Job · Chapter 21

Explanation of the words of this response — 'Then Job answered and said.'

Introduction to the Thirteenth Speech - Job's Response After the three companions had stated their view on the question of the tranquility of the wicked, Job comes forward in this speech to give a comprehensive reply to everything they had said. For in their replies they had 'fitted the arrow to the string, to shoot' (Psalms 11:2) at him as their target: the misfortunes that had befallen Job - whom they regarded as wicked - served, in their minds, as a comprehensive answer to the question of the prosperity of the wicked, namely, that 'they will have no future' (Proverbs 24:20), just as Job's own prosperity had not endured. To this Job responds with 'words that are right' (Proverbs 24:26): for is his question not, in fact, a general one concerning all mankind - that there are prosperous wicked people to be found among them (Job 21:4-6)? And with this, they brought no remedy in their answers (cf. Nehemiah 4:1). • Not as Eliphaz said, that the wicked are always full of fear and never feel secure in their prosperity - for there are wicked people who are secure and at ease (Job 21:9-11). • Nor Bildad's answer, that their kind will be cut off, both their line as a whole and each individual within it - for there are wicked people whose children live and prosper (Job 21:8), and whose house endures for a long time (Job 21:20-29 - though this citation appears to be an error, since their house is barely mentioned there; Malbim most probably meant verses 9 and 21). And as for his claim that their soul will be cut off and they will be punished in the world of eternity - who knows anything of this punishment, hidden and concealed from every eye? Death spreads its wings over all flesh without distinction; righteous and wicked alike are brought to the grave, and who knows whether there is wisdom, knowledge, or reckoning in Sheol, to which they all go? (Job 21:30-34; echoing Ecclesiastes 9:10) • Nor Zophar's answer, that the wicked person dies suddenly and 'goes down alive to Sheol' (cf. Numbers 16:30) - for this too is part of his prosperity, that he dies without suffering, which is exactly what he [Job] longs for (Job 21:12-13). And is it, in truth, right and just that the righteous person, who endured pain, should die with a bitter soul, while the wicked person dies in the fullness of his vigor and at ease, and both go down to the grave alike, righteous and wicked together (Job 21:22-26)?! And even if his sons are cut off after his death, the wicked person does not feel this punishment, since he no longer exists; it would have been fitting for Hashem's punishments to reach him personally, and for the days of his suffering to be prolonged, so that he would recognize Hashem's punishments (Job 21:17-23). And with this, all their answers are refuted, and 'of their replies only the perfidy remains' (Job 21:34).

Job’s answer and this shall be your consolations The fact that you will keep your peace and listen to me this will be my consolation from you.

‘Hear diligently’ [shimu shamoa] — [the doubled form intensifies] ‘hear.’

'My speech' [milati] — meaning: my statement.

'And let this be' — let the hearing of my words be counted to me as your consolations.

Hear diligently my speech - with this he responds to his three companions concerning what they said in justifying Hashem's judgments on the question of the wicked person who prospers. 'And let this be your consolations' - instead of your being obligated to console me, at least hear my words, and in that I will find comfort, for I know that I shall be vindicated.

Bear with me Heb. שאוני, endure me.

‘Suffer me’ [sa’uni] — [bear with me] a little.

'Suffer me' [se'uni] — meaning: bear with me, that is, bear with my words.

'Suffer me' — bear with my words and be silent while I speak; and after I have finished my words, mock at them, if there is anything in them to mock at.

Suffer me (sa'uni) - an expression of 'bearing, tolerating'.

Suffer me - or, if you intend to argue and respond to my words a second time, at least bear with me and put up with me: listen and stay silent while I speak, and after I have finished speaking, then you may mock me.

Am I speaking to man Why should you make an issue of my complaint? Am I complaining to a man like me that he should listen to me? Why then should I not be short of breath to cry out from my straits?

'As for me, is my complaint to man?' — do I direct my words to a man, of whom I should think that he has no understanding to answer my words? Is it not to Hashem that I speak? 'Or why should I not be impatient?' — meaning, and if it is so that it is to Hashem I speak, and He does not answer me, why then should my spirit not be short? And how could I not cry out in bitterness of soul?

My complaint (sichi) - my words. Should I not be impatient (tiktzar ruchi) - [literally, 'shall my spirit grow short']; one who sits in distress breathes in short gasps and cannot draw a long breath.

As for me, is my complaint to man? - The answers that the friends gave concerning the prosperity of the wicked - that he is full of fear, as Eliphaz answered; or that his offspring and his soul will be cut off, as Bildad answered; or that he dies suddenly, as Zophar answered - all of this they aimed at Job, whom they regarded as wicked and whose prosperity had not endured. To this Job replies: Was my question about one particular individual - why does he prosper although he is wicked? For to that question your answer would have been correct. This is the meaning of 'Is my complaint and my dispute directed at a single man?' Or, taking the second half of the verse, 'Or why should I not be impatient?' - is my complaint and dispute merely about why I am not patient? Meaning, that my whole dispute would then be with you alone, about the cause of my impatience, that I cannot bear my suffering - just as in the first debate, about the righteous person who suffers, where the debate concerned only Job's own case and his own suffering, and there your answers would have been correct. But is my question not, in fact, a general one, about all mankind - that many wicked people are found who prosper? And to this you ought likewise to have given a general answer: that every wicked person is full of fear, or that his offspring is cut off, or that he dies young. And this is not true, as he will go on to demonstrate. This is what the verse means.

Turn to me to listen. and be silent Be astonished at my words. and place your hand upon your mouth because you will not know what to answer.

'Be astonished' [vehashammu] — meaning: and be amazed.

'Turn to me' — to hear my words; then you will be astonished, and put your hand over your mouth to silence it, for you will find no answer to give in reply.

Be astonished (vehashammu) - be amazed, as in 'at his day they were astonished' (above, Job 18:20).

(5-6) Turn to me - to listen carefully to my question, 'and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth,' for I will show you clearly the tranquility of the wicked and their prosperity, to the point that 'when I remember, I am terrified' (v. 6).

Now when I remember the thing I wish to say, “Why do the wicked live?” I become frightened for I see the wicked men of the Flood.

‘horror’ [palatzut] — like ‘and its pillars tremble’ (Job 9:6).

'Even when I remember' — when I recall these things, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh, for the matter is dreadful to me.

'Horror' — trembling, as in, "and horror has overwhelmed me" (Psalms 55).

‘wax mighty’ [atku] — like ‘you grew fat, you grew thick’ (Deuteronomy 32:15); similarly, ‘arrogant words come out of your mouth’ (1 Samuel 2:3), [and] ‘abundant wealth’ [hon atak].

'Become old' [ateku] — meaning: they age; related to the expression 'Ancient of Days' (Daniel 7:9).

'Why' — this is what he says: why do the wicked live, grow old, and even grow mighty in wealth?

'Become old' — they have grown old, as in, "the Ancient of Days" (Daniel 7).

Why - my complaint and my question are not about a single individual; rather, my question is a general one: why do the wicked live - though you said they die young? Yet we have seen wicked people who live and prolong their days. You said they are weak and feeble in strength - yet we have seen wicked people who advance and even grow mighty in power. You said their offspring do not endure - but have we not found wicked people whose—

'Their seed is established' — they are established in prosperity in their own sight, meaning: in their lifetime; and they are together with them in one place, rejoicing with one another. 'And their offspring' — the matter is repeated in other words.

‘Their seed is established in their sight’ — and moreover, their children need not go far from them to seek bread, for they remain together with them; and not only their grown children, but also their young offspring and their grandchildren are ‘established before their eyes.’ You have said that the wicked are always full of fear — but have we not found wicked men who...

peace from fear Demons had no power over them.

'Without fear' — there is no fear of anything in them. 'Neither is the rod' — no rod of punishment from God comes upon them.

‘Their houses are safe, without fear’ — they have no fear, neither for their houses and household, nor for suffering to themselves, since ‘the rod of God is not upon them,’ nor for the loss of their possessions, since...

His bull impregnates a female. and does not fail He does not eject into her inferior sperm, which would be cast out of her body without impregnating her. Every expression of געילה means casting out, and so it is in the language of the Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 75a), One must purge them (מגעילן) with boiling water. Similarly (II Sam. 1:21), “for there the shield of the mighty was rejected (נגעל).” Its anointing was cast out, and it was as though it had not been anointed with oil, for they were accustomed to anointing the leather shields in order that it be smooth and cause the spear or javelin that strikes it to glide off. It is like (Isa. 21:5), “princes, anoint a shield.” his cow bears young She gives birth to her young at the proper time. and does not abort before its time.

‘genders’ [avar] — an expression of conception. ‘and fails not’ [yag’il] — from the language of our Sages, of blessed memory: ‘they scald them in boiling water’ [hag’alah]. The sense is that the seed [of the bull] does not fail, but takes hold.

'And fails not' — meaning: it does not expel its seed outside the womb. 'Their cow calves' — meaning: she gives birth at the proper time; this is related to the same sense as the phrase 've-tasog ve-lo chaflit' [thus as printed in the source; the citation appears unclear or corrupted].

'Their bull genders' — it impregnates its mate, casting its seed deep into her womb and not discharging it outward; and their cow delivers its young at its proper time, and does not lose the offspring through a stillbirth.

'And fails not' — an expression of casting outward; compare the rabbinic phrase geulei akum ('vessels of idolaters purged by boiling') (Nazir 37). 'Calves' — this too is an expression of bringing forth outward; compare the rabbinic phrase polet zera ('emits semen') (Shabbat 86); and of the same meaning is, "let no fugitive escape from the city" (II Kings 9). 'And casts not her calf' — one whose children are lost is called shakhul ('bereaved'), as in, "as I have been bereaved, I am bereaved" (Genesis 43).

‘Their bull genders, and fails not; their cow calves, and casts not her calf’ — yet you said that the wicked man hides himself, living in fear of other people, as it is written, ‘and he has dwelt in desolate cities’ (Job 15:28) — but have we not seen that...

They send forth their infants like sheep etc. At the time of his birth, he would go and dance immediately, and if he would meet a demon, he would battle with him, and his mother would say to him, “Bring me a pair of scissors and I will cut your umbilical cord,” in Haggadath Bereishith, “Go and light a candle for me,” in Gen. Rabbah (36:1).

‘their little ones’ [avileihem] — from [the phrase] ‘a child of days’ [i.e., an infant] (Isaiah 65:20).

'Their little ones' [avileihem] — related to the expression 'one young in days' (cf. Isaiah 65:20), meaning: their small children.

'They send forth' — they send their little ones out on their own, without nurses or caretakers, like this flock, which has no one to raise it and see to its needs. 'And their children dance' — even while still small they find the strength to dance, as children do.

'Little ones' — their infants; this is an expression related to "an infant [ul] of days" (Isaiah 65). 'Dance' — they leap.

‘They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance’ — without fear or terror, and without any mishap befalling them. And as for what you said, that the wicked die suddenly, an abrupt death with no illness that preceded it, as Zophar said — concerning this he says: is this not the whole aim and wish of theirs, that they should die without suffering? And they...

They raise They would raise their voice in song with the tambourine and the harp. The flute (עוגב) is only an expression of sensual laughter (עגבות) (aboyement in French, barking.) So I heard.

‘They sing’ [yisu] — [that is, they] raise their voice with timbrel and harp.

'They sing to the timbrel and harp' — meaning: they raise their voice in song as though the timbrel and harp were before them, out of abundant joy.

'They sing' — they would lift up and raise their voice in song to the timbrel and harp, and would rejoice when they heard the sound of the pipe, in the manner of one who lives delicately and takes his pleasure.

'The pipe' — the name of a musical instrument.

(12–13) ‘They sing to the timbrel and harp’ — that is, they lift up words of song to timbrel and harp, and say in their song that what they seek is to spend their days in prosperity and, in a moment, go down to the grave: that as long as they live they will have every good thing, and when their time to die comes they will have no illness whatsoever, but will go down to Sheol suddenly, in a single moment, without any illness or suffering. This is what they are always singing, to timbrel, harp, and pipe. And so, as for what Zophar said, ‘his bones are full of his youth, but it shall lie down with him in the dust’ (Job 20:11) — this is the whole desire of the wicked, and it is not, in his own eyes, a bad thing at all — for in his eyes it is a great success.

and in a moment they descend to the grave When his dying day arrived, he would die in a moment, easily, without suffering. they descend Heb. יחתו, they descend, which is in Targum נחיתוּ.

‘and peacefully’ [u-verega] — without suffering.

'Peacefully they go down to the grave' — meaning: they die within a very short time; and all of this comes from their abundant prosperity, such that no great suffering reaches them when death comes upon them.

'They spend their days in prosperity' — they grow old, spending their days in prosperity, and when their time comes they go down to the grave in a moment, without prolonged suffering.

'They spend' — an expression of aging, as in, "after I am waxed old" (Genesis 18). 'They go down' — descend; so too, "bring down there" (Joel 4).

'Yet they said' — those men said to God: turn Yourself away from us; command us nothing, for we have no desire to know Your ways.

‘Yet they said’ — and you cannot say of them that they are not wicked and that this is why they prosper, for behold, they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways’ — Your ways being kindness, mercy, and graciousness — because they themselves are wicked in matters between one man and another; and likewise, in matters between man and God, they say...

and what will it avail us What benefit do we have if we pray to Him? We do not need Him for the drops of rain, because “a cloud would ascend from the earth” (Gen. 2:6).

‘if we pray to Him’ [ki nifga bo] — like ‘do not entreat me’ (Ruth 1:16), an expression of supplication.

'If we pray to Him' — meaning: we pray to Him.

'What is the Almighty' — they scorned Hashem and said: what is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what benefit will come to us when we pray to Him?

'We pray' — we shall pray and entreat, as in, "and do not entreat Me" (Jeremiah 7:16).

‘What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?’ — that is, they deny the existence of Hashem; and even if He does exist, what would we gain by engaging Him? — for in any case they deny that He attends to hear prayer or looks to the deeds of mankind. So I ask: is it not...

Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand This is a question: Is not all their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked has distanced itself from me Job was boasting that he saw them [the wicked] and was not counted among them.

‘Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand’ — rather it is given to them only from God, even though their counsel and their words are far from me. ‘The pangs of [His] anger He apportions to them’ — the opposite of ‘the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places’ (Psalms 16:6). Some say it is related to ‘the pangs of a woman in childbirth’ [chevlei yoldah], but the first explanation is correct.

'Lo,' etc. — spoken as a rhetorical question: is it really true that all their good fortune, which their eyes desired, was not in their own hand? 'The counsel' — as if to say: do not think that I too choose their way; it is not so, for the counsel of those wicked men is far from me, and I have no desire for it.

‘Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand’ — is it not that their prosperity and success are not in their own hands, but come to them from Hashem? Therefore, ‘the counsel of the wicked is far from me’ — meaning, I cannot grasp Hashem’s counsel and His governance in the matter of the wicked: why does He give them good, after they blaspheme and deny Him?

How long? May the lamp of the wicked be snuffed out This refers back to the above, to (verse 7) “Why do the wicked live on?” How long will You lengthen this time [the lifetime of the wicked]? Then he continues and curses them, “May the lamp of the wicked be snuffed out...” lots Heb. חבלים, the lot that they deserve.

'Is put out' [yid'ach] — meaning: it is extinguished and grows dark. 'Pains' [chavalim] — meaning: pangs and sufferings.

'How often' — as if to say: behold, I have seen many wicked people spend their days in prosperity; and if there are wicked people who are crushed, how many are they in number? Are there truly many whom we have seen whose lamp is put out — meaning, whose counsel and prosperity come to nothing — and how many are there upon whom the calamity fitting for them comes, and to whom the Omnipresent metes out pangs and pains in the heat of His anger?

'Is put out' — an expression of crackling and springing up, as in, "they are quenched like a fire of thorns" (Psalms 118:12); meaning, the flame leaps and snaps, and that is its being extinguished. 'Their calamity' — an expression for a bad turn of fortune. 'Pains' — pangs and sufferings, as in, "the pangs of a woman in travail" (Hosea 13).

‘How often’ — that is to say, is it not fitting that: • A) the snuffing out of their lamp, and the setting of the sun of their prosperity, should be great in measure and utterly extreme — that is, how many times over should their lamp be put out; • B) their calamity should come upon them themselves, and not upon their children; • C) their calamity should not come upon them all at once, as is said of them, ‘and in a moment they go down to the grave’ (v. 13) — but rather, He should divide the pains into several parts, so that they come upon them time after time; and this should not be done in mercy — for sometimes the pains are divided in order to ease the punishment of the sufferer — but rather it should be done in His anger and wrath, to increase their suffering. And he explains this — first, that...

'That they are as stubble' — this refers back to the 'how often' of the preceding verse, meaning: how many are there who become like stubble driven before the wind, and like chaff that a storm-wind steals from its place and drives here and there? Are they not few who receive these punishments? He says this to answer Zophar's words, who said that from the extremity of the punishment of the wicked, providence is made known; and Job answers that, on the contrary, few are they who receive suffering, while most of them spend their days in prosperity.

'Chaff' — the waste product of the grain.

‘They should be like stubble’ carried before the wind, scattered one piece at a time; and afterward, ‘like chaff that a storm-wind steals away’ — sweeping it all off at once.

Should God lay away his violence for his sons This is a question. Is this just, that this one should sin all his life and die in peace, and his violence and his wickedness the Holy One, blessed be He, should lay away for his sons, to punish them? Let Him requite him so that he should know it is a praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, that He Himself requite the wicked man his recompense so that he understand that he dealt wickedly.

‘his iniquity’ [ono] — [means] his wickedness, as in ‘your wicked thoughts’ (Jeremiah 4:14); in the sense of ‘Who visits the iniquity of the fathers’ (Exodus 34:7). ‘that he may know it’ [ve-yeda] — similar to the phrase ‘and he shall know his widows.’

'His iniquity' [ono] — meaning: his robbery.

'God lays up his iniquity' — and as for the claim that God stores up for his children the punishment for the sin of robbery that he extorted by his power — would it not have been more fitting for Him to repay the punishment for that evil to the man himself, so that he would know that there is a God who judges on earth?

'His iniquity' — an expression of robbery: that he practiced oppression through force and through wrongful power.

‘God’ — that is, as for what you said, that Hashem does not punish him because ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children,’ so that He repays the penalty of his iniquity and his plunder into his children’s lap — I say, rather, that He should repay it to the man himself, and punish him himself, for two reasons: • A) ‘that he may know it’ — so that he himself may know and recognize that there is a God who judges on earth; • B) and from the standpoint of the requital itself — it is fitting that the sinner himself should receive the punishment, and not another; and this is as if to say, ‘so that he may know it.’

Let his eyes see his ruin Heb. כידו, his ruin, but I cannot find a comparison in the Bible. However, according to the context of the verse, it appears to mean ruin, and so, many did not find a comparison to it. (כידו An expression of אֵידוֹ, his ruin. The “aleph” is substituted by a “chaff.”)

‘Let his own eyes see’ — [emphasizing] his own eyes specifically — not merely [through] each and every one of his sons. ‘his destruction’ [kido] — [understood] like ‘eido’ [calamity], from context; it has no parallel elsewhere [in Scripture].

'His destruction' [keido] — meaning: his calamity. 'And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty' — meaning: from the abundance of His wrath. Alternatively, 'chamat' [wrath] here may mean a wineskin, so that the one who is crushed would thereby drink from the wineskin of Hashem, may He be blessed, and become intoxicated — that is, he shall drink the cup of reeling.

'Let his own eyes see' — it would be fitting for the wicked man's own eyes to see his downfall, and for him himself to drink of the fury and anger of the Omnipresent.

'His destruction' — its meaning is like eido ('his calamity'); or it is an expression related to kidon ('javelin') and romach ('spear').

‘Let his own eyes see his destruction’ — that he himself should see the jug holding the bitter waters and the poison prepared for him, and that he himself should drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

For what does He care about his house after him since the number of his months has been cut off For what does he care (saklirir in Old French) or desire in his house after his death, to worry in his lifetime about the retribution destined to befall them, since the number of his months has been cut off and they will end before the evil that the Omnipresent promised them, viz. (Gen. 6:3) “therefore his days shall be 120 years.” This is what I said to you (verse 5), “Turn to me and be silent.”

‘For what pleasure has he’ — what benefit is it to him, all that he leaves behind him? ‘is determined’ [chutzatzu] — like ‘their days shall not be halved’ (Psalms 55:24).

'Is determined' [chutzetzu] — meaning: are cut off and fixed in number; 'chatzatz' and 'chatzah' are two roots that share a single meaning.

'For what pleasure has he' — what desire does he have for the well-being of his household after his death, and why should he care about this, seeing that the number of his months, which was fixed for him, has already been gathered in for him — he has received what was his, and it is already complete?

'Is determined' — are gathered/reckoned, as in, "yet they all go forth in ranks" (Proverbs 30:27).

‘For what pleasure has he in his house after him?’ — for although, as long as a person is alive, he cares about the wellbeing of his household and his children, and when his children perish he feels it and grieves over them, yet what pleasure does he have in his house after his death? For then this concern that he had for his household comes to nothing, and he will feel no grief for his children then, since — ‘the number of his months being determined’ — he lived out his whole time in tranquility. What does he care, after his death, about the ruin of his house? So this is no punishment at all.

Can anyone teach knowledge for God Is there anyone among you who is in the place of God, who can teach the knowledge of what this standard is [i.e., the standard of God’s judgment]? But He judges high-handedly Heb. והוא רמים ישפוט. [He punishes the exalted.] Those like me, and the righteous and the esteemed, He chastises, judges, and requites, like (below 24:18), “and he will not turn in the way of the vineyards,” stated in regard to Noah and Methuselah in the Aggadah of [chapter] Chelek (Sanh. 108a). Another explanation: Can anyone teach God knowledge? That is, do I have to teach Him knowledge to judge fairly? He Himself knows that it is so, but He passes high- handed judgments with His loftiness and His greatness, and He does not care to be exact. I heard this one but not the first one.

‘Shall any teach God knowledge’ — as though God did not know what He is doing.

'Shall any teach God' — is there anyone who, for God's sake, can learn to understand His judgment? Does He not, may He be blessed, render judgments so lofty that they surpass human understanding?

‘Shall any teach God’ — is it not that God has no need to be taught knowledge of how to punish, and in what manner to punish the wicked according to his wickedness? So I ask: how does He, seeing that ‘it is He that judges those that are high,’ judge and decree from on high, so as to say...

This one The wicked man. dies (Is punished.) in his full strength in the appearance of his perfection, lacking nothing. tranquil Heb. שַׁלְאֲנָן, like שַׁאֲנָן.

‘wholly at ease’ [she-la’anan] — the letter lamed is extra. ‘His pails’ [atinav] — in the Ishmaelite [Arabic] language, the place where camels kneel down at the water.

'In his full strength' — meaning: at the height of his perfection.

'One dies' — behold, even among the wicked, one dies at the height of his vigor, having spent all the days of his life in ease and tranquility.

'In his full strength' — with vigor, as in, "and when it was strong, the horn was broken" (Daniel 8:8). 'Being wholly' — an expression of tamimut ('completeness'). 'At ease' — this is a compound word formed from shalvah ('tranquility') and sha'anan ('ease'), and Scripture doubles the expression yet again, saying veshalev ('and quiet'), to intensify the matter.

(23–24) ‘One dies’ — this wicked man dies ‘in his full strength,’ entirely at ease, without any illness at all, even though all his days he had lived in prosperity, until ‘his pails were full of milk’ from the abundance of his good fortune and bodily pleasures.

His pails are full of milk Heb. עטיניו. This is the language of the Mishnah (Menahoth 86a): “He packs it (עוטנו) in the olive press.” They gather the olives together, and their oil forms globules and gathers in its midst in order to be ready when he presses it in the press, and that vessel in which they gather it in order for its oil to gather within it is called “ma’atan.” Here too, his milk and his moisture and fat are called “atinav.”

‘is moistened’ [yushkeh] — as though it were continually given drink; therefore it does not dry up.

'His pails' [atinav] — meaning: these are the udders. 'And the marrow of his bones is moistened' — meaning: each of his bones is full of marrow, from abundant fat and richness.

'His pails' — his own breasts were full of milk, and the marrow of his bones did not dry up, as if he were continually given some moistening drink; for all his days he reveled in pleasures.

'His pails' — these are the breasts; the word is borrowed from the language of our Sages (Bava Metzia 64), ha-ma'aten shel zeitim ('the olive-vat'), which is the name of a vessel made for storing olives in, so that their oil gathers together.

And this one dies with a bitter spirit Those that are exalted and holy to Him—them He requites immediately.

'And another dies' — while another dies with a bitter soul, from the harshness of his fate, never having eaten a good and pleasurable feast.

‘And another’ — this righteous man dies ‘in bitterness of soul,’ amid sickness and pain, even though all his days he never ate in plenty, and all his days were meager and hard. And yet there is no difference between them after death, for afterward...

Together on the earth they lie After their death, it is not recognizable to the people who is good and who is bad, because this one is like that one; they lie on the earth together.

'Alike' — after death they lie together upon the dust, one just like the other, and the worm covers them both alike, in the same way. As if to say: why should this be? Were not both of them equal in wickedness — and even after death they remain equal — yet how can it be that one, in his lifetime, was tranquil and at ease, while the other lived with a bitter soul?

‘Together in the dust they lie down, and the worm covers them’ — is this, then, a righteous judgment, that one could say ‘it is He that judges those that are high’ rendering a judgment like this? Is it not clear from this that it is not He who metes out this judgment, but that all of it comes about through the celestial order?

Lo, I know your thoughts and the devices that you wrongfully think against me You do wrong to think injustice.

‘you wrongfully imagine’ [tachmosu] — from [the root] ‘chamas’ [violence].

'Wrongfully imagine' [tachmosu] — related to the term 'chamas' [violence].

'Behold, I know' — behold, I know what you are thinking to answer to my words. 'And the devices' — but as for the thoughts that stand opposed and contrary to them, these you suppress on my account and do not say; as if to say: you speak the arguments that support your position, but not the ones that oppose it.

'Wrongfully imagine' — an expression of tearing away, as in, "your heels are torn away" (Jeremiah 13).

(27–28) ‘Behold, I know your thoughts’ — I know what you thought in your hearts throughout all that you answered about the prosperity of the wicked, ‘and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me’ — for you say, ‘Where is the house of the noble man?’ In saying, in your response, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?’ — meaning that their tent and house do not endure — in this you have wrongfully devised schemes against me, and your intent was aimed at me: to draw proof from the destruction of my house, which was the house of a noble man, toward the destruction of the house of the wicked, whose house does not endure. And even though you did not say this explicitly, in so many words, such was your thinking, and such was the intent of your schemes against me. But I answer you: why would you bring proof from a single incident that happened to one man?

For etc. Because of the evil that has befallen me, you say, “Look, where is the house of this man who was a prince, and where is the tent and the dwellings of the other wicked men?” That is to say that he is like them. Because of his wickedness, his house was lost. (Now why do you rely on your tranquility?)

‘the house of the prince’ [nadiv] — [meaning] a man of wealth, who is not [necessarily] righteous.

'For you say' — what you mean to say is: where is the house of the noble? As if to say: does he not lack a sturdy house to fortify himself in? For he shelters within the mere covering of his tent, free of fear and faint-heartedness — and where is the tent, the dwelling of the wicked? For none of them is to be found dwelling in a tent, since out of the great fear of his heart he hides himself in a sturdy house rather than in a tent; and so you mean to say that this very fear is itself counted to them as recompense and punishment.

'The prince' — an upright man, and one generous in giving.

Have you not asked etc. All these parables you are composing about me. and their signs which they made known to you, you shall not make strange to yourselves by not paying attention to them, like (Gen. 42:7), “But he made himself a stranger (ויתנכר) to them.”

‘will you misdeem’ [tenakru] — [is used here] like ‘takiru’ [you will recognize].

'Have you not asked' — as if to say: behold, you have suppressed some of your thoughts on my account; for have you not asked those who travel the road, who know the events that occur in the world? 'And their tokens' — the sign and evidence they give for their report — can you disown it, claiming the sign is strange and unfamiliar? It is not so.

‘Have you not asked them that go by the way’ — if you were to ask travelers passing through the lands, they have seen many wicked people whose houses stand and prosper. ‘And will you misdeem their tokens’ — you will not be able to disown or deny the signs they would give you of many dwellings of the wicked standing secure and prosperous — for in this there is a sign and proof contrary to your claim; and one must not draw proof from a particular case, but from the general pattern.

That They told you that... the wicked man is reserved for the day of calamity The wicked man is withheld and spared from evil and reserved for the day that is appointed for his calamity, like (below 38:23), “That I have saved for a time of trouble.” I laid them away and spared them to let them know until the day of battle and war.

‘to the day of calamity’ [eid] — [meaning] to a day of darkness. Related to it: ‘and a mist went up from the earth’ (Genesis 2:6) — in the sense of ‘a day of clouds and thick darkness’ (Zephaniah 1:15).

'The evil man is reserved' — meaning: the wicked man is held back, so that misfortune does not reach him. 'Wrath' [avarot] — related to the term 'evrah' [fury].

'That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity' — for behold, they related that at the time calamity comes upon the world, the wicked, evil man is held back from it, and it does not fall upon him. 'That they are led forth to the day of wrath' — this refers back to 'the evil man is held back,' meaning that the wicked man is held back for the time when wrath and anger come; the matter is repeated in other words. As if to say: is it not because of this that his heart grows bold, that he is not dismayed and does not fear? And these things stand opposed to what you say, yet you do not say them.

'Calamity' — a bad turn of fortune. 'Is reserved' — is withheld. 'Wrath' — an expression of evrah ('fury') and za'am ('rage'). 'Are led forth' — are brought, as in, "a present is brought" (Isaiah 18).

That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity — if you mean by this that the wicked man's punishment is withheld until his appointed day of calamity arrives, and that he is 'led forth to the day of wrath,' that is, the day of death, when he receives his recompense only after death — so that he goes unpunished in this world, as Bildad maintained — this is what Job now answers.

Who will tell His way to His face Who is the great king who will tell His way to His face and will not fear Him? How exalted He is! That is the Holy One, blessed be He, Who did. and who will requite Him Who will requite Him with the recompense for His wickedness?

‘But who shall declare his way to his face’ — this refers back to God, and the sense is: who taught Him how to act, that He does whatever He wishes and no one calls Him to account? Some say instead that it is connected [to what follows], and the sense concerns the mindset of the wicked man — that he does whatever he wishes and no one repays him.

'But who shall declare' — and because of the abundance of his success, who then can declare his way to his face, to rebuke him and frighten him with punishment? For he will surely mock them greatly. 'And who shall repay him what he has done' — and although he has done the evil he intended to do, there is no one to repay him for it.

• A) 'But who shall declare his way to his face?' — surely he ought to receive his punishment in the very place where he did wrong, where the witnesses who could testify to his evil way — the way for which he is punished — would stand there against him. But who will testify to his face there? • B) There must also be someone found to repay him — but there, who will repay him for what he has done? And he now spells out his meaning in relation to what he had just said, 'who shall declare his way to his face,' for behold —

But he will be borne to the grave He will ultimately be borne to the grave. and he will hasten to be beside the stacks of grain when he is buried in the fields beside the stacks of grain.

‘And watch is kept over his tomb’ [gadish] — Rav Hai [Gaon], of blessed memory, said that this refers to the domed structure built over the grave, following the custom of the land of the Ishmaelites [Arabs]. But it seems more likely that it means [a heap of] earth or the like; it has no parallel elsewhere [in Scripture].

'And watch is kept over his tomb' — he means that he will keep diligent watch, standing at the grave; and the grave is called a 'gadish' [stack] because earth and stones are gathered upon it and it rises above the ground in the shape of a stack of grain. It is also possible that 'gadish' is meant in its plain sense, in which case he means that he stands outside, at the grave that is beside the stack of grain in the field.

'For he is borne to the grave' — when his day comes, he receives burial in the way of all the earth. 'And watch is kept over his tomb' — he hastens to lie upon the mound of the grave, which is made like a stack of sheaves, for they do not delay his burial, so that he not be disgraced after death. (It is called a 'stack' [gadish] after its end result, for after burial it becomes a mound; so too (Isaiah 47), 'and grind flour.')

'His tomb' — this is a heap made of bundled sheaves of grain. 'Watch is kept' — hastens, as in, "for I hasten [over My word]" (Jeremiah 1).

...he is borne to the grave, and there is no witness or informant there. And as to who will repay him, [Scripture] answers that behold, 'watch is kept over his tomb' — he lies hidden beneath the burial mound, a place the judge's hand cannot reach; he remains there continually and never leaves, so that the judge can never find him elsewhere to be judged. And should you say that the grave itself is the place of judgment, behold — 'The clods of the valley are sweet to him' — he feels no pain from them; and he is not the only one buried there, for after him all mankind will be drawn along, since that is the end of every human being who comes after him, and even before him countless people have already been drawn to burial. And so —

clods balast in French (which the sailors bring into the holds of the ships in order to weigh them down.) as there were innumerable ones before him Those who draw after the same way. All these devices you think against me.

‘The clods of the valley’ — in the Ishmaelite [Arabic] language, [this refers to] the place where the wadi is dug out; and this is plausible, since [elsewhere Scripture says] ‘and the clods cling together’ (Job 38:38). ‘And all men draw after him’ — [meaning] that they shall die after him, and there is no number to the dead who came before him.

'The clods of the valley' [rigvei] — meaning: the valleys of the plain where he is buried.

'The clods of the valley are sweet to him' — the clods of earth of the valley in which he is buried, will they not be sweet to him? A grave in a fine, choice location; and they will even show him honor at his death, for behind his coffin all people will be drawn along to accompany him, and countless numbers will also go before him, to prepare all that his burial requires — in the manner done for the great and the distinguished.

'The clods' — clumps of earth, as in, "and clods cleave together" (below, 38). 'The valley' — a valley and a ravine.

Now how do you comfort me with futility Since only betrayal remains of your replies, the replies of wisdom are forgotten and lost from you, and of your replies, [those] left in your hands are only replies of betrayal. betrayal This word (מעל) is a noun, which is why it is voweled with a kamatz, and the accent is on the first syllable.

‘And as for your answers’ — its sense is this: what remains in your answers is [only] treachery, from the root ‘ma’al’ [trespass].

'And as for your answers, there remains only faithlessness' — meaning, your answers remain false and void. Explanation of the words of the response: Job answered and said to his friends: Listen carefully to what I say, and be silent — let that itself be the comfort you give me: meaning, if you would only be silent about what I say, your silence would do me more good than your answer, since your answer only provokes me to extraordinary anger. Bear with me and let me speak, and after I have spoken — once I have found some quiet from my inner turmoil — mock me if you wish. He said this against Zophar: is my complaint against a man, whom I could persuade to relent by my own effort? Why then should I not be short of patience, seeing that my case is with Hashem Himself, whose anger I have no power to turn away from me? You, my friends, look at me and be astonished, and put your hand over your mouth out of sheer wonder — that a blameless, upright man like myself should be struck with blows as extraordinary as these, without transgression or sin. Whenever I set myself to recall the disorder that befalls human affairs in matters such as these, I am overcome with dread, and horror seizes my flesh and terror grips me. How is it possible that the wicked enjoy the good fortune we find them having? Why do the wicked live on, grow old, and even grow mighty in wealth and power? Their children are established alongside them, in their sight — meaning, they dwell together in peace and harmony, their offspring before them, so that they take constant delight in them. Their houses are at peace, untouched by fear, and the rod of Hashem does not reach them at all — meaning, no harm of any kind befalls them. Their bull breeds and does not fail, its seed not spent in vain; their cow calves at the proper time and does not miscarry, but the calf lives — and this is a figure for the abundance of their success in all their possessions and affairs. They send out their little ones like a flock, who go off at once, and their children dance for joy. They lift up their voices in song out of the abundance of their joy, as though the timbrel and harp played before them, and they rejoice as though the sound of the pipe were before them. They spend their days in prosperity — meaning, they see no evil all their days — and death comes upon them in an instant, without suffering; and all this is part of their good fortune. And if you ask who these prosperous people were, know in truth that they were the very worst of men — so much so that they said to God, 'Depart from us; we have no desire to know Your ways,' and accordingly they always walked in the paths of wickedness. They despised Hashem, saying, 'What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? What would we gain by praying to Him and seeking our needs from Him?' Now in truth, despite all this, I do not commend the wicked — their counsel is far from me — even though they are found prospering in this fashion. For this success of theirs is not truly bound up with them the way the flourishing of the soul is; it is external to them. That is why he said their prosperity is not in their own hand, and why their glory does not follow after them when they die. How often is it actually found that the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out, that calamity comes upon them, and that Hashem allots them pains and sorrows in His anger and wrath — that they become like straw before the wind, or like chaff that a storm sweeps away, driving them from one misfortune to another — the very things you tell of concerning the wicked? This is found only rarely, whereas what I have described of the good fortune of the wicked is found in abundance; and so plain experience contradicts the bulk of your claims. Nor is there any excuse in your saying that if punishment does not come upon the wicked man himself, it will come upon his children — that Hashem stores up his sin of robbery for them. For the punishment should rightly have been paid to the man himself, so that he would know that it was for his own rebellion against Hashem that this punishment overtook him: let the sinner's own eyes see his ruin and his wrongdoing, and let him drink of Hashem's fury and be poisoned by it. For what punishment is it to the wicked man himself, that harm should reach his children after his death? The number of months allotted him to live is fixed and comes to its end, and it is only during those months that pain and affliction can reach him; after death, he no longer feels either what pains or what pleases. Shall man teach God knowledge — presuming to examine how the governance of Hashem in this lower world ought properly to run, so that everything should be perfectly just and right, and how this could be brought about? Meaning: shall man teach God knowledge — He who, in His wisdom, governs the beings above, such as the angels and the heavenly bodies, and directs them by that wondrous governance whose manner of wisdom cannot be grasped? See what error you fell into by probing His ways in this fashion, to the point of claiming that success which ends in evil is itself evil — from which it would necessarily follow that Hashem does nothing but evil to both righteous and wicked alike. For one man dies in the very fullness of his strength, having been untroubled and at ease all his days, until his body is full of milk from the abundance of his fat, and every one of his bones is drenched with marrow — meaning, he is full of marrow. And another dies with a bitter soul, never having tasted any good at all. Yet the end of both is the same: death, and the worm covers them alike. And since death, their common end, is itself an evil, it would follow from this that everything that happened to them in their lifetime was evil, whether these men were righteous or wicked. So then, in seeking to clear Hashem of injustice, you end up attributing injustice to Him — and that is the height of absurdity and unseemliness. I know your thoughts, and the wrongful schemes you devise against me, already resolved in your hearts — meaning, you take pains to think up unjust arguments in order to accuse me and rob me of the truth. Or perhaps the sense of his words, 'and you would wrongfully seize schemes against me,' is this: that you, in investigating the question we are debating, do not take into account every consideration that bears on this matter on both sides, but instead seize and carry off only some of them for use against me, paying no attention to the consideration that would establish the truth of my position. He said this because it is the way of one who investigates a matter thoroughly to take into account every consideration on both sides of the dispute, and only afterward to determine what is correct from what is not; and if he fails to take all of them into account, his inquiry remains incomplete. Accordingly, Job said that his friends took up the considerations that argued against him, while wrongfully suppressing the considerations that agreed with his own view — and this explanation seems to me the more correct one. Here he first mentioned the consideration taken to establish their own view, and afterward the consideration they had wrongfully suppressed, saying: I know the consideration on which you built your opinion — namely, your claim that the wicked man does not escape fear. For you say: Where is the house of the noble, and where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt? Meaning, that the noble man, being free of fear, has no need to trouble himself with strong buildings — a mere tent suffices him as shelter and cover from storm and rain — whereas the wicked need strong, fortified buildings because of their great fear, so that fear itself is the punishment of the wicked, as you claimed earlier. But I have already shown you from plain experience that this is not so; and you have wrongfully suppressed another consideration, a true one, that in fact demolishes your view — namely, what I said, that tents already stand at peace for robbers. Furthermore, have you not asked those who travel the roads, who know the events of the times and can testify to their signs and records from what they themselves have observed, and cannot deny it? For they will tell you that it happens time and again, on a day of calamity — meaning, when calamity comes upon a city or a country — that the wicked man is held back from having it reach him, and is delivered by his abundant good fortune from among the rest of the people; and when the day of wrath sweeps through the land where he lives, he is shielded from it and delivered — and this only adds to his sense of security and removes his fear all the more. And since no harm reaches him in his lifetime, who will confront that wicked man to his face and rebuke him for his conduct, telling him that this punishment came upon him because he did evil? Who will repay him according to his deeds after his death? Is it consistent with the just Judge's law that He should bring punishment for the father's sin upon his children, who did not commit that sin themselves — as you have claimed? He is borne to the grave after his death, and watch is kept over his tomb continually, until it crumbles away. The clods of the valley in which he is buried are sweet and pleasant to him — meaning, he feels no evil whatsoever after his death — and death draws every man after him, for death is the end of all, just as it drew countless men before him. And this being so, this wicked man is found free of all punishment; or if you would call death itself a punishment, then the righteous man is no more exempt from it than the wicked. It has already been shown that it is not fitting to regard a man as punished by what happens to his children after him, since he himself feels no distress from it — and this has already been established in the Book of Ethics, namely, that it is not fitting to call a man unfortunate merely because misfortunes later befall his loved ones and relatives after his death. So how can you comfort me with empty words, telling me that if I seek God and turn back to Him, these blows will be removed from me? So all your answers remain false and void. The general principle that emerges from all this is: what Zophar said — that the general rule confirmed for them by experience should not be set aside on account of what happened to Job — is itself untenable, since Job has already brought proof from experience, from cases other than his own, that contradicts their claims. That proof is the abundant good fortune found among many of the wicked, to the point that they see no evil in their lifetime and feel no fear at all, but rather are spared many of the misfortunes that befall the people around them. He explained that this is found far more often than what they claimed to have witnessed regarding the misfortunes of the wicked, for what they claimed to have witnessed of that sort is found only rarely. He further explained that what Zophar had argued on this point — that even if Hashem does not punish the wicked themselves, punishment still reaches them after their death, in that their children are then punished, and that therefore such prosperity, since its end result is evil, should not be called success at all — is itself utterly reprehensible. For on this reasoning it would follow that nothing but evil ever befalls anyone, since the end of all people is death and the end of all possessions is loss; and Hashem would then be committing injustice, since He punishes all people, righteous and wicked alike — even though it is self-evident that there is no punishment to a wicked man in what happens to his children after him, since he himself feels nothing of it. It would likewise be an injustice on Hashem's part to punish children for the sin of their fathers while their fathers themselves go unpunished. As for what is stated in the Torah, that He 'visits the iniquity of fathers upon children,' that refers to a different matter, and this is not the place to explain it.

'How then' — as if to say: since this is so, it appears that there is no supervision and no recompense; so how can you comfort me with empty words, telling me that when I repent my end will grow great? What good is repentance, if there is no supervision? 'And your answers' — that which you answered me concerning the recompense of the wicked, I have shown to be false; for few are those who are repaid with evil, while most of them receive good, and so your answer remains treachery and falsehood. (What emerges from this speech is a refutation of Zophar's words, who sought to prove [divine] supervision from the abundance of punishment brought on the wicked; for [Job] responds by saying: are not few the ones on whom punishment comes, while most of them spend their days in good, giving no thought to what will befall their children after them; and because they see that on the day of calamity they themselves are secure, they fear no fear at all, and each is glad in the success he enjoys in his lifetime, and in the honor that will be shown him at his death, in the manner of the great.)

'Faithlessness' — falsehood; for [the word appears in], "and commits a trespass" (Leviticus 5:21), which Targum [Onkelos] renders, "and he deals falsely."

'How then comfort you me in vain?' — since your answers amount to nothing but faithlessness: it is clear that the purpose of your answers was not to comfort me or to tell the truth, but was faithlessness and a betrayal of the covenant between brothers, in that you said, in bad faith, that I am wicked, rather than comforting me as a brother comforts a brother.