ ἐλεοῦντές με, μηδὲ συμπαθοῦντές μου τῇ περιστάσει. Στίχ. εʹ. Ἔα δὲ, ὅτι ἐπ' ἐμοὶ μεγαλύνεσθε, ἐνάλλεσθε δέ μοι ὀνείδει. Οὐ μετρίως μοι ὀνειδίζετε, ἀλλ' ἐναλλόμενοι ὡσπερεὶ ἐπιβαίνοντες καὶ καταπατοῦντές με ὀνει δίζετε. Στίχ. ʹ. Ὀχύρωμα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὕψωσεν. Οἱονεὶ ὑπὸ τεῖχος τῆς περιστάσεώς εἰμι ὀχύρωμα, ὃ οὐ δύναμαι φεύγειν, ἕως οὗ κρινεῖ ὁ Θεὸς καθελεῖν αὐτό. Στίχ. ζʹ. Ἰδοὺ γελῶ ὀνείδει, καὶ οὐ λαλήσω. Τοῦτό ἐστι τό· Νίκα ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακόν. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνείδει ὑμῶν γελᾷν, οὐ λαλεῖν νομίζομαι. ΚΕΦ. Κʹ.

About this text

Origen of Alexandria, Enarrationes in Job (Greek).

Catalogue & scope

Khazarzar scan

Witnesses

Copy-text PG 17 (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.