Job · Chapter 24

Why were the times not hidden from the Almighty? This is a plaint. Why were the times of man’s days not hidden from the Holy One, blessed be He, that He should not know the day of man’s death? Perhaps He would not hasten the retribution, and the day of death would precede it. And He Who knows him should not see his days Of the day of man, like (Gen. 29:14), “a month of days (ימים),” (which is translated into Aramaic as “from time to time.”) [Another explanation is:] Why are those who are close and who love the Holy One, blessed be He, unable to see the end of His ways and His traits? This [word] ימיו, His days, denotes the way He acted in His time, like (below 27:6), “my heart will not reproach me because of my days.” [See Rashi ad loc.] Now what are the puzzling traits?

'Why...from the Almighty' - most commentators explain it as follows: 'Shaddai' - here it is used in the sense of the root 'shadad' [might, power], and so the verse means: why are times not hidden away by the Almighty. 'and those who know Him' - do not see [His] days. The sense is: were times hidden from the Almighty, I would not complain against Him, for those who know Him do not know what will happen; but it is He who knows the times in which the wicked will act - so why does He remain silent about the wicked?

‘Why’ — now he begins to complain and protest over the prosperity of the wicked, and over the fact that he had erred in his thinking, saying that everything depends on the arrangement of the heavens, which determine a person's fate at the time of conception and birth. For this reason he says: why are the determinations of those times not hidden away, concealed, and made subject to the Omnipresent? For it would have been fitting that they all hide themselves before Him together and not defy Him — for surely all who know the Omnipresent, among the sages and the prophets, never set a limit of time for Him, to say that He came into being together with the world; rather, all of them, with one voice, say that He preceded the world without end, and that He is the One who arranges the order of the heavens. Why, then, does He not rule over them, so that they be hidden from before Him and subject to Him, so that whatever those times determine should not come to pass?

'See' — an expression of boundary, as in, "their desired haven" (Psalms 107).

'Why' — having refuted Eliphaz's view about the suffering of the righteous, Job now returns to refute his view about the tranquility of the wicked. And before beginning his arguments, he lays down once more the premise that Hashem does not oversee the acts of free choice that occur in time and change with time — since Hashem is above time, it is impossible for His knowledge to fall under time. And so he says: 'Why are times not laid up by the Almighty?' — meaning, why should we say and conclude that times are not stored up and hidden from Hashem, implying that He also knows the things that occur anew in time? For 'those who know Him do not see His days' — all the investigators who know Hashem through philosophical inquiry cannot conceive of His days, meaning they cannot picture Hashem as subject to days and time. And since it has been established in philosophy that Hashem is above time, how could He know what happens in time, seeing that His knowledge is His very essence? After this preface, Job begins to relate that there are many wicked people who destroy civilized society, their wickedness so extreme as to ruin all mankind. And were there individual providence, it would be fitting for Him to destroy them for the sake of preserving society, so that people not be like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them. Behold, there are found wicked people who —

[There are some who] remove the landmarks Those who habitually remove the landmarks, who purchase fields adjoining the fields of others, and at night widen their [own] borders by placing their fences at night within the territory of their neighbors. (This is the meaning of removing the landmarks, which is translated into Aramaic as מְשַׁנֶּה, changing, because they would change the boundaries.) And they violently take away a flock and pasture it.

'They remove landmarks' - like 'you shall not move your neighbor's landmark' (Deuteronomy 19:14).

'Remove the landmarks' — indeed, we have seen wicked men move back the boundaries of their fellows: they bring their own fence into their fellow's boundary in order to widen their own, thus robbing their fellows of their fields. They then go further and steal a flock, pasturing it in the stolen field — so committing a double wrong.

'Remove' — [yasigu,] equivalent to yasigu spelled with a samekh; its meaning is displacement backward, as in, "you shall not remove your neighbor's landmark" (Deuteronomy 19).

'There are those who remove the landmarks' — they steal the fields of the poor, and they steal flocks and pasture them on the fields they have stolen. And also — 'The donkey of the fatherless' — and they take the widow's ox in pledge, showing no pity even for the weak — orphans and widows — the very opposite of what is written: 'You shall not take a widow's garment in pledge' (Deuteronomy 24:17), and 'You shall not afflict any widow or orphan' (Exodus 22:21).

They lead away the orphan’s donkey and commit all the evils stated in the chapter. The end of the matter is that “God does not impute it for unseemliness” (verse 12), to let them know their iniquity and to furnish them with their recompense.

'They take ... for a pledge' [yachbolu] — meaning: they take as a pledge.

'The ass' — they steal the ass belonging to orphans and drive it off for their own use quite openly; and from the widow they take an ox in pledge, falsely accusing her of owing it to them, when this is not so.

the poor of the land hide together because they fear them.

'they hide themselves together' - from before them [the wicked].

'Hide themselves' [chuva'u] — meaning: that they turned aside from the road to hide from the wicked, lest they be oppressed by them.

'They turn' — they turn the needy off the road, for the poor are afraid of them lest they meet them, and so they veer off to walk through the trackless waste, off the road. 'Together' — all the poor hide together in some concealed place, out of their fear of them.

'Hide themselves' — an expression of machavo'ah ('hiding place').

'They turn aside' — Job adds another type of wicked person: those who stand like bandits on the roads, so that even the needy turn aside from the road out of fear of them — even though the needy person has nothing to steal — and the poor of the land hide themselves in their dwellings out of fear of the bandits.

And he says: Behold, [as] wild donkeys in the desert who are used to the desert, to lie in wait for the passersby. they go out to their work and what is the work? seeking prey They seek to prey. the wilderness yields bread for his young men For the wicked man’s servants and young men, the wilderness and the desert supply food for their needs, for from there he seizes and eats and steals what they eat. for...young men They are the ones who go with him to rob, as in (Gen. 14:24), “only what the young men have eaten.”

'and they are like wild asses in the wilderness' - from the desert plain he seeks bread for his young, not from settled land.

'Behold, as wild asses in the wilderness' — behold, these wicked men are like wild asses in the wilderness, which are savage beasts lying in wait there for prey; so too these wicked men constantly seek to prey upon people. 'The desert yields them bread for their children' — meaning: from the wilderness the wicked man produces bread for himself and for his children, out of the extortion he practices on the people who come there.

'Behold, as wild asses' — behold, they are like the wild asses of the wilderness, for they go out to the desert for the sake of their business, prowling about there to seize prey and to kill people. 'The desert yields them' — he draws out for himself from the desert food for his young, for he robs everyone who passes through it, and from this comes the livelihood of the people of his household.

'Wild asses' — the wild donkey. 'Seeking diligently' — searching and seeking, as in, "and those who seek me diligently shall find me" (Proverbs 8). 'The desert' — its meaning is like midbar ('wilderness').

'Behold, as wild asses' — he adds another type of wicked man, one who does not dwell in civilization at all, but is like the wild beasts of prey found in the wilderness: like them, they go out for their work at daybreak in search of prey, for every morning they go out seeking prey, and this is their constant occupation. And just as with the wild asses, so too 'the desert yields them bread for their children' — the bread of their young and their children is the desert itself, for from there they bring their bread through prey, hunting, and murder; and they do not dwell in civilization at all, only in the wilderness.

In the field of others. his produce Heb. בְּלִילוֹ [like] יְבוּלוּ, his produce. they reap to steal it. and the wicked gather the plants of the vineyard Heb. יְלַקֵּשׁוּ. And [from] the vineyards of others these wicked men take their fruit; espreinment in Old French. They take their לֶקֶש. לֶקֶש is an expression of a growth of produce, as in (Amos 7:1), at the beginning of the shooting up of the grain, which Jonathan renders. צִמוּחַ, growing. And so did Rabbi Eleazar [Hakalir] establish (in the Hoshanah “Soil from curse”): produce לֶקֶש) from locusts. (Another interpretation: and they delay the vineyard of the wicked. They delay it from destruction, because they eat up [the vineyards] of the poor and the orphans. יְלַקֵּשׁוּ is like (below 29:23), “and they opened their mouth (למלקוש) for a long time,” and like (Gen. 30:42), “and the late ones (לקישיא) were Laban’s.”

