Job · Chapter 10

My soul quarrels Heb. נקטה. My soul quarrels about the fact that I am alive. That is an expression of (Ezek. 20:43), “and you shall quarrel (ונקטתם) with yourselves. I will leave my speech i.e., my trouble, to cry and lament, and I cannot forget it or restrain it.

'My soul is weary' — whether I refrain from speaking, or I speak — it is in the sense of 'had I kept silent, my bones would have wasted away through my groaning' (Psalms 32:3). 'I will give free course' — some say it is from 'you shall surely release it with him' (Exodus 23:5). But the more likely view to me is that it is according to its plain sense.

'Is weary' — meaning: is cut off. 'My complaint' — meaning: my words of vexation.

"My soul is weary" — from the greatness of my pain, my soul feels cut off even while I am still alive; and so I take upon myself the burden of recounting my troubles, and I speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

"Is weary" — [Meaning] is cut off, as in "whose confidence is cut off" (Job 8:14). "I will give free course" — An expression of unloading a burden; similarly, "you shall surely help him to unload it" (Exodus 23:5).

My soul is weary of my life — since my soul is at strife with my life, for death is better for it than life, and life is like an enemy, distressing to it; therefore, ‘I will give free course to my complaint,’ and I will speak all that is in my heart.

"I will say" — I say to God: do not make me out to be wicked, bringing evils upon me as is the judgment fitting for the wicked. Let me know for what reason You contend with me, judging me as though I were wicked — what is my transgression?

I will say to God — he begins a new argument. It is this: since it follows from God’s perfection that He knows all things — for folly cannot be attributed to Him — and since it is a condition of His unity that He does not change, it is impossible for there to be any change in His knowledge, or for new knowledge of something He did not know beforehand to arise in Him. It follows, therefore, that He must know all future things with absolute, determinate knowledge that fixes one of the two sides of what is merely possible — as he will go on to prove. And so Hashem’s knowledge of the future eliminates free choice: since Hashem knew in advance that Job would be wicked, Job was compelled to be wicked, and no possibility of the opposite could even be conceived. Therefore I argue and say, ‘Do not condemn me’ — meaning, do not make me one who is wicked, for my wickedness is necessitated by Your foreknowledge, and You compel me to be wicked; the choice not to be wicked is no longer in my hands. For were it otherwise, something would come to be that You had not known beforehand — and folly cannot be attributed to You — and new knowledge would arise in You of something You had not known, and change and renewal of knowledge cannot be attributed to You either. Since, then, You made me wicked and compelled me to sin, let me know for what cause You contend with me: are not my deeds necessitated and not a matter of choice, and it is You who brought them about, not I?

Is it good Heb. הטוב, an interrogative form. [Is it good to You] that You should oppress and rob the righteous man of his righteousness, [while] upon the council of the wicked, who vex You, You shine Your splendor to show them a friendly countenance?

'And shine upon the counsel' — as if You shone favorably upon the counsel of the wicked.

'And shine upon' — its sense is either assurance and providence, or light and radiance — meaning that Your light and Your radiance reach the wicked in their scheming, until they bring it to completion.

"Is it good to You" — is it good in Your eyes that You should oppress the body of man though there is no violence in him? "That You should despise" — this continues "Is it good to You," meaning: is it good for You that You should despise the work of Your own hands? Is it not the way of every craftsman to love the work of his hands, and not to despise it? "And shine upon the counsel of the wicked" — and is it good for You to shine upon the counsel of the wicked, meaning that Your radiance should reach them in their scheming, until they bring it to completion? As if to say: why should You oppress the righteous while showing favor to the wicked — seeing that neither of these is just?

"You should oppress" — An expression of robbery. "You shine" — You cause light and cause to rise [i.e., shine forth].

Is it good to You — the fact that the righteous are afflicted with suffering, and the disorder in Providence that this seems to reflect, cannot escape one of three explanations. Either one must say that God lacks the ability to oversee the world — but all have already explained that a deficiency of ability cannot be attributed to Hashem — and so it remains to say only that He does not wish to oversee and order the affairs of human beings. This could be either out of oppression and envy, like one who refrains from doing justice and helping his fellow because of his own bad nature, wickedness, and envy — and of this it says, ‘Is it good to You that You should oppress’; or He does not wish to oversee and order the deeds of men because they are lowly and worthless in His eyes, the way a person does not bother to oversee the conduct of the cats in his house — and this too would not be good, ‘that You should despise the work of Your hands.’ It remains, then, to say only that He does oversee them, and that what brings suffering upon the righteous is that he sinned against Him, and the suffering came as a matter of judgment and punishment. Against this he asks: has it not been You who shone upon the counsel of the wicked? That is, was it not the counsel that the wicked took to act wickedly that issued from You, with You shining Your light upon it? For since Your foreknowledge shone forth that they would be wicked, they were compelled to be wicked, and it was not by their own choice that they took counsel to go astray — so why should they be punished?

"Do You have eyes of flesh" — do You have eyes like the eyes of flesh and blood, which cannot see the secrets of the heart? Surely You see every hidden thing, and You know who is righteous and who is wicked — why then do You exchange their due reward? "Or do You see as" — the matter is repeated in other words.

Do You have eyes — he begins to prove this: that it cannot be said that even though Hashem knows all future contingent things, the nature of possibility nevertheless remains in man’s hands — for this is impossible, on account of the difference between His knowledge and ours. • A) Things that change and come into being anew can only be apprehended through the senses, and Hashem’s apprehension is not through sense-perception; and of this it says, ‘Do You have eyes of flesh?’ • B) Apprehending things that come into being anew would require a change in the essence of the knower, such that the knower is constituted and perfected through the knowledge and along with it — and all of this is impossible with respect to Hashem. Of this it says, ‘Or do You see as man sees?’ — meaning, that You would apprehend in the way that man apprehends the objects of his senses and his intellections. • C) Apprehending things that come into being anew falls under time and is bound by it, while God, blessed be He, is above time; and of this he says —

Are Your days like the days of a mortal to provoke him and pursue [him]?

"Are Your days as [the days of man]" — meaning, even granting that I sinned, why did You hasten so to repay me, punishment following upon punishment, each crowding close upon the next? Are Your days like the days of a mortal man, who for this reason rushes to pay out the full reward at once, fearing he might die before he has finished paying it all? But You surely live and endure forever, and I am in Your hand at every moment. "Or Your years, etc." — the matter is repeated in other words.

Are Your days as the days of man — that You too would be under time as he is. And the sense of the verse runs continuously: ‘Do You have eyes of flesh,’ and likewise, ‘Or are Your days as the days of man’ — that because of this You seek out my iniquity.

"That You inquire" — that You inquire after my iniquity and search out my sin, seeking out every one of them, to gather them all together and pay them out all at once, without any pause in between — as though I were not delivered into Your hand at every moment.

(Verses 6-7) ‘That You inquire after my iniquity’ — as though it were Your opinion that I would not be wicked. That is, from the fact that You inquire after my iniquity, it appears as though it first occurred to You that I would not be wicked, and that this is why You inquire after my iniquity, in order to punish me for it. But this is impossible, for it would then have to be attributed to Your knowledge that it was hidden from You, and mistaken — that You did not know in advance that I would sin, so that ‘none could deliver me from Your hand,’ and I would have been compelled to sin, for so Your foreknowledge had decreed. Alternatively, the two clauses may be read as running in parallel: ‘That You inquire after my iniquity’ — as though it were Your opinion that I would not be wicked; ‘and search after my sin’ — ‘yet none can deliver from Your hand.’ That is: the very fact that You inquire and search after my iniquity shows that it first occurred to You that I would not be wicked, and that this is why You inquire after my sin — for had You known that I would sin, You would have had no need to inquire. And the fact that You search after my sin in order to punish me for it proves the opposite: that You knew I would sin. If so, is it not true that ‘none can deliver from Your hand’? For Your foreknowledge that I would sin proves that I had no choice to do otherwise and refrain from sin. If so, why do You search me out to punish me — is it not true that none can deliver from Your hand?

It is in Your knowledge You know.

'Although You know that I shall not be condemned' — and even if I had sinned, I could not escape, for You are the One who formed me.

'Although You know' — meaning: according to Your knowledge. 'And there is none that can deliver out of Your hand' — meaning: none can deliver from Your affliction; or perhaps the sense is that none can be found who could turn You back from Your deeds.

"Although You know" — meaning, sometimes a man hurries to repay an evildoer, thinking that the offender might yet mend his ways, so that people would then stop him from taking vengeance from then on. And so he says: You have hastened to pay out everything because You know that I will not act wickedly anymore. But is it not so that there is none who can deliver from Your hand — and who could stop You from doing at every moment as You please, whether to take vengeance or to show mercy?

shaped me Heb. עצבוני, They made me a shape, a mold, like “nor straighten (מעצבין) an infant’s limbs,” in Tractate Shabbath (22:6). But now Your hosts are together round about. and You destroy me These are the worms.

'Framed me' — most commentators said that 'framed me' is a term of a potter, describing how You fashioned the sinews of the body; and that the meaning of 'yet You destroy me' is from 'covering,' referring to the inner organs being covered over. But the correct view, in my opinion, is that the meaning of 'Your hands' is like the phrase 'the hand of Hashem was upon me' (cf. Ezekiel 1:3). 'And framed me' — according to its plain sense. 'And fashioned me' — like 'behold, I am dealing with all your oppressors' (Zephaniah 3:19), used likewise of making people wicked. And 'yet You destroy me' — according to its plain sense.

'Have framed me' — meaning: have shaped me, in the sense of 'their idols are silver and gold' (Psalms 115:4) — images shaped according to the form their makers wished to give them. This alludes to the forming power that Hashem placed within the seed; and in this connection our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: 'one does not pain a young child.' 'Yet You destroy me' — meaning: yet You ruin me.

"Your hands have framed me" — why then have the blows of Your hands grieved me and crushed me, coming all together around me, destroying me by them? Why have You hurried so?

"Have framed me" — From the language of "itzavon" [shaping/forming; also, sorrow]. "And fashioned me" — An expression of crushing, as in "behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you" (Zephaniah 3:19).

Your hands — he explains his words and says: You are not like some other craftsman, who, once he finishes his work, withdraws his hand from it, so that the work is no longer in his power and no longer needs him, for it stands and endures on its own. Not so with You: for ‘Your hands, which have framed me and fashioned me’ — that is, which shaped my form and likeness — remain together, round about me. Just as You placed Your hand upon me at the time of my formation, for the sake of bringing me into being, so they remain around me for the sake of my continued existence — in such a way that even after I was created, all my movements depend on You, and everything I do is attributed to Your hands, which move me to that action; and I have no possibility or choice to do anything except as Your hands compel me, for they govern all my movements. If so, how can You destroy me on account of what I have sinned, when this was done through Your own hands?

You will return me in the end.

"Remember, I beseech You" — turn Your attention now to remember that You made me the way a potter fashions his work from clay; and will You now long to return me to the dust, undoing Your own wondrous handiwork?

Remember, I beseech You, that You have fashioned me as clay — You made me in such a way that I am always in Your hand like clay in the hand of the potter, who can reshape it at any time to do with it as he wishes, and as seems right in the potter’s eyes to do. If so, why ‘will You bring me into dust again,’ since all my deeds are decreed by Your hand, according to how You fashioned the vessel — good or bad?

Did you not pour me like milk Concerning the drop from which I was born.

'Curdled' — like 'as silver is melted' (Ezekiel 22:22).

'Have You not poured me out as milk' — this alludes to the seed from which existence [the embryo] comes — namely, the woman's seed, which is at first liquid and flows, and which the natural heat within the man's seed then congeals and solidifies, as has been explained in the natural sciences.

"Have You not poured me out as milk" — at the outset of my formation, You poured me out like milk, refining the clear part from the seed of my father and mother; and afterward You curdled me like cheese — that is the beginning of formation.

"You have poured me out" — An expression of melting and pouring, as in "as silver is melted" (Ezekiel 22). "You have curdled me" — When a clear liquid turns thick, and a congealed substance forms, this is called "curdling," as in "the deeps were congealed" (Exodus 15).

(10–11) Have You not — You brought me into existence, from nothingness into being, degree by degree: first, ‘You poured me out as milk’ — since the seed melts like milk — and afterward ‘curdled me like cheese’ in the mother’s womb, for the child is formed from the choicest part of the seed, selected out the way cheese is selected from the substance of milk; and afterward, ‘clothed me with skin and flesh,’ and afterward ‘knit me together with bones and sinews’ — for so the fetus grows, little by little.

'And knit me together' — meaning: You have enclosed me; for the bones and sinews lie on the outside, surrounding the vital inner organs, and thereby these are protected to some degree. Moreover, the bones give the body its structure and stability, while the sinews accomplish the movements of its individual parts.

"With skin and flesh" — after that, You clothed me over the inner organs with a garment of skin and flesh, to protect them from harm, for the essence of a person's life depends on them. "And knit me together" — You covered my inner organs with bones and sinews that bind the bones together, so that they are interlaced and hold fast to one another.

"You have knit me together" — From the language of "sekhakh" [covering, interweaving]; and this word too is spelled with a shin.

and Your providence The providence of Your watch, for You appointed watchers for me. watched my spirit in my mother’s womb, and afterwards...

'And Your providence' — it is the active force; it is equivalent to 'Your command.'

'And Your providence' — meaning: Your oversight; the sense is that the oversight You placed among my active faculties, to govern the passive faculties, is what has preserved my spirit within me. For without this I could not have survived at all, since a person, owing to the fineness of his matter, is easily acted upon and would perish, were it not for the abundance of instruments Hashem placed in him to help preserve him for as long as possible.

"Life and favor" — at that time, You granted me life, placing within me the vital spirit, not as a reward for anything, since I had not yet done a thing — but You did this out of kindness. "And Your providence" — Your charge preserved my spirit within me, so that it should not depart, even though the body is like a wineskin full of holes.

"And Your providence" — And Your charge [i.e., Your commandments].

You have granted me life and favor — the life You granted me at the very beginning of my existence, at the time I was formed, came only from Your favor, for I had at that time no merit at all to be created and sustained in life; my very existence came only from Your favor. And it was only ‘Your providence’ that ‘preserved my spirit,’ keeping it from leaving the body while I was in my mother’s womb — for by nature it would not have been possible to confine the spirit within a sealed womb, its mouth shut; how could it survive without drawing breath? This is not a natural thing; it happens only by the decree of Hashem.

But You hid these in Your heart to destroy me as though You did not remember them, but... I knew that this was with You, everything as it was delineated, and You did not forget.

'Yet these things' — this refers to unwitting sins. The sense is: after You did me all this kindness, why do You keep my unwitting sins hidden away with You?

"Yet these things" — and although You have hidden away in Your heart the cause of these things and the manner of their making, so that none but You can grasp them, still this much I know: that this matter rests with You. You created, You fashioned — how then can You destroy the work of Your own hands, made with such wondrous wisdom and such great perfection?

"You did hide" — You concealed.

Yet these things You did hide in Your heart — meaning, the iniquity and sin mentioned above (v. 6): although You already knew then that I would sin in the future, nevertheless You hid this in Your heart, and did not decree, on that account, that I should not come into existence. ‘I know that this is with You’ — I know that You certainly knew then that I would sin in the future, and yet You acted as though You did not know, and formed me.

If I sinned, You watched me You laid Your eyes on me so as not to ignore [my sins] nor to forbear retaliation, and [from now on] You are not cleansing me of my iniquity but are requiting me for everything.

'Then You mark me' — meaning: in custody and confinement.

"If I sin" — even if I did sin, is it fitting that You should have kept me confined all this long time in the prison of these sufferings, and still not clear me of the stains of sin?

If I sin, then You mark me — he goes on to say: not only did You form me even though You knew I would sin, but even afterward, once I had in fact sinned, You still watched over me and did not withdraw Your care from me because of the sin — for even then ‘Your providence preserved my spirit.’ If so, I ask: how is it that now, ‘You will not acquit me from my iniquity’? Since Your knowing that I would sin did not prevent my coming into existence, how can sin now, after I already exist, cause me to return to nothingness on account of having sinned? What new consideration has arisen now that was not already known before I was created?

sated with disgrace am I. and seeing my affliction Heb. וראה. This is not an expression of the imperative, but is an adjective. וראה עניי is badlace (?) in Old French, “that I see it all the time.” As you say (below, at the end of the Book), “וּשְׂבַע יָמִים, and I am sated with days,” like “וְשָׂבֵעַ יָמִים” (with a “kamatz” under the “sin”) so do you say; וּרְאֵה, like וְרוֹאֶה, “and seeing my affliction.”

'Being filled with ignominy' — the word 'I' is missing [i.e., understand: I am filled with shame].

'And looking upon' — this is an infinitive form; the sense is: behold, I am sated with shame and continually looking upon my affliction.

"If I be wicked" — From this I conclude that there is no difference between the wicked and the righteous: whether I be wicked, woe is me, or whether I be righteous, I shall not lift up my head — either way I am filled with the disgrace of my friends' reproach and with the sight of my affliction and my lowliness. For if there really were a difference between the righteous and the wicked, then even had I been wicked, I would nonetheless already have received my full due, and I would now be cleansed of iniquity — so why do the sufferings not depart?

"Woe to me" — An expression of wailing; and the aleph stands in place of a yod, as with "Yishai" and "Ishai" [two spellings of the same name] (1 Chronicles 2).

If I be wicked, woe to me — he argues further: how can it be that ‘if I be wicked, woe to me,’ the sin attributed to me as though I had committed it by my own choice, while conversely, ‘if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head,’ since I am compelled to act righteously by Hashem’s foreknowledge, and it is not credited to me so that I should receive reward for it? If so, I am fit only to be ‘filled with ignominy, and looking upon my affliction,’ for my whole life serves only to receive affliction and disgrace.

And it is so great that You hunt me like a lion And it is so great in Your eyes to be to You as a burden and a disappointment, that You hunt me like a lion; You spread out a net for me as though I was as mighty as a lion. and You repeatedly from day to day. pronounce a verdict upon me Heb. תתפלא, to exact and to pronounce judgment, an expression of (Num. 6:2). “shall pronounce (יפלא).”

'And if it exalt itself' — this refers back to my affliction, which grows stronger day by day. 'And again' — meaning time after time, as in 'surely against me He turns His hand, again and again' (Lamentations 3:3). 'You show Yourself marvelous upon me' — You display Your wonders against me.

'And if it exalt itself' — meaning: would that the pain that has come upon me might grow so great that You would hunt me down like a lion that kills in a single blow; but instead You return to strike me blow after blow, and show Yourself marvelous upon me.

"And if it exalt itself" — Would that the evil upon me were so great that You would hunt me down with it like this lion, which hunts something and destroys it once, without repeating the act; so too would I wish to be destroyed by the evil until utter annihilation. But instead You return to hunt me down again and again, and show Yourself marvelous toward me by preserving my soul and not letting it see the pit.

"And it exalt itself" — And grow great, as in "can the rush shoot up" (Job 8:11).

And if it exalt itself — meaning, the disgrace and affliction rise and grow ever greater, in that ‘You hunt me as a lion.’ He pictures himself, by way of parable, as one entirely in Hashem’s hand in all his deeds, like a lion hunted and held captive by its trainer: though the lion’s strength is great, it can do nothing at all, for it is bound in its owner’s hand and can move only to the place its owner allows it, by the chain in his hand — and yet the lion’s owner marvels at it, as though it were doing everything by its own power. So he says: ‘You hunt me’ the way a hunted lion is hunted — so too, for all the greatness of my strength and vigor, I am held captive in Your hand, and I can do nothing, small or great, without You; and yet You go on to ‘show Yourself marvelous upon me,’ as though I were a being with free choice, performing great deeds by my own free power and will. And You —

Your witnesses to testify about the changes of the ailments and the pains. with set times are with me Times set for these my tortures, which serve (once) and [then] repeatedly shift with changes different from these, and serve again.

'Your witnesses' — these are the afflictions, which testify [against me]. 'Host succeeding host' — [troops] that come and go [in relief], like 'is there not a time of service' (Job 7:1); the sense is that they are present now, at this very time, and it refers to his troubles.

'Your witnesses' — meaning: Your afflictions; and the word bears some resemblance to Aramaic, where a skin-blemish (sappachat) is called adita. 'Succeeding' — related to the sense of being cut off [one relieved by the next]. 'Host' — meaning: abundance, multitude.

"You renew" — At every moment You renew witnesses against me who testify to You about the evil of my deeds; and by these ‘witnesses’ is meant his friends, who declare him guilty. "And increase" — Because of this Your anger against me increases, for I keep multiplying words in response, and in a multitude of words transgression is not lacking. "Succeeding" — They keep replacing one another: at one time this one speaks, at another time that one, and I must answer them all. "Host against me" — They do not hurry to leave; rather they linger with me a long while and pile up words, so that I am forced to answer all their words.

"Ka'ashcha (with a shin)" — [This is] the same as "ka'as" [indignation], [ordinarily] spelled with a samech. "Host" — An expression of a set time, as in "truly mortals have a term of service on earth" (Job 7:1).

You renew Your witnesses against me — to establish that I have sinned and that I deserve punishment for my deeds, on the ground that ‘changes and a host are with me’: since I am subject to change and alteration, and am placed under the host — that is, time — so that it appears that my deeds change at every moment through my own choice, and that my deeds are renewed in time; from this it seems that I am free in my actions, with the choice to act as I wish at every moment. From this ‘You renew Your witnesses against me,’ testifying that I possess free choice in my deeds. But in truth, is it not that, by virtue of Your foreknowledge — which is the chain and the fetters binding my power, so that I do nothing except as decreed and fixed by Your foreknowledge — it is clear that my deeds do not change and are not renewed in time, since there is no change and host (that is, alteration and time) with Hashem, and it is impossible for anything to be renewed in time, or to change, within His knowledge? If so, no punishment is due me for my deeds, since I am like a lion held captive in Your hand, and I have done nothing by my own choice.

Would that I had died and no eye had seen me If only I had died [upon emerging] from the womb.

"Why then" — If this is how You deal with me, why did You bring me forth alive from my mother's womb? It would have been better for me to expire in the womb, with no eye seeing me, for I would have been buried at once.

"I had perished" — I would have died.

(18–19) Why then have You brought me forth out of the womb? — he returns to his complaint about having been created: since I was destined for evil according to the celestial order, it would have been better for me to have perished at the time of birth, in such a way that ‘no eye had seen me’ — since in any case, being destined by the constellation of my birth to end up as though I had never been, I would, without this, still become as though I had never been; so it would have been better that ‘I had been carried from the womb to the grave.’ Why, then, did He give me this evil existence, in which I am as nothing and as naught, seeing that death is better for me than life?

would that I was brought from the womb to the grave Would that I was brought.

"I should have been as though I had not been, etc." — Then I would have been as though I had never existed, for I would have been carried straight from the womb to the grave, and it would be as though I had never been created at all.

"I should have been carried" — [Meaning] I should have been brought, as in "he is carried to the grave" (Job 21:32).

withdraw from me Withdraw Yourself from me and from upon me, like (Isa. 65:5), “Keep to yourself” Remain by yourself and distance yourself from me.

'And let me alone' — desist from me, like 'and the waters shall fail' (Isaiah 19:5). 'That I may take comfort' — that is, that I may find strength.

'Cease then' — meaning: refrain from bringing these evils upon me. 'And let me alone' — meaning: withdraw from me. 'That I may take comfort' — meaning: and let my heart be strengthened.

"Are not my days few" — And if I was created in order to still receive the good, my days are few — so when will I receive that good? Therefore, let the sufferings cease and be removed from me, that I may take a little comfort for a short while.

(20–21) Are not my days few? — but now that I already exist, I ask: since ‘my days are few’ and I will soon ‘cease’ — meaning, afterward I will cease to be and will no longer be in the world — therefore, ‘let me alone,’ remove my afflictions from me, ‘that I may take comfort a little’ before I go. Remove my afflictions from me, at least before my death, and let me die afterward. Then, growing more impassioned in his language, he says: I shall not return — once I go and die, I will no longer wish to return to this land, ‘a land of darkness and the shadow of death’; meaning, I will not return again to the life of this world, which is dark, gloomy, and evil.

before I go While I am still alive, and the time for me to die has not yet arrived, desist from me and I will rest.

"Before I go" — Before I die and go on the way from which I will not return, which is to the land of darkness and the shadow of death — the darkness of the grave.

darkness Heb. עפתה. This is a noun meaning darkness, like (Amos 4: 13) “dawn and darkness (ועיפתה).” the shadow of death it is, without orders in it (that there are no orders of man; i.e., there are no customs, for there is no civilization, and its light is like darkness). and where the light is as darkness The illuminated place [therein] is like darkness.

'Thick darkness' — darkness; and likewise, 'who makes the dawn darkness' (Amos 4:13). 'Order' — this refers to the arrangement of the stars; and the Targum renders the word with a term meaning 'to arrange,' that is, to put in order.

'Thick darkness' — its light: 'Without any order' — meaning that in that land nothing maintains order or rectitude in particular matters: 'Where the light is as darkness' — meaning: it shines. This is the explanation of the words of the response: Explanation of the words of the response: Job answered and said: Indeed, I know that this is so — referring to what Bildad had proven against him when he said, 'How long will you speak these things?' Do not think that what I said, I said in order to contend with Hashem; rather, I said it in line with Eliphaz's own view. For my part, I too hold that Hashem does not pervert justice, and it was for this reason that I concluded that He does not oversee human individuals — so that I would not have to attribute injustice to Him. Rather, Hashem directs their affairs according to what follows from the workings of the heavenly bodies; and even though it would have been better, as I said, for the bitter of soul to have died from the womb, I do not thereby attribute injustice to Hashem, for this comes about only because it was not possible for the individual affairs of man to be arranged by Him in any more perfect way. In general, it is clear that it is not fitting for a person to contend with Hashem and hurl words against Him — for how could a mortal be in the right against God when disputing with Him? Even if he wished to contend with Him, he could not, for Hashem would not answer him on a single one of his words. Moreover, He is wise in the utmost degree of wisdom and capable of whatever He wills; therefore one ought to be afraid to contend with Him, for who has ever hardened himself against Him and come out unharmed? A person is careful not to quarrel with one who is mightier and wiser than he — how much more so with One who is the very utmost in wisdom and might. In the abundance of His power He uproots mountains from their place, and the multitude of people do not recognize who it is that overturns them in His wrath, because the cause of their being dislodged is hidden from them. Now Hashem is the cause of this through the chain of causation — meaning that He is the first cause — and this comes about, specifically, through the trapping of vaporous exhalations within the bowels of the earth, from which a wind forms that pushes against the mountain and lifts it, until the ground splits open and the wind escapes; the mountain then collapses at that moment. By this same cause He shakes the earth from its place, and the pillars on which it rests tremble — meaning that the trembling first arises below, from the wind trapped there, and because the earth adjoining that region trembles, the earth resting upon it trembles as well. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine — this happens at the time of its conjunction with the moon, when the moon, as it appears, has no light of its own to spare; and even though the sun's light is so powerful that its brightness prevents the stars from being seen, the moon in that position blocks the sun's light from us, so that it does not shine. The same thing happens with the other wandering stars [planets]: their light is lost whenever bodies lower than they come between them and us. He alone, without any intermediary, stretched out the heavens at the time of creation; the elements, however, and whatever is compounded from them, He created by means of the heavenly bodies. He alone stretched out the [celestial] body that 'treads on the heights of the sea' — that is, the heavens and its stars, which travel within the band of the zodiac, or are inclined slightly to the north or south of it, like the wandering stars [planets] and the fixed stars found among the twelve constellations. He made the northern and southern constellations within the zodiacal band; and there is, indeed, a wonder in their creation that cannot be overlooked — namely, that these stars, though sharing one and the same nature, produce differing effects in this lower world. Job mentions, among these constellations, Ash [the Bear] — the same as the 'sons of Ash' mentioned elsewhere — as well as Kesil [Orion] and Kimah [the Pleiades], two constellations that signal the intensification of heat and cold: Kesil signals abundant cold, and Kimah abundant heat. 'The chambers of the south' are the southern constellations. In general, were we to set out to recount His wonders, we could not, for He does great things beyond investigation and marvels without number — as is evident to anyone who studies the nature of this created world, and especially the organs of living creatures and how they branch out from their origins. Truly, He passes by me and I do not see Him; He goes on and I do not perceive Him — for His glory fills the world, and He is present with every one of His creations, since He is the governing order by which each and every existing thing is sustained in some fashion, as we have shown beyond doubt in the Wars of Hashem. If He seizes a person and destroys him, who can turn Him back? Is there anyone higher and stronger than He? Who could say to Him: What are You doing? In truth, God does not turn back His anger, for He is not subject to change or alteration; therefore what you told me — that I should plead with Hashem to remove this evil from me — is plainly futile. 'The helpers [of pride and strength] stoop beneath Him' — meaning that their help avails nothing against Hashem. How, then, could I speak and contend with Him? How could that even be possible? Even were I in the right, I would find no way within myself to speak with Him; and how could I plead with my Judge as though I had sinned, as you advise me to do? Indeed, even if I called out to Him and found that He answered me, I still would not believe that He was listening to my voice. He says this because, in his view, it is clear that Hashem does not oversee human individuals, owing to their deficiency and their being transient, perishable beings. This conviction had become so firmly rooted in him through philosophical inquiry that, even where plain observation seemed to contradict it, he would not depart from it. Once Job had finished defending himself against what Bildad had reproached him for — namely, that he was contending with Hashem instead of pleading before Him to remove his affliction — he turned to answer Bildad's other point, in which Bildad had assumed that if Job were pure and upright, the evils that had come upon him would prove, in the end, to be for the good. So he said: my wound is very grievous, though there is no violence in my hands, for Hashem crushes me in a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause or sin — and this goes on unceasingly, so that He does not let me catch my breath, but continually fills me with bitter mishaps. How, then, is it fitting to call such extraordinary evils 'good'? For if Hashem does whatever evils He does simply on the strength of the power and might that are His, without regard for whether it accords with justice — I know that He can do anything, just as He overturns mountains and lands by His power and strength (and this, too, comes about through the chain of causation, since He is the first cause of everything that comes to be, and apart from Him nothing happens). But if He does this by way of justice, as you say, then who will summon me to appear with Him, that we may come together to judgment? For I know that He is wronging me, if the matter is as you describe it. But what can I do? Even were I in the right, my own mouth would make me out to be wicked in the eyes of those who hear my words; I am blameless, yet my own mouth leads people to think me perverse. Job says this against his companions, who were treating him as a sinner on the strength of his own words. In truth, I am blameless — and yet I am nothing, so much so that I do not even recognize my own self, meaning that my own faculties are no longer discernible within my limbs. For this reason I loathe my life, since it is no longer life in any true sense. And since this is so, I will not grant that these evils are meant to bring about other goods, as you claim — for I sense in myself that I am blameless, and yet reduced to nothing by these evils. 'It is all one way' by which the good and the wicked alike are harmed; therefore I judge that there is no difference between the blameless and the wicked, as I have said. And indeed, Bildad's statement on this was defective: had his view been correct, the evils of the righteous ought to have been of an entirely different kind from the evils of the wicked, since the causes of opposite things ought themselves to be opposite, inasmuch as they lead to opposite ends. And even granting that there is some difference here — that the evils of the wicked are of a sort that destroys them suddenly, while evils come upon the innocent not to destroy them but to bring them, through suffering, to some good end, as you have claimed — even so, Hashem would not thereby be cleared of injustice. For what befalls the righteous is actually worse than what befalls the wicked, since the righteous linger in their afflictions a long time, while the wicked are finished off at once. This is why he says: 'if a scourge kills suddenly' — that wicked man will mock the ordeal and suffering of the innocent, since it is easier to bear evil that is over quickly than evil that drags on, as it does for the innocent. There is a further injustice here too, if these goods and evils were being deliberately dispensed by Hashem: we find that some of the wicked prosper so greatly that the whole earth is given over into their hand — 'He covers the faces of its judges,' meaning that they turn a blind eye to the wicked men's violence. And if it is not He, then who is it? Who could refute me and dispute what is plainly there to see, and claim that this is not so, or that these apparent goods are in fact evils? My days, throughout which I kept my righteousness and integrity of heart, have raced by without any enjoyment — as ships perfectly fitted out race over the sea, or as an eagle swoops down swiftly when hunting its prey. If I say, 'I will forget my grief, set aside my anger, and take a little courage' — I am still greatly afraid of all my sufferings, for I already know that in the end You will not clear me of these evils. If I am wicked, why should I labor in vain to plead before Hashem, as you advise? Even were I to wash myself in snow water to remove the stain of those sins, and cleanse my hands in purity, it would not help me — for my afflictions are of a kind that would make repentance to Hashem useless even were I wicked, since they lead only toward death. So when I hope to escape by pleading with Hashem, death overtakes me instead, bringing me to the point that my own body finds me repulsive, being dead. Hashem is not a man like me, that I could answer Him and that we could come together in judgment; nor is there any arbiter between us who could lay a hand upon the two of us and judge who is right. If He would remove His rod from me, so that His terror no longer frightens me, then I would speak of the evil He has brought upon me though there is no violence in my hands, and I would not fear Him — for I am not as you think, that I am wicked; I myself know that I have not sinned. Out of the abundance of my pain, my soul is cut off within my very life; I will give free vent to my grief and speak in the bitterness of my soul before Hashem — if indeed these evils come from Him by direct, deliberate intent, as you say. I will say to God: Do not condemn me; let me know why You contend with me and are angry with me, for there is no sin in me on which You could hang Your anger against me. Is it good for You to oppress a person and wrong him, bringing evil upon him though there is no violence in his hands, and to despise the very thing You made — is that fitting for a perfect Being? Surely every maker loves what he makes, and all the more so does not despise it! And if it is good for You to shine upon the counsel of the wicked — meaning that Your radiance reaches them in their scheming, so that they succeed in carrying it out — that would be the height of injustice, if these things came from Hashem by direct, deliberate intent, as you say: that is, if He despises the good and grants success to the wicked, until nothing they plot is beyond their reach. How, then, could it be that You oversee the particular affairs of human beings? Do You have eyes of flesh, that You would know these particular, material things? Do You see as a mortal sees — one who possesses material faculties of the soul by which he apprehends a thing in its particularity, such as the faculty of imagination, the sense of touch, and the other psychic faculties that function in that way? Are Your days as the days of a mortal, and Your years like the years of a man, that You would know these particular, temporal matters, and inquire after my iniquity and search out my sin? How could a being with no relation to time at all apprehend particular, temporal things? How, then, could it be that You would search out some iniquity or sin in me, when I myself know that You know I am not wicked — supposing You really did oversee the particular affairs of man and understand all their deeds, as my companions claim? And You have afflicted me with a pain powerful enough to kill, so that there is no one who can save me from Your hand and from the affliction You have brought upon me — meaning that I cannot escape it by any means. Were it not Your hands that shaped me and made me, at the time of my coming-to-be, with this wondrous design found in the organs of my body — their interconnection with one another, their branching one from another, in a manner over which human intellects grow weary trying to grasp fully the wisdom of this creation? And You made me altogether, all around, at the time of creation — meaning that the beginning of my formation was from the middle, that is, the heart, and only afterward did You shape the rest of my organs around it, even though some of them are completed before others, since it is not possible for the separate organs to come into being all at once, as has been explained in the Book of Animals. And now would You swallow me up and destroy me? Remember, I beg You, that I was like clay and dust when You made me — why, then, do You now crave to return me to dust and undo Your wondrous work upon me? At the time of my formation, You first poured me out like milk, and then curdled me like cheese. He says this because the seed from which he was formed — the blood of the female — was first poured out in liquid form, and afterward the heat within the male seed, together with the divine power, curdled it, giving it shape and form, as has been explained in the Book of Animals. With skin and flesh You clothed me — that is, You clothed my internal organs to protect them — and with bones and sinews You cover those internal organs, to protect them and to give me the ability to stand and endure, to bind my organs one to another, and to supply them, from the outset, with nourishment, sensation, and movement, until all this came to be found within me. You dealt with me in life and kindness, watching over me in my creation with this wondrous providence, in bringing into being my organs and psychic faculties. And it was not enough that You brought me into being in this wondrous way — You also set a guard to preserve my spirit and my life; meaning, You gave my form authority and dominion over my passive faculties, so that thereby it would preserve my existence, since the preservation of the existence of any composite being occurs precisely when its active faculties prevail over its passive ones. Man has, indeed, been furnished with many organs and many psychic faculties, through which this preservation is sustained for the maximal time possible, so long as nothing obstructs it through poor regimen or other such things that can cause a person to die before his time. Now, these matters that pertain to man qua man You have stored away in Your heart, since they are not particular or temporal but rather the modes of wisdom in his creation and the preservation of his existence for the maximal possible time — meaning, You do oversee man with respect to these universal, human matters. I know that this providence and governance is indeed Yours; but as for events that are particular and temporal, it is not possible that You oversee them. You, Hashem, God — even though I admit that I have sinned, is it fitting that You should keep me perpetually confined and imprisoned in these afflictions, never once clearing me of my deeds? If I am wicked, woe is me; and if I am righteous, woe is me as well, for I cannot lift up my head, sated as I am with the shame of the disgrace with which my companions have shamed me, and with seeing myself in my misery and degradation. Would that the evil You do to me were so great that, like a lion trapping its prey, You would trap me once and not do it again — that is, that You would kill me at once! Instead, You go on hunting me again and again, hunt after hunt, dealing me many blows and afflictions, each more astonishing than the last. You bring fresh witnesses against me and multiply Your anger against me, affliction after affliction — meaning that they are very numerous and severe, until these afflictions cut me off, so great is their abundance. And if this is how You are treating me, it would have been better had You never brought me forth from the womb at all, and had let no eye see me — that I might have been as though I had never existed, never come out into the light of the world, but had been carried straight from the womb to the grave. For Job held that it is better for a person whose life is bitter never to have been created at all, as he had already said earlier. Why, then, do You pursue me with such relentless pursuit, if indeed, as my companions say, these evils come from You? Are not my days few? Leave off from me — if You wish for me to see some good before I die — remove from me these pains and afflictions with which I am afflicted, and let me gain a little strength before I go to the place from which I will not return, meaning to death and to non-being, which he calls 'the land of darkness and the shadow of death.' This lower realm is found to be full of thick darkness, and its light is dark like gloom; for in it is found the shadow of death and non-being, and no order or definition is found there with respect to whatever life may be found in it — rather, that light is dark like gloom, and this is necessarily so on account of its lowliness and deficiency. The general conclusion that emerges from all this is that Job was not, in fact, contending with Hashem, nor did he attribute to Him injustice for bringing evils upon human individuals; rather, he took pains to reject any such idea, attributing these evils instead to the ordered pattern set by the stars. What he did complain of, against Hashem, was rather this: why did He not so arrange things that people destined for a bitter life would never come into being at all, since that would have been better for them? He attributed their coming into being to an inadvertent oversight on Hashem's part, or to some weariness or shortfall [in the arrangement]. As for the complaint that follows in his words against Hashem over the evils that befell him personally, this is because Hashem set up this arrangement, governed by the heavenly bodies, in which there is an absence of the very justice and rectitude that Job himself possessed — that is, though he was blameless and upright, he was consumed by it. Or perhaps this last complaint reflects only the view of his friends, who held that Hashem does oversee human individuals and metes out evils and goods to them according to strict justice. Moreover, Job's claim that he had not sinned was hidden from his friends, so it was possible for them to tell him they did not believe it. For this reason he longed to be able to argue his case directly before Hashem: reasoning that if it were possible for Hashem to know the deeds of man, then Job's own deeds, his righteousness, and the integrity of his heart would be known to Him — and if, despite this, such deadly evils still befell him, that would be an injustice. Job therefore concluded that Hashem does not know these particular matters, and that He has, as it were, abandoned them, leaving them under the governance of the heavenly bodies to be sustained as best as possible. Job has already shown that Bildad's claim — that the evils which befall the innocent are, in fact, goods — is, unless we misjudge the matter, false as a matter of plain observation. For there is no difference between the evils that befall the righteous and the evils that befall the wicked; they are one and the same in kind — which would have been impossible had matters been as Bildad claimed. For things whose ends are opposite ought to differ in kind, as befits the Divine [order], unless this occurs only incidentally — just as we find that one and the same thing can be a cause of something and of its opposite, while being the direct cause of one of the two opposites and only an incidental cause of the other. In this way, heat is the direct cause of warming and only incidentally a cause of cooling, and cold is the direct cause of cooling and only incidentally a cause of warming, as is discussed in the fourth book of the Meteorology. What is more, it had already become clear to Job, from his own sufferings, that they were of the deadly kind that leads to death, just like the evils that befall the wicked — even though it was equally clear to him, from his own awareness, that he was blameless and upright. And if matters really were as Bildad said, the evil that befalls the innocent would actually be the harsher of the two — even granting that its purpose is ultimately for the good — since the evil that befalls the wicked kills them suddenly, so that they feel its pain for only a short time, whereas for the innocent the evil persists for a long time. Job goes on to marvel at how Hashem exercised such wisdom in creating man with the utmost possible perfection and the utmost goodness of providence — and yet asks how it could be fitting for Him to ordain this same noble creation for people whose lives are bitter, for whom the arrangement of the stars, from the moment they emerge from the womb, sets in motion ruinous, destructive events. What benefit is this wondrous creation to them? Is it fitting for a perfect agent to act in vain — to labor deeply and marvelously over the goodness of a creation, only to turn around and immediately arrange for its ruin? Surely it would be better for such people never to have been created at all. In this discourse, Job has advanced two powerful proofs meant to disprove the claim that Hashem knows particular things. The first proof runs as follows: Hashem possesses none of the faculties by which particular things are apprehended, since He has no material faculty, as has been shown by proof in both the natural sciences and metaphysics; and anyone who lacks the faculties by which particular things are apprehended cannot apprehend them. It follows necessarily that Hashem does not know these particular matters. It is to this syllogism that he alludes when he says, 'Have You eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees?' The second proof runs as follows: Hashem is not temporal or subject to motion, since He is not material; and anyone who apprehends particular, temporal things, precisely insofar as they are particular and temporal, must himself be temporal and subject to motion, since he would necessarily be material, given that he receives what he apprehends by a material mode of reception. From this it follows, in the second figure of the syllogism, that Hashem does not apprehend particular things. It is to this syllogism that he alludes when he says, 'Are Your days as the days of man'... etc. Job does concede, however, that Hashem oversees species, since species are not temporal; this is why order and rectitude are found among these lower existents with respect to what belongs to them by virtue of their specific nature, while confusion and lack of order are found in them with respect to what belongs to them as particulars. It is for this reason that he says, of particular existence among these lower matters in the world of generation and corruption, that its light is like gloom — since no order or rectitude is to be found in the lives of the things that exist within it.

"A land of thick darkness, etc." — Its darkness is like the gloom of thick darkness, which is the shadow of death; and there, there is no order to the arrangement of the stars and constellations. "And where the light is as darkness" — Even the place within it that gives off light and shines is like the gloom of thick darkness. Therefore, let the sufferings depart from me before I go to that place. (The upshot of this speech is to refute Bildad's view that everything comes through providence, and that the prosperity of the wicked is in truth to their harm while the misfortunes of the righteous are in truth to their good. For Job replies, saying: how is it possible that, if they are of one kind and share one way, their fates should differ? And if this is on account of the sudden death that comes upon the wicked — is that not still to be reckoned a good, one he would choose over being made to suffer as the righteous man suffers? Moreover, he complains: why does He hasten to pay the wicked their full recompense — is man not in His hand at all times? And he multiplies his words against God, asking how He does not spare from destroying the work of His own hands, made with wondrous wisdom and great perfection.)

"Thick darkness" — Darkness; similarly, "the darkness shall be as the morning" (Job 11:17). "Order" — "two rows" (Leviticus 24:6); Targum Onkelos renders it "sidrin." "And shines forth" — Light and shining, as in "shone forth from Mount Paran" (Deuteronomy 33:2).

A land of thick darkness — meaning, this land, the life of this world, ‘is dark, like thick darkness itself’: even the little light found in it at the break of dawn is like thick darkness, which is deeper than ordinary darkness. And do not say that the darkness found in this land belongs to the order of Creation, arranged so that there be light and darkness, day and night — for it is ‘the shadow of death, without order,’ since the shadow of death follows no order. And also, ‘the light is as darkness’ — even the appearing of light in this world is like darkness.