Job · Chapter 14

'Man, etc.' — is not man born of woman, so that his very origin is corrupt? For she is a skin full of filth, whose mouth is full of blood. And he too is short of days and full of troubles, so many that he is sated with them from their sheer abundance.

'trouble' — dread, as in 'who made the earth to tremble' (Isaiah 14:16).

Man – man is base and inferior at both ends of his life. At his first end, he is born of a woman: born from an unclean drop, and nourished by menstrual blood that passes through the passage of urine, a place of uncleanness and repugnance. And at his last end, he is short of days. And the bar that joins these two ends — that is, throughout the days of his life — is that he is full of trouble, for his troubles outnumber his good things, as he explains, in his own view, in chapter 3.

'Like a flower' — meaning: like a blossom. 'And withers' — meaning: and is cut off; for a flower is cut off easily, and its span of endurance is brief.

'Like a flower' — he resembles a flower that is cut down the moment it blossoms, and does not last long. 'He flees' — he quickly flees the world like this shadow, which does not remain long in one place; for as the sun turns, so the shadow shifts from its place.

'like a flower' — like a blossom. 'and withers' — and is cut down, as in 'it fades and withers' (Psalms 90:6).

Like a flower – besides this, he has no strength or permanence, whether in respect of himself, for he comes forth like a flower and withers — just as a flower, at the moment it blossoms and puts forth its bloom, then withers and is cut down (it being known in the nature of plants that the moment the flower comes forth is the end of the plant's life, since from then on it begins to decay); and so too man: once he has fathered children and put forth his seed — once he has blossomed like a flower in the middle of his days, which are the days of his standing firm — the days of decline begin, the days of old age and gray hair. Or whether in respect of his time, for he flees like a shadow and does not stand still for a single moment in one condition, but is continually drawing nearer to death.

also on this one [creature of] futility that decays have You opened Your eyes to be exact with his sins, and You bring me into judgment for my iniquities?

'And do You open Your eyes upon such a one' — do You open Your eyes even upon so lowly a creature as this, to watch over its deeds and scrutinize it closely? And more than that — even me, though I am clear of iniquity, You bring into judgment with Yourself, to punish me for falling short in wisdom relative to my capacity — just as Zophar said.

'do You open' — You open, as in 'open your eyes' (Proverbs 20:13).

And do You – if even upon this man, base to the utmost degree of baseness, You have opened Your eyes to watch over him with the utmost providence, to the point of bringing him into judgment with You — this shows the utmost extent of providence: not only over the species, but over every individual of it; not merely general providence, but particular providence, scrutinizing every particular of his deeds — to the point that You bring me, a particular individual, into judgment over my particular deeds. If so, is it not fitting that You make concession toward him, from two points of view: (1) That You ought to take into account — behold:

Who can bring a clean thing from a putrid drop, and semen, which is unclean? Not one of them is clean, that he should not sin.

'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean' — its sense is like 'behold, I was brought forth in iniquity' (Psalms 51:7); for man is created from an unclean substance.

'Who can bring' — is it possible that one born of the unclean should become so pure that he could constantly broaden his understanding through wisdom? For my father and my mother were both unclean, like common folk — not that only one of them caused this while the other was innocent, but both alike were unclean — and it is very difficult for one born of them to become so pure.

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one – how is it possible that a clean thing emerging from an unclean thing should not be one with it? Is it not that the branch always resembles its root, and the plant resembles the seed from which it grew? So too man, who is born from something unclean — for he is born of a woman, from semen and menstrual blood, which is an unclean thing — how can he reverse his own nature so as not to be one with the lowliness of the root of his birth and 'the quarry from which he was dug' (cf. Isaiah 51:1)? He is therefore prone to uncleanness from birth, from the womb, and from conception. This is the second point — behold:

If his days are limited If he is requited with this recompense—that his days are limited to a day set for death, and the number of months is set with You, and [that] You set this boundary—and he will no longer exist in the world, [then] this payment is sufficient for You.

'Are determined' — You have already decreed how long he shall live, fixed his sentence, and set for him limits and boundaries that he cannot transgress.

'Seeing his days are determined, etc.' — meaning: if his days are fixed and limited, as is clear from the context — then leave him be, and let him complete his allotted time.

'Seeing his days are determined' — if indeed man's days are fixed and cut off by measure, and the number of his months is with You — for You have set a number for them, and made him a fixed law for how long he shall live, so that he cannot pass the boundary —

'determined' — cut off by measure and set, as in 'you yourself have decided it' (I Kings 20:40).

Seeing his days are determined – since all his affairs are fixed and bounded: both are the days of his life determined and measured out by a decree from on high (that is, every act of his days is fixed — whatever he does, and whatever is done with him, day by day, is all arranged and determined by You), and also the number of his months is (determined) with You — how many months he will live — for everything follows decree and necessity, both the quantity of his days and their quality and his actions. And so, is it not that You have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass — You have made all his statutes, setting statutes and order for all his actions, and this statute cannot be transgressed, since it is impossible for it to be changed by his own choice, like all existing things whose actions are bounded by a statute that is given and not to be transgressed. If so, he is not free in his deeds, and no judgment or reckoning can be demanded of him for them. So when You wish to bring him into judgment for his deeds as though he were free in his choice — is it not, then, fitting that —

Turn away from him during those few limited days and let him rest from pain until he desires, in his old age and the weakness of his strength, the day of his death like a hireling who desires the completion of his day’s work; for his passing from the world is decided and more definite than all passings.

'Look away from him' — that is, let go, release; like 'look away from me' (Isaiah 22:4). 'That he may rest' — [this could mean] that he shall find joy in his lifetime, as in 'all inhabitants of the world' [cheled] (Psalms 49:2); or, that he shall cease from complaining. 'Till he shall accomplish' — that is, complete, fulfill; like 'and it shall make up for its sabbaths' (Leviticus 26:34).

'Look away from him' — meaning: let go of him, release him. 'Till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day' — meaning: that he complete his life-span and his allotted time.

'Look away' — therefore take from him the blows of Your hand, and let him be free of them for the little while of his days, until the days of old age come and he grows to desire death and to hope for it, like a hired laborer who longs for the day's end and hopes for it.

'look away' — turn away, as in 'look away from me' (Psalms 39:14).

Look away from him, that he may rest – and let the statute You have set for him cease. It is fitting that You look away from him and not compel his deeds through Your foreknowledge, and that the fixed statute governing his actions cease, until he becomes free in his deeds — till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day: until he wills, by his own will and choice, to complete his day's work and his labor, like a hired laborer who works willingly for his wage. Not so now, when he has no will or choice, and is compelled in his deeds by the statutes You have set for him.

a tree has This [tree] has hope that it will renew itself and its bough will not cease from being a branch.

'That it will sprout again' — it will put forth something that serves as its own replacement.

'That it will sprout again' — meaning: it will continue to put forth another shoot; called romush in the vernacular. 'Will not cease' — meaning: will not refrain from sprouting.

'For there is hope of a tree' — is not man lesser and worse off than a tree of the field? For a tree has hope of returning to its former state: even if it is cut down, it will still renew itself, putting forth other branches in place of the old, and its tender branches will not cease from it.

'its tender branch' — its soft young branches.

For there is hope of a tree – Job now returns to argue against the end of Zophar's words, who had said that the essential reward of the righteous comes after death, when he will have hope of a life better than the life of this world, and of eternal pleasantness, as he had said: 'you will be secure, for there is hope, and, entrenched, you will rest secure' (Job 11:18). Job answers that in truth such a hope of sprouting again after withering belongs to the tree — but not to man, for once he dies, hope is lost and he does not live again. Now, the tree has hope of this in two ways: (1) A tree cut down from its root while still fresh, its root still alive and moist — if it is cut down, it can still renew itself and sprout again from its root, and the tree grows again with no help at all from anything else, because 'its tender branch will not cease' — since its power to draw nourishment still exists, and it flourishes from its roots.

'Though its root wax old' — even if its root grows old in the ground, until no moisture remains in it — 'And its stock die in the ground, etc.' — this repeats the same idea in different words.

'its stock' — this too is a term for a root, as in 'from the stock of Jesse' (Isaiah 11:1).

Though – the second way: if it is not cut down, but rather the tree's strength and its power to draw nourishment cease through old age — such that its root below, deep in the earth, grows old, and its power to draw nourishment weakens, while its stock above the root, in the soil above ground, dies completely and dries out — then it will no longer sprout again of itself, since its sap is spent and its nourishment has ceased. Even so, it can live again with the help of water, since only the stock has died, while the root is still alive in the earth, only weakened by old age. Or —

and it will produce a branch Heb. קציר. This is a branch, as (Ps. 80:12), “She sent out her boughs (קצירה) to the sea.” a sapling Heb. נטע. This is a noun. It is accented on the first syllable, and is punctuated completely with a “kamatz” because it is the end of the verse, but it is derived from נֶטַע, a sapling.

'Boughs' — that is, a branch, like 'it sends out its branches to the sea' (Psalms 80:12).

'Put forth boughs' — meaning: a branch and a bough; called branca in the vernacular.

'Through the scent of water' — nevertheless, when a little water comes upon it, the moment it senses the water it will bud once more and grow a branch, as though it had just now been freshly planted.

'boughs' — branches, as in 'it sends out its branches' (Psalms 80:12).

Yet through the scent of water it will bud – even though abundant water does not come upon it, its merely scenting the smell of water is enough: through this its roots come back to life by the moisture of the water, and it puts forth branches, boughs, and foliage, as though newly planted.

'Indeed, man perishes' — meaning: he is cut down, as in 'and Joshua overcame [vayachalosh] Amalek' (Exodus 17:13); the sense is that he does not sprout again as a tree does, but is cut off completely and finally.

'But man' — but man, when he dies, is far weaker than the tree, for he never returns again to his former state; and when he perishes, where is he? He never returns, forever.

But man dies – but man has no hope in either of these two ways. Not in the first way, if he is cut down while still in his vigor, dying in the days of his youth, not through the weakness of old age but through some other cause: he is not like a tree that is cut down while still healthy and sound, and so is not weakened by the cutting; rather, a man who dies in his vigor is weakened by death itself and does not sprout again to return to life. And likewise not in the second way, if he dies from the weakness of old age, his powers having failed, until he expires by a slow, gradual dying-away from the failure of his powers — then, indeed, man perishes, and where is he? — for nothing of him remains in existence.

As the waters fail from the sea From the place whence the river comes and emerges, from its source that comes to it from the sea. [Alternative explanation of Rashi: From the place whence the river comes, and they went away from its source (from) which (the water) comes to it.] and the river that comes from there is drained dry forever. So does a man lie down and not rise.

'As the waters fail from the sea' — thus he likens man [to this].

'The waters fail' — just as when the waters go away from the sea, the river that flows from it dries up and is parched, and its waters do not return on their own without the waters of the sea —

'fail' — go away, as in 'and when he has gone his way, then he boasts' (Proverbs 20:14). 'is drained dry' — this too is a term for drying up, as in 'the waters were dried up' (Genesis 8:13).

As the waters fail from the sea – and also, he will not come back to sprout and live again with the help of water, as the tree that has weakened from old age can. For not only will he not bud from the scent of water, but even if the waters were to fail from the sea, and even if the river were to be drained dry — even if all the water of the sea and all the water of the rivers were poured out on the dead body, until the rivers themselves ran dry from the sheer amount of water poured upon the dead body — none of it would help.

'So man' — so too, when a man dies, he does not rise again. 'Till the heavens be no more' — until the heavens wear away and perish; meaning, forever — the dead will not awaken, nor be roused from their sleep.

'till...be no more' — its meaning is like balah ('to wear away, come to an end'). 'shall awake ... nor be roused' — both of these terms mean rousing oneself from sleep.

'So man lies down and rises not' — meaning, it is not a tree that lies down and dries up, which water could help; rather, a man lies down, and he will not rise again through water. 'Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake' — meaning, such is the nature of this world under these heavens: a dead body will not live again. And for as long as this general, universal nature does not change — for as long as new heavens and a different nature are not created, so that these heavens, which now embody this nature in actual existence, no longer exist — the dead will not awaken from their sleep.

'That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me' — meaning: that You would establish for me a nature and a cycle by which I would return to life again, as is the case with a tree — and then You would remember me, to do good for me.

'Oh that' — meaning, if it were possible to be brought back to life after death, my request would be: oh that You would hide me in the netherworld until Your wrath has turned from me, and would set me a fixed time for when Your wrath will turn from me, and then remember me, to bring me out from there to live again upon the earth.

'that You would keep me secret' — from the term for concealment and hiding. 'a set time' — a fixed time.

'Oh that You would hide me in the nether-world' — he concludes his statement, replying to what Zophar had said: 'indeed, you shall look about you, and shall take your rest in safety,' and 'your life shall be clearer than the noonday' (Job 11:17–18) — meaning, that after death he would return and live again in a new life. Job answers this: Would that in Sheol You would but hide me for a time — that You would conceal me there until Your wrath passes, and that You would set for me a fixed limit, a certain number of years I would lie buried in Sheol and in the grave — and that afterward You would remember me, to bring me out of the grave and revive me, just as you said, that 'your life shall be clearer than the noonday.' But this is a thing that is impossible, for—

All the days of my lifespan, I will hope for life.

'All the days of my service' — my appointed time. 'My relief' — my death, from 'the idols shall utterly pass away' (Isaiah 2:18); or, my departure, like 'is passed away, is gone' (Song of Songs 2:11); for the one who is born is called 'coming,' and the dead is called 'going,' as in 'one generation goes, and another generation comes' (Ecclesiastes 1:4), 'I am going the way of all the earth' (Joshua 23:14).

'My service' — meaning: the span of my days. 'Till my relief should come' — meaning: my being cut off, my end.

'If a man die' — but this is not possible; for when a man dies, will he live again? Rather, for all the days of the time allotted to me I will hope to remain alive, until the time of my relief comes — but not beyond.

'my service' — my term/appointed time, as in 'is there not a term of service for man' (above, 7:1). 'I would wait' — from the term for tocheleth ('expectation') and hope. 'my relief' — a term for passing away from the world; so too, 'if He pass by, and shut up' (above, 11:10).

'If a man die, may he live again?' — is it possible that he would live again afterward? If so, how could you say to me, by your own reasoning, that 'all the days of my service would I wait, till my relief should come' — that all the days of my life in this world I wait for the life that comes after death, where another life would come in place of this life, which ceases at the moment of death — for then—

Call This is a supplication. Call to me and I will answer you to prove my case. You desire Heb. תִכְסֹף, You desire.

'You would call, and I would answer You' — when it comes to taking my soul, I have no strength to refuse. 'You would have a desire' — as if You would long to see the work of Your hands, that is, the soul; in the sense of 'for the spirit would grow faint before Me' (Isaiah 57:16).

'You would call' — would that You would call out and say, 'Why do You afflict me?' and I would answer, arguing my case with You. I know that You would desire it, since I am the work of Your hands — why then should You reject me, if I come forth vindicated?

'a desire' — [literally] You would long for, as in 'you longed greatly' (Genesis 31:30).

'You would call, and I would answer You' — meaning, that although in this life, in this world, You do not wish to answer me when I cry out over having been made to suffer for nothing, in that other life which would come in place of this one, then You would call to me, and revive me, and repay me with good in place of my suffering — as though then 'You would have a desire to the work of Your hands'; whereas now You do not turn toward the work of Your hands, and You afflict me for nothing. Then You would once again desire the work of Your hands, and turn toward me in Your providence. How can you say such a thing? Does not reason teach the very opposite?

But now You are harming me. my steps You are counting. You do not wait Heb. תשמר. You do not wait for my sin to requite me, as (Gen. 37:11), “but his father awaited (שמר) the matter,” and in the language of the Mishnah (Sanh. 63b): “A person may not say to his companion, ‘Wait (שמר) for me beside such and such a pagan deity.’” [It is] an expression of waiting.

'You do not even wait' — [You watch] only over my sin; and similarly, 'there is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink' (Ecclesiastes 2:24), as I explained in the book of Ecclesiastes.

'You do not even wait' — meaning: You do not wait, related to the phrase 'but his father kept the matter in mind' (Genesis 37:11) [where 'kept' bears the sense of 'waited upon']. 'For my sin' — meaning: for my punishment, in the manner of 'than the sin of Sodom' (Lamentations 4:6), where 'sin' stands for the punishment of sin.

'But now' — before I can even recount the good deeds I have done, You already number my steps, scrutinizing my every pace, and You do not wait to exact payment for my sin. Meaning: You do not exact it little by little, but all at once, altogether.

'my steps' — my strides. 'You do not even wait for' — [literally] You wait, as in 'and his father kept the matter in mind' (Genesis 37:11).

'But now You number my steps' — indeed, even now You lie in wait for my steps and seek a snare for me, to make me fall for nothing. 'You do not even wait for my sin' — You do not wait at all until I sin, for You afflicted me before I had sinned, like one who hates his fellow and lies in wait for him, to bring him down through some pretext, with no sin or wrongdoing on his part. If so, how can I hope that afterward You would become so loving toward me, that it would be—

sealed up in a bundle Sealed and preserved in a cloth bundle like silver and pearls, lest it be lost. and You have attached Yourself to my iniquity Heb. ותטפל, You have attached Yourself to my iniquity.

'And You heap up' — like 'they have smeared falsehood upon me' (Psalms 119:69).

'My transgression is sealed up in a bag' — the sense is: my transgression is sealed, closed up, and bound in a bundle, in such a way that the transgression does not depart even once the punishment that comes upon me on its account has arrived — rather, my transgression remains with me always. 'And You heap up my iniquity' — meaning: You attach and add further iniquity to my iniquity.

'Is sealed up' — and despite all this, my transgressions are shut away, tied with an excellent knot, and nothing is deducted from them on account of the sufferings that have already passed over me. 'And You heap up' — and You further attach to my iniquity a further iniquity that does not deserve punishment, for You make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. But once I have recounted the good deeds I have done, I know that You will long for me.

'sealed up' — a term for closing shut. 'in a bag' — a term for something bound up, as in 'his bundle of money' (Genesis 42:35). 'and You heap up' — [literally] and You attach, as in 'plasterers of lies' (above, 13:4).

'My transgression is sealed up in a bag' — meaning, that You would bind up my transgression in a bag and seal it from above, so that the bag could not be opened and my transgression would not be revealed. 'And You heap up my iniquity' — [meaning, that] You would plaster over my iniquity with clay, so that it would be covered — as though there You would turn from an enemy into a lover, until love covered over all transgressions; and instead of, as now, afflicting me though I have not sinned, You would afterward cover over even my transgressions and my heaviest iniquities.

And surely the falling mountain gives forth produce The height of a falling mountain will give forth produce. It will produce dust, and there will be hope of deriving benefit from it. and the rock that moves from its place will also give forth produce. This is an expression of grain.

'The mountain falling' — some say it is related to 'Nephilim' (Genesis 6:4); and some say it simply means it falls and crumbles away.

'The mountain falling crumbles away' — meaning: the mountain that has fallen crumbles and is ruined.

'And surely' — in truth, like a mountain that falls, wastes away, and crumbles, never again to rise; and like a rock that is uprooted from the place of its growth — it will not sprout again from now on as it did before.

'crumbles away' — from the term for decay and loss.

However, the truth is that although, in all natural things, nothing is truly lost from existence — for the mountain that falls into the valley is not lost through its falling, since it crumbles and grows again, and another mountain forms from the dust in its place (and many of the naturalists have agreed that mountains grow) — and likewise, a rock that falls merely shifts from its place to another place, but its substance is not lost, for it remains just as it was—

Stones which the water eroded by constantly passing over them. it washes away i.e., the flood. its aftergrowth of the stone, to be transformed into dust so that something should grow in it. As the aftergrowths of the harvest grow, so will the aftergrowths of this earth be transformed to stone. but the hope of man is not so, because as soon as he dies, it is lost forever.

'The waters wear the stones' — the waters wear down the stones over long stretches of time. 'Its overflowings' — refers back to the flow of the water; the sense is that its waves wash away the dust of the earth — so is the hope of man destroyed at his death.

'Its overflowings wash away the dust of the earth' — the sense is: just as water grinds down stones and crushes them until those stones cease to exist, and just as the flood of water washes away the growths of earth's dust so that the growth of those sprouts ceases and is lost — so too You destroy the hope of man. Or perhaps 'its overflowings' [seficheha] should be read as an inversion of sochef, 'a driving rain'; the sense being that just as each of the water's driving floods washes away the dust of the earth and destroys it, so You destroy the hope of man.

'The stones' — and like stones, some part of which the water wears away as it continually flows over them, so that the little that is worn away never returns to its place. 'Its overflowings wash away' — and like the loose topsoil of the earth that lies on the surface, when a flood of water comes it easily washes it away, and it is never restored to its place. 'The hope of man' — and the loss of man's hope is like these; for he has no hope of returning to his former state after death.

'wear' — grind, as in 'and you shall grind some of it fine' (Exodus 30:36). 'overflowings' — [literally, its aftergrowth] these are the plants that grow on their own from the kernels that fall at the time of harvest, as in 'the aftergrowth of your harvest' (Leviticus 25:5).

'The stones' — meaning, even the stones that the waters wear away — the water grinds them down to dust, changing their form — even they do not lose their essential substance. 'Its overflowings wash away the dust of the earth' — for the stones are an outgrowth of the earth: particles of the earth's substance and its clods stick together and harden, and from them the stones grow. So in that the stones return to the dust of the earth, they return to their prior state, for they were originally the dust of the earth, being an outgrowth and product of the earth. Thus, when the water's overflow washes away the dust of the earth, it washes away the earth's outgrowths, which return to the earth just as they were originally, and there is no loss from existence here. But 'so You destroy the hope of man' — for the dead man's existence is annulled entirely, and he has no hope.

You overpower him You are stronger than he; You overcome him with Your power, and he goes away from the world.

'You prevail for ever against him' — You overpower him and change his countenance.

'You prevail' — meaning: You overcome him, You vanquish him.

'You prevail for ever against him' — destruction seizes him with great force, a grip that lasts forever, and so he goes along, held fast in it, with none to help him. 'You change his countenance' — He changes his countenance, and sends him away for all time, never to return again.

'You prevail against him' — a term for seizing hold with force, as in 'and if one prevails against him' (Ecclesiastes 4:12). 'You change' — from the term for change.

'You prevail for ever against him' — this refers back to hope: it is his hope that prevails against him forever. That is, in the days of a person's youth, hope girds him with strength: it paints before him his world and his success, as though he would prevail in it forever and succeed for all time; and so he walks along in hope's pathways, hoping for a life of happiness and success forever. But at the time when 'You change his countenance' — in old age, when his features begin to change and gray hair is scattered through him — then hope, his beloved, no longer recognizes him; and then it 'sends him away' from itself, and hope grows distant from him.

become wealthy Heb. יכבדו, lit. they will become heavy. They will become heavy with silver and gold, but he will not know. and they become poor And they have little of any good, but he will not understand it.

'Come to honor' — from the root 'kavod,' honor; likewise 'that My name may be honored, said Hashem' (Isaiah 66:5). 'And they are brought low' — this is the reverse of the matter.

'Come to honor' — meaning: increase, multiply, in the sense of 'a people laden with iniquity' (Isaiah 1:4), where 'heavy/laden' denotes abundance. 'And they are brought low' — meaning: and they diminish, become few.

"[His sons] come to honor" — whether his sons are honored, he does not know of it; and whether they are diminished in honor, he does not perceive it.

'brought low' — [literally] and are diminished, as in 'is it not a little one?' (Genesis 19:20).

'They come to honor' — for he no longer even hopes for the success of his sons: even if 'his sons come to honor, he knows it not,' for the dead know nothing at all.

But his flesh causes him pain A worm is as painful to the dead as a needle in the flesh of the living.

'But his flesh grieves for him' — its sense is that it melts, rots, and decays; like 'and mar every good piece of land with stones' (2 Kings 3:19). He explains 'for him' [alav] as referring to himself; the midrashic reading is well known. 'His flesh' means his body, and there are many such usages in Ecclesiastes.

‘Mourns’ — meaning it aches and grieves. Explanation of the words of the response: Job answered and said: In truth, you are on the level of the common people and the masses, and wisdom will die and vanish along with you — for you deny the evidence of the senses, and if sense-experience is not made a root and foundation, there is here no path left at all to wisdom. Do you not know that I too have a mind like yours, and that I am not inferior to you? Indeed, which of the men [alive] does not have a mind and intellect like yours? I have become a laughingstock and a mockery to my friend who is exceedingly prosperous, so that out of the abundance of his success he calls upon God and is answered in whatever he calls to Him for — meaning that nothing his eyes desire is withheld from him because of his great success — and so he continually mocks and laughs at a blameless, righteous man like myself. Job said this against Zophar, or against all his friends. In the thinking of the tranquil, complacent man, the person prone to stumbling misfortune is regarded like a flaming torch — one who will consume himself and others should they come near him — and so they keep their distance from him. And it is not merely that they keep their distance out of fear that harm will reach them by drawing near him; he is also held in contempt in their eyes, and they keep away from him out of disgust and scorn as well. Now, after Job complained of Zophar's contempt for him, he returns to argue against what Zophar had said — that the wicked, even when we see them prospering, do not in fact escape misfortune, since they are perpetually terrified by dread and find no refuge in which to feel secure. Job argues against this, that plain experience refutes it. For we find that there are robbers who dwell in tranquility in their tents, even though they have no fortified structure at all, which shows that they feel secure, confident that no harm will touch them; and we likewise find that those who provoke God — who worship the carved idol their own hands have made, which is the gravest of sins — have very strong, fortified places in which they trust and are free of fear. It is thus clear that Zophar's words are not correct. And if you, Zophar, thought to extol at length the wisdom of Hashem, know that there is no need for us to draw proof of the greatness of His wisdom from the heights above and the depths below, as you did; rather, I will tell you of His wisdom from matters far more clearly evident, which testify to His wisdom better than what you related. For if you ask the beasts, the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the creatures that come into being within the earth, they will teach you the wisdom of Hashem through the perfection and wisdom present in their formation — a perfection whose full manner human intellects are too weak to grasp completely. Who among all these does not know that the hand of Hashem has done this — He in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all flesh of man? Now he singled out man from the rest of the living creatures because man's creation is more wondrous still, his intent being that not even the most ordinary of people could fail to recognize that the hand of Hashem truly made these creatures, on account of the perfection found in their formation. For it is not possible that this perfection found in their formation, and the constancy of their continued existence, should occur if their coming-into-being were attributed to chance and mere happenstance, as some of the ancients supposed — and this is all the more true of the soul and the intellect, whose origin must necessarily derive from a form that is itself intellect, as has been shown in the book on animals. As for the forms that arise from temperament, however, a person could indeed be mistaken about them and suppose that their origin is chance and happenstance, reasoning that it suffices for the elements to combine and for some new mixture to arise from them; yet it is clear to one who studies natural and divine science that this too is impossible — that this right ordering could not be brought to completion in this way, except when their coming-into-being derives from a source that is itself intellect. Does not the ear test matters, for it is the ear that hears them, and does not the palate taste food and perceive the differences among flavors? His intent here is that it is from sense-experience that we take our starting point and foundation for whatever we investigate. This is why you find wisdom among the aged, and length of days is the cause of understanding — for over the long course of time, many things become clear to a person through the senses, from which he can arrive at the truth of whatever he is investigating. Job says this against Zophar, who was younger than him in years, or against two of his other friends — for he later says, ‘But now those younger than I in years mock me’ (Job 30:1); and it is for this reason that Eliphaz, in the response that follows, replies, ‘Both the gray-haired and the very aged are among us’, and so on (Job 15:10). Job said that, based on what became clear to him from things observed through the senses, it became evident to him that with Hashem is found the utmost degree of wisdom and power: wisdom, in view of the goodness of the order and rightness apparent in His works, which admit of no greater perfection; and power, because we never see Him fall short of doing whatever it is possible to do in accordance with wisdom — and He possesses counsel and understanding. This is seen in that, wherever some harm necessarily follows in His creatures from the nature of matter, His good counsel is found present in that very act of creation, providing something that removes that harm, as has been shown to one who studies the book on animals. And He shows understanding in what He created among the heavenly bodies, for their creation is attributed to understanding, as Scripture says, ‘By understanding He established the heavens’ (Proverbs 3:19). The reason for this is that whatever is created and formed for its own sake is attributed to wisdom — as with these lowly creatures of earth — whereas the shape of the heavenly bodies, their magnitude, their distance from the earth, and their motion exist for the sake of something other than themselves, and this is attributed to understanding; for understanding is the deriving of one thing from another thing distinct from it. Now the heavenly bodies were made in just this fashion — in their shape, their displacement from the center, this particular quantity, and this particular measure of speed and delay in their motion — so as to bring to completion the forms of existence found in this lower world, as we explained beyond doubt in the fifth book of The Wars of Hashem. At times it follows from the acts of Hashem that He tears down some structure, and it is not rebuilt; and at times He places a man in confinement, and he never again goes free from it — which is, in a certain sense, the reverse of the first case, in that the confinement itself is ‘built’ and not ‘torn down.’ Job, however, attributes this to Hashem only through the chain of causation, since it is from Him, in some fashion, that this fixed determination and ordering in these matters derives — operating by way of the heavenly bodies. At times He holds back the waters, and they dry up; at times He lets them loose, until, through their abundance, they overturn the land. ‘With Him are strength and sound wisdom’ — meaning that with Him is the ordering, the capability, and the rightness by which this sensible world of existence was ordered; and to Him, too, is attributed whatever goes astray in this lower world — meaning whatever fails to keep to order, rightness, and due measure. These are the forces that this world receives from the heavenly bodies, from which there sometimes follows a disruption of order and rightness, or an aberration rooted in matter — for matter is the cause of the absence of order, and the errant, aberrant thing is what is compounded of matter and form. Behold, He leads counselors away stripped and bare, so that their good counsel avails them nothing, and He turns judges, for all their great wisdom, into fools — meaning that He makes them act as fools act. At times He looses the bonds with which kings had bound the men under their rule, and at other times He binds a bond upon the loins of kings themselves — that is, He strips them of their dominion, and they come to serve others. He leads lords and officers away stripped and bare despite their strength, so that their might avails them nothing, and He twists and perverts the mighty from the proper conduct of their might — meaning that He causes them not to conduct themselves rightly in matters of strength, and so they are defeated because of it. He takes away speech from men who are trustworthy in their words because of their sound judgment, strength, and wisdom, so that they can no longer find an answer, and He takes away the discernment of elders — meaning that at times He withholds from elders, for all their abundant wisdom, the ability to give the reason for a matter whose reason is otherwise plain to them. At times He pours contempt on the noble — that is, on men of honor — and weakens the strength of the strong. He also uncovers, out of darkness and absence, and brings out into the light, the form of existence that lay there in potential — meaning that out of matter, which lacks form, He reveals the form present within it in potentiality and brings it forth into actuality; and it is in this way that He ‘brings deep darkness out into the light.’ Behold, He makes nations great, and then at another time destroys them; and at times He spreads nations abroad and scatters them — meaning that He exiles them from their land — and at other times He leads them back to rest upon their land. He takes away the sense of men who lead the people, for all the goodness of their leadership, so that at times He makes them wander, going about in a trackless waste, not on a proper path. They grope in darkness with no light in whatever they set out to do, and He makes them stagger like a drunkard. Now, all these matters Job attributes to Hashem only through the chain of causation — meaning that, in his view, they are ordered by way of the heavenly bodies, and are attributed to Hashem only because He is the first cause of everything that exists. And some of what Job mentions here serves as a kind of proof that these matters are fixed and ordered by the heavenly constellation — for if this were not so, it would be a great wonder why a wise man should, at some particular time, be deprived of his wisdom, a good leader of his good leadership, and a mighty man of the discipline befitting his might; and so, too, with the rest of what Job relates as recurring in this fashion. Job said to Bildad and Zophar: Behold, all these things my eye has seen and my ear has heard, and I bring no proof of this from anyone else, as Bildad did when he said, ‘Inquire, I pray you, of the former generation’, and so on (Job 8:8). As is your understanding of the works and wonders of Hashem, so too I know — I am not lacking, compared to you, in this knowledge. But I wish to speak to Shaddai and to argue my case with Him, if I am able, in the manner I have described — that is, to ask why He did not so arrange, by way of the constellation, that men whose day is hard should never come into being at all, or should die from the womb, which would have been better for them than coming into being merely to be tormented, since death is better than life for such people; or why He ordered the good and evil that befall human individuals according to this arrangement, from which injustice results, such that there is no distinction in it between righteous and wicked. And this, because He would not come to argue with me except with true claims, if such a thing were possible. But with you I have no wish to argue, for you are plasterers of lies, fabricating falsehoods in your arguments, and in your consolations you are worthless physicians. Would that you would keep utterly silent in this dispute — that would be wisdom on your part; meaning, by your silence you would at least be spared having folly attributed to you on account of your false and deficient words. Hear now my argument against you, and give heed to the pleadings of my lips. Is it right that you should speak, on God's behalf, things you yourselves suppose to be unjust and deceitful, merely so that He might have an excuse, so that it appear He does no wrong? Is it right that you should show Him partiality, and speak falsely, saying things that are not so, in order to keep far from Him the charge that He does injustice, through claims that you yourselves suppose to be false? Or is it that you are arguing on God's behalf, putting forward false claims so that He might be vindicated? Would it be good if Hashem were to examine you closely, to see whether you are mocking Him the way one mocks a fellow man? For with a man, it is possible to cover over the offense of a friend with false words, to hide his disgrace; but with Hashem this is not fitting — on the contrary, it is a grave sin. For this very behavior is what leads one to believe that a person arguing on Hashem's behalf actually believes He does injustice, since he can sense the flaw in his own arguments, the very arguments meant to establish that Hashem does not pervert justice. Will not Hashem surely rebuke you, if in secret you show Him partiality? He says this because they had labored to show partiality toward Hashem in a hidden matter — to the point that Bildad had said that what we think are evils are in fact goods, only this is hidden from us and we do not know the manner of Hashem's wisdom in this, why they are in fact goods; and Zophar had said that the manner of Hashem's wisdom, from which is derived the exact measure of punishment for each particular act of rebellion, is hidden from us — since He alone gauges and knows the degree of rebellion committed by each individual person, which differs according to each person's capacity, and this degree is known to Him alone. For example: the rebellion of one whose capacity for intellectual inquiry is limited, if he neglects for some period to engage in such inquiry, is not the same as the rebellion of one who has great capacity for intellectual inquiry, if he neglects it for that same period of time — to the point that it is even possible for the rebellion of a person with a very great capacity for intellectual inquiry, if he neglects such inquiry for even a short time, to be far more severe than the rebellion of one with limited capacity who kills a person or commits adultery. And why do you not fear Hashem, that you mock Him with mockery of this sort? Should not His majesty terrify you, and should not dread of Him fall upon you? You are exceedingly deficient in intellectual inquiry, so much so that your very maxims are comparable to ashes, and your bodies are comparable to lumps of clay — meaning that you are as base as dust and ashes — and it is for this reason that you have come away with nothing but broken pottery in your hands from this inquiry in which we have been arguing. Be silent, and say nothing more about me, and let me speak, I alone, and let whatever misfortune must pass over me pass over me, and do not concern yourselves with consoling me. What sin have I committed, that this extraordinary punishment should follow for me, that I should carry my flesh in my teeth — meaning that no flesh remains to me except what clings to the roots of my teeth, as in his saying elsewhere, ‘and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth’ (Job 19:20) — and my soul is so slight that it is ready to slip away from me, as though it were resting in the palm of my hand. Behold, Hashem will surely put me to death — I do not hope to be spared this suffering — and yet, for all that, I will strive with all my strength to argue my case to His face, since this conduct is what is praiseworthy according to human custom, even though I do not think it will actually profit me in being delivered from these evils. And as for the word written ‘lo’ with a vav [read as ‘to Him’ rather than ‘not’], the sense would then be: even though Hashem puts me to death, I still hope in Him that my soul will be saved through Him. But my ways I will argue with all my strength to His face, for no flatterer can come before Him — rather, the righteous shall come before Him and be saved by Him with an everlasting salvation. Listen carefully to my word, and let my declaration be in your ears. Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated, if I present it before one who comes to me with true arguments. Who is there who will contend and argue with me? For now, if I keep silent, I will perish from the sheer intensity of my suffering. Oh, Hashem, do not do these two things to me that I am about to mention, and then I will not be afraid to argue my case with You, if such a thing were possible. Take Your striking hand far from me — meaning, do not strike me with Your blows now, before the case is decided — and take Your dread away from me, so that it does not terrify me and stop up my arguments. And once You have removed from me these two things that prevent me from arguing my case with You, then call, and I will answer — or let me speak, and answer me. How many are my iniquities and sins, that You should punish me on their account with this extraordinary punishment? Make known to me my transgression and my sin, for I am not aware in myself of either transgression or sin. Why do You hide Your face from me, and count me as an enemy to You, so that all Your effort is directed toward doing me harm? Is it fitting for You to shatter and pursue a lowly creature such as myself, one whose lowliness and weakness resemble a driven leaf and dry stubble? For You write down against me these bitter things with which You punish me, and now You make me bear the burden of the iniquities I committed in my youth. For I am not aware in myself of any other sin, yet You put my feet in the stocks and keep watch over all my paths, in such a way that my feet are bound and I cannot go here or there as I please; this stock is carved so tightly around the very soles of my feet that its grip is confined to precisely their measure, and so I am unable to remove them from it or move my feet from their place — meaning that his way has been shut off, and everything he desires is kept from him; he can attain not one of them. And what, indeed, is this driven leaf and dry stubble — that is, man — reckoned to be? He is like a rotten thing that wastes and wears away easily, like a garment that moths have eaten. ‘Man that is born of woman’ — meaning that his creation is from a putrid drop, together with the blood of the female — ‘is of few days, and full of trouble’ and misfortune. He is like the flower of the field: as soon as it blossoms, it is cut off and wilts, and he flees like a shadow, which has no permanence or substance and does not endure. Oh, Hashem — even upon a lowly creature such as this do You open Your eyes, and do You bring me into judgment with Yourself, on the ground that I did not do good without interruption all my days, as Zophar had claimed? Is it fitting for You to punish me for not doing what it is impossible for a human being to do? And how could it be possible for something wholly pure — that does nothing but contemplate You, as the angels do — to come from this lowly creature, defiled with the defilement of the material faculties? No one is capable of producing something pure out of something impure in this manner; or, alternatively, his meaning is that there is not a single human being who is pure in this sense. Oh, Hashem — since his days are already fixed in number, let go of him and let his term and his time run their course, until the moment comes when he will die a natural death, and he will himself, at that point, welcome that day — like a hired laborer who looks forward to the day on which he will complete his term of hire, so that he may be paid for his labor. For in the time of advanced old age, a person comes to want death and to long for it, as it is said, ‘before the evil days come, and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no delight in them’ (Ecclesiastes 12:1). For a tree has hope even after it is cut down, or after it grows old, or even, in some sense, after it dies; but man, once he dies, is cut off completely — the hope that he will live again is lost to him. For this reason it is fitting that You leave him alone, and let him complete his days in peace. Behold, just as when the waters are gone from the sea, and the river is drained and dries up, there remains in them nothing of that water which might, as it were, still restore the sea and the river to their former strength — so too, when a human being dies, he never rises again, for there remains in him nothing that might, as it were, still restore human life to him — until the heavens themselves perish. The dead will not awake or be roused from their sleep — meaning that they will not live again after death, just as the heavens will never perish. Would that it were possible for man to live again after his death! And my request would be that You hide me in Sheol and conceal me there until Your wrath has passed, and that You then set for me an appointed time and remember me and revive me, so that I would no longer feel this intense suffering with which I am now afflicted. If, when a man dies, he could live again, then, all the days of the term appointed for me to live now, I would hope and wait patiently, until my renewal comes — thinking, perhaps my constellation will be more favorable at that future time when I come into being again than it was on the day I was first born. Would that You would call, and I would answer You, and I would argue with You: is it fitting that You should long to destroy the work of Your own hands? For now You count my every step; You do not wait to see whether I deserve my punishment — meaning that You give me no respite at all from these torments. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, so that it never departs together with the blows and afflictions that have come upon me — rather, it remains ever-present — and that is not all: You go on adding still more iniquity to my iniquity. But just as a mountain that falls, and a rock that is dislodged from its place, wear away and perish, never to return to their former state; and just as stones that the water has worn smooth are ruined and never return to what they were; and just as the aftergrowth of the earth's soil, once the waters sweep it away, is ruined and never returns to its former state — so too You have destroyed the hope of man, meaning that he will not live again after his death. The forces that bring about death overcome him with an eternal victory, and he passes out of existence; and indeed he says this because death occurs when the passive faculties overpower the active faculties, as has been shown in the study of nature. And ‘when He changes his face’ — meaning that He alters his appearance and sets him on the path toward dissolution — ‘and sends him away’, with an everlasting sending away. After death, a person feels nothing at all of these things that he used to feel while he was alive: his sons may grow numerous and gain honor, and he does not know it; they may be brought low and diminished, and he does not perceive it. Only while he is alive does ‘his flesh, when pain is upon it, ache,’ and does he feel the things that cause him distress; and only then does his soul, when it is distressed, ‘mourn’ and grieve over its sufferings. After death, however, there is no longer any such feeling or experience, neither for his flesh nor for his soul. Now, Job says all this according to the view of his friends, who hold that these afflictions came upon him as punishment for his rebellion; and he rejects this, arguing that if this were indeed the case, it would not have been fitting for Hashem to pursue him with persecutions of this sort, since he was righteous and upright, and if he did sin, it was only a minor sin. And if this is so, it is evident that Hashem would in fact be doing him an injustice by putting him to death through these torments that lead him to his death, on account of some minor rebellion that might possibly be attributed to him — an injustice in that his reward for the righteousness and uprightness he practiced would thereby be cut off entirely, since he will not live again after his death in any way that would allow Hashem to reward him for the good he has done. The general principle that emerges from all this is that Job condemned the view of Zophar and Bildad because they were denying the evidence of the senses; Job said that they were undermining the very possibility of knowledge, since if sense-experience is not made a root and starting point, there is here no path left to knowledge at all. He condemned Zophar for having held him in contempt, seeing that Zophar himself was tranquil and at ease and yet was himself ripe for calamity; and he then brought proof from experience to refute Zophar's words — namely, that we find among the prospering wicked some who have no fear whatsoever. He judged that it was impossible for Zophar to know the works and wonders of Hashem to the degree that he, Job, knew them in this matter, since Zophar was younger than he, and length of time increases certainty in such matters by virtue of what becomes evident through experience; and since it had not become clear to Zophar, from experience, what was proper to this inquiry, he erred in this quest in just this way. He then condemned Zophar and Bildad for exonerating Hashem from doing injustice by means of arguments of this false sort — for this itself indicated that they actually believed Hashem does do injustice, but wished to show Him partiality in this fashion, the way a person covers over the offense of a friend however he is able. He then brought proof from the sheer intensity of his own suffering to refute their positions, since he had committed no offense, and yet was, for all that, punished with this extraordinary punishment. He then explained that no one should fault him for holding this view, and stated that, on this reasoning, it would be pointless to serve God and to perform righteousness and kindness — for it seems evident to him that a person ought to conduct his body and soul according to praiseworthy ways of life, so that his soul may attain its proper flourishing and be saved through Hashem. He then presented two arguments: the first refutes the claim that Hashem watches over human individuals, and the second refutes, specifically, Zophar's view. The first argument is that man is lowly and base, and therefore it is not possible that Hashem — who is utterly exalted in honor — should watch over him. Do not think this argument weak; it is in fact a philosophical one, and philosophers have indeed made use of it, concluding from it that Hashem knows nothing but Himself. The manner of explaining this is as follows: were Hashem to acquire forms of knowledge of this kind, one would suppose it necessarily follows that something exalted would be made complete by something lowly, which is the height of unseemliness. Furthermore, joy and perfection are greater for the one who apprehends when what he apprehends is itself more exalted; and since a perfect being who apprehends performs his activity in the most perfect way possible, one would suppose it necessarily follows that Hashem apprehends nothing but the most exalted things — and on this basis they concluded that Hashem apprehends nothing but Himself. The truth of this matter, however, we have already explained in The Wars of Hashem. The second argument is that it is not possible for a person to be punished for failing to do what it is impossible for him to do; and since it is impossible for a person to do good at all times, given that he is a material being — meaning, it is impossible for him to comprehend and reflect at all times on the works of Hashem — it follows that he cannot be punished for this. He then went on to speak of the extremity of his suffering, saying that he would choose death over it. Now, the argument that Job carries on with Hashem in this response is presented according to the view of these men who dispute with him, not according to his own actual view — and it serves as an argument against their words, as noted previously.

"But his flesh grieves for him" — only while he is still alive, while his flesh is still upon him, does he feel pain from whatever it is that pains him; and while his soul was within him, it would mourn over distress and misfortune. But after death he no longer feels anything at all. And by this he means: if indeed this is the end of man, then leave him be for the little while of his life — that is enough for him. (The upshot of this whole speech is that he deems Zophar's words foolish for saying of him that he has attained but little wisdom, while claiming to know more than he does. He also rebukes his friends collectively for having spoken flatteringly on Hashem's behalf and pinning upon him a great sin that is not so. And he refutes Zophar's view that his sufferings came upon him because he fell short in wisdom relative to the measure of his capacity, answering: is not all this simply because he was born impure, so that it is impossible for him to be purified to such a degree — and it cannot be that God would punish him for this, since that is not something within the realm of possibility.)

'But his flesh grieves for him' — and the grief his flesh feels in the grave is not over the sorrow of his sons, of whom he knows nothing; rather, his flesh grieves for himself, over his own sorrow. So too, the mourning of his soul — it mourns for him, not for his sons, since he knows nothing at all.