'his fodder' - that which is not his own. 'they glean the aftergrowth' - its meaning is that they cut down the late-grown grain, like one who lops off a bough and severs the branch (Isaiah 10:33).

'His provender' [belilo] — meaning: his crop. 'And they despoil' [yalkeshu] — meaning: they come late.

'In the field' — in every field they find, they reap its yield, even though it is not theirs. But as for the vineyard of a wicked man — even though it is easier to strip the branches of a vineyard than to reap the yield of a field — nevertheless they hold off from taking anything from it until they can find nothing elsewhere, for they love the wicked man and are in no hurry to take what is his.

'Provender' — related to yevul ('produce') and tevu'ah ('crop'). 'Despoil' — an expression of lateness, as in, "and their mouth gaped as for the latter rain" (below, 29).

(6–7–8) 'In the field' — [this refers to] the workers of this wicked man, who reap the fodder and the produce of this wicked man in his field, and who glean his vineyard: these workers lodge naked in the field, because they have no garment to wear, not even a covering against the cold. And who are these workers? [Scripture] tells us next.

They make them lie all night naked They make the poor lie all night. without clothing and without a cover because they took their cover.

'they leave the naked to lodge' - a transitive verb: they strip the naked man until he lodges without clothing.

'In the cold' [bakarah] — meaning: when the cold comes.

'They lie all night naked' — they steal his garment, and the victim, out of the depth of his poverty, remains continually naked, without clothing, having nothing with which to cover himself in the cold.

'Lie all night' — an expression of continuance/lodging, as in, "righteousness lodged in her" (Isaiah 1:21).

From the stream that flows from the mountains, these naked people became wet and damp because they have no cover. They have no refuge under which to shelter themselves. they embrace the rocks They hide in the crevices in the rocks, and even there the stream flows down and sprays on them, soaking them. רָטוֹב is the Aramaic for לַח wet, and whoever is not dried is called לַח. moist (moite in Old French).

'from the downpour of the mountains' - he speaks of the naked, who embrace the rock because they have no shelter, and are drenched by the downpour coming down from the mountains.

'They are wet with the showers of the mountains' — from the water pouring down from the mountains, the poor whom these wicked men have stripped become drenched, for on account of this they stay close by the mountains, to have them as a shelter. 'And embrace the rock for want of a shelter' — because they have no shelter, they embrace the rocks, to have them as a protection.

'With the showers of the mountains' — because those who are oppressed go among the mountains to hide there from the wind, they become wet there from the rush of water coming down from the mountains. 'For want of a shelter' — because they have no garment to shelter under against the cold, they embrace the rock, to protect themselves from the force of the cold.

'With the showers' — the flow and rush of running water. 'Wet' — related to rativut ('moisture') and dampness. 'Embrace' — an expression of encircling something with the arms.

from the breast of the orphan The sucking of the orphan, the source of his food and sustenance, as in (Isa. 60:16), “and the breast of kings you shall suck.” they take a pledge Heb. יחבלו, an expression of (Exod. 22:25), “If you take a pledge (חבל תחבל)”; (Ezek.18:16), “he did not take a pledge (חבל לא חבל).”

'They pluck the fatherless' [yigzelu mishod yatom] — meaning: out of the greatness of the plunder they commit, they rob the orphan and show him no mercy. 'And take a pledge of the poor' — meaning: that which is on the poor man, namely his garment with which he covers himself, they take as a pledge.

'They pluck the fatherless from the breast' — this is as though the phrase were inverted, [reading] 'by plunder they seize the fatherless'; meaning, out of the abundance of plunder to which they have grown accustomed, they seize even the fatherless child. 'Take a pledge of the poor' — the garment worn by the poor man they seize as security, falsely accusing him of owing it to them, when this is not so.

'They pluck' — they seize the orphan by force, tearing him from his mother's breast; or they bind the poor man and hold him in pledge for his debts, to be their slave, to work their fields and vineyards. The orphan and the poor man, thus reduced to slavery, are the ones who—

They made go They made him go without clothing. and [from] the hungry they carried off the sheaves And from the hungry they took the sheaves of gleaning [which are left for the poor]. It may also be interpreted thus: And those who were carrying the sheaves are hungry, because they were robbed of them and so they remain hungry.

'and hungry' - and while famished they carried the sheaves.

'So that they go about naked without clothing' — they have caused the poor to go about naked, without clothing. 'And being hungry they carry the sheaves' — and the men who carried the sheaf go about hungry, meaning that they [the wicked] do not let them eat from it.

'So that they go about naked' — they steal his garment and leave him to go about naked, without clothing. 'And being hungry' — this refers back to the word 'go about,' meaning: the poor who carry the forgotten sheaf are left to go about hungry, for their sheaf is stolen from them and they have nothing to eat.

'The sheaves' — a bundle of grain, as in, "and forget a sheaf in the field" (Deuteronomy 24).

'They go about naked without clothing' — they carry the sheaves of the wicked men's produce while they themselves are hungry, the opposite of what is written, 'You shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing.' For these men muzzle them, [preventing them] from tasting any of the sheaves that they carry.

Between their rows they make oil The owners of the olive trees make oil. they tread the winepresses The owners of the vineyards. but they are thirsty after a while, because these wicked men rob them of them [the wine]. Between their rows It seems to me that they pile up the olives in rows in the oil press and the oil flows between them.

'they make oil' - they produce the yitzhar - that is, olive oil - so called because it gleams like midday, for [lighting] the lamp. 'and they thirst' - others do, namely their masters.

'They make oil within the rows of these men' — meaning: the men who make oil among the rows of the olive press, and those who tread in the vats to make wine, go thirsty, for the wicked do not let them drink of the oil or the wine, but rob it from them instead.

'Within the rows of these men' — although the oil flows within the rows of the olive-press, and although men have trodden the grapes so that the wine runs down and flows into the vats, nevertheless they go thirsty; for those wicked men have stolen their oil and their wine, and they find nothing to drink.

'Within the rows' — an expression of shurah ('row'), a term familiar from the language of our Sages; so too, "go up upon her rows" (Jeremiah 5). 'Make oil' — related to yitzhar, which is oil. 'Winepresses' — this is the name for the pits into which the wine flows and drips, as in, "and also hewed out a winepress in it" (Isaiah 5).

'Within' — even though they press out fresh oil, within the rows of the olive groves; and even though they tread the winepresses, still they go thirsty, for they are muzzled and not allowed to taste of the wine that they tread. This is what they do in the wilderness and in the fields. And if you ask what they do in the cities, he says—

From the city people groan The people and the dignitaries of the city groan because of those robbers. does not impute it for unseemliness to be strict with them and to take revenge.

'From the city, men groan' - these are people crying out from the city. 'yet God does not regard it as unseemly' - He will not let this go for nothing, in vain. 'unseemly' [tiflah] - like 'tasteless' [tafel].

'From out of the populous city men groan' — from the city, men cry out because of the violence done to them. 'The wounded' [chalalim] — meaning: the slain. 'Cries out' [tashua] — meaning: cries out. 'Unseemliness' [tiflah] — meaning: a senseless thing.

'From out of the populous city' — from the city men groan because of the greatness of their [the wicked's] violence, and in the field every soul among the slain whom they have murdered cries out. 'Yet God,' etc. — as if to say: how then can you maintain that all of God's actions are done in justice, and that He does nothing frivolous that has no purpose? Why, then, does He extend such patience to a wicked man of this kind, who will destroy so many people by sword and by famine? Would it not be better to destroy this one soul, so as to preserve all these other souls?

'Men' — people, as in, "men of number [a handful of men]" (Genesis 34). 'Groan' — an expression of sighing, as in, "and groan with the groan of the slain" (Ezekiel 30). 'Unseemliness' — its meaning is something worthless, lacking sense, as in, "and did not ascribe anything unseemly [to God]" (above, 1).

'From out of the populous city men groan' — from the cities the weak cry out because of violence and oppression, 'and the soul of the wounded cries out' — the voice of the blood of the murdered cries out to the heavens for salvation; and nonetheless 'God imputes it not for unseemliness' — Hashem does not punish them and does not protest against their deeds, even though they lay the world to waste. And if you answer, on this point too, that He does not punish them so that there may be room for free will — to this he replies: is it not that—

They These wicked people are the generation of the Flood, who rebelled because of אור, because of the rain; because it would ascend from the earth, they needed nothing.

'among those who rebel against the light' - [referring to] Hashem, who is the light of the heavenly lights.

'Those who rebel against the light' [b'moredei or] — that they rebelled against Hashem, who is the light of the world; though it is possible that the intent here is the light of day, which fits better with what he goes on to relate of their doings: (v. 14) 'The murderer rises with the light' — because of the light the murderer rises early in the morning, before the light of day arrives, to kill the poor and the needy. 'As a thief' [ke-ganav] — the kaf is extra, like [the kaf in] 'and he was as a faithful man' (Nehemiah 7:2).

'These are' — those wicked men were among the rest of the rebels against the light, and resemble them: like the men overcome by the sickness of black bile, who cannot bear to dwell in a place of light and sit only in darkness, so too these wicked men cannot bear the light of day, for the darkness of night suits them better, since then they can carry out their deeds and no one sees them. 'They know not its ways' — they do not know the ways of the light, and do not dwell in its paths, for they can accomplish nothing in the light of day.

'These are of those who rebel against the light' — they are like ones who rebel against the light, unwilling to live under the dominion of light as other people do; for they keep away from the light and dwell always in darkness, in a place hidden from other people, so that no one sees them. And were Hashem to destroy them in the darkness of their dwelling-place, people would know nothing of it at all, and this would not compromise free will. If so, it would have been fitting for Hashem to destroy them in darkness, so that they not lay the earth waste. 'They know not' the great ways of light, and they do not even dwell in the small paths of light — they keep themselves entirely away from even the faintest sparks of light. And the reason they keep away from the light is that—

Should one rise in daylight If they would rise by day, they would slay the wayfarers. and at night he would be like a thief to dig under houses.

'The murderer rises with the light' - on the roads. Some say that [light here] means darkness, citing as similar 'and the night shall be light about me' (Psalms 139:11); but that is not so - it means literal light. 'and in the night he is like a thief' - this describes him: he likens the thief to the adulterer, who does his deeds and sins in secret, as though placing a veil over his face so they will not be seen, as though sealing up the day so they will not be seen in it. And what is their reward? That God will turn the morning into deep darkness for them, bringing terrors upon them, and will make them like a thing that floats on the surface of the water, as a reed drifts.

'With the light' — because the light of day hinders his purposes, the murderer rises early, before it grows light, and kills the poor and needy who rise early to go out to their work. 'And in the night' — in the depth of night he becomes a thief, stealing under cover of night's darkness.

'As a thief' — the letter kaf [of comparison] here comes to affirm the matter as literal fact; so too, "let my enemy be as the wicked" (below, 27).

'The murderer rises with the light' — by day he commits murder in the field, but there he kills only the poor and needy, for the wealthy do not go out to the wilderness, where the dwelling-place of murderers is; but by night 'he is as a thief' and steals in the city, in the houses of the wealthy.

And the eye of the adulterer And the adulterer among them would wait until evening, saying... a mask And he puts a mask on his face to commit a transgression, for the generation of the Flood was suspected of all these: of robbery, for it is stated (Gen. 6:11): “and the earth was filled with violence,” and of immorality, for it is stated (ibid. verse 12): “for all flesh had corrupted [its way on the earth].”

'Waits for the twilight' [shamrah nesheph] — meaning: waited for the evening. 'Shall see me' [tishureni] — meaning: shall see me. (v. 16) 'He digs through' [chatar] — related to the term 'breaking in' [machteret]. 'By day they shut themselves up' [yomam chitmu lamo] — meaning: which they sealed up for themselves by day.

'The eye also of the adulterer' — behold, he is like the eye of the adulterer, which likewise rebels against the light of day, watching and waiting for the twilight; for it thinks to itself, 'then no human eye will see me,' since the darkness of night will serve me as a hiding of the face, so that no one will see me.

'Waits' — watches expectantly, as in, "but his father kept the matter in mind" (Genesis 37:11). 'The twilight' — the darkness of night. 'Shall see me' — shall see me.

'And the eye' — so too he hates the light because of his involvement in adultery, for 'the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,' since in the twilight no eye will see him; and 'the twilight puts a covering on the face' — he places a cover and a mask over his face so that he not be recognized.

by day, they lock themselves in Those who are weaker than they, too weak to commit robbery by day, would dig under houses at night; by day they were sealed and closed up in their houses. they know no light They did not recognize the light because it was not [shining at] the time of their prowling.

'They dig through' — so too he watches for the twilight, for in the darkness of night he digs through houses, to break in through the breach and steal whatever is in the house; and by day they shut themselves up, so as not to be seen by other people and so that no one may recognize who they are — and so they know nothing of the light of day, for they never look outside.

'Dig through' — dig, as in, "if the thief be found breaking in [ba-machteret]" (Exodus 22:1). 'Shut themselves up' — closed up, as in, "for it is sealed" (Isaiah 29). 'Themselves' — [lamo,] to them.

'He digs through' — he too needs the darkness, since in the darkness he can dig through the houses that by day he marked for himself — for by day he makes a mark and a sign upon the houses he intends to dig through at night, and at night he digs through there by tunneling. And on account of all these deeds 'they know not the light,' for the light would harm them. And he explains—

For together morning is to them [as] the shadow of death For by day they were locked in, and at night they would go to their tunnel, and they were not at all afraid of the demons. for he recognizes the terrors of the shadow of death Everyone could recognize the terrifying demons, and he did not fear them. Our Sages, however, explained: By day, they would seal for themselves—By day they would chart the location of the cellar of the house and a rich man’s treasurehouse, for they would deposit balsamum oil with wealthy householders, knowing that he (sic) would put it in his (sic) treasurehouse, and at night they would smell and go there and dig into there.

'For they know the terrors of the shadow of death' — when the time comes that a person can recognize his fellow, that is, when the day grows light, that itself is, for these men, like the terrors of the shadow of death.

'To all of them' — the thief and the adulterer alike, each in like measure, regard the morning as deep darkness, and they utterly despise it. 'For they know' — when day dawns and a person can recognize his fellow, that, to them, is like the terrors of deep darkness.

'The shadow of death' — the darkness of the grave. 'The terrors' — this is a transposition of behalot ('frights').

'For the shadow of death is to all of them as the morning' — the morning appears to them like the shadow of death, for when morning comes they hide in their hiding-places, just as other people hide themselves at a time of thick darkness; because through the morning, people come to recognize the terrors of the shadow of death — that is, through the morning people come to recognize the horrors that were done in the darkness, for whatever they robbed and stole by night becomes known and recognized in the morning. Therefore they hide in the morning, since that is when people search after them to catch them.

He is light upon the face of the water When the righteous men, Noah and Methuselah, would rebuke them, they would say, “we are light [enough] to swim on the water, and we have papyrus and light materials from which to make boats and to float.” their portion in the earth is cursed; he does not turn by the way of the vineyards They would curse their portion in the earth, saying that they would not turn by the way of the good, in the way of the righteous, who are lofty and dwell in the height or the world. Vineyards represent the righteous men and the leaders of the generation, as in (Hosea 2:17), “And I will give her vineyards from there,” which Jonathan renders: her leaders. They would curse their portion in the earth, saying that they would not turn in the way of the good; they would swear that they would not turn their way. Another explanation: תקלל חלקתם בארץ Their portion in the earth was spoiled, for they would destroy their seed in vain, as in (Gen. 6:12), “for all flesh had corrupted its way.” תקלל is an expression of spoiling (קלקול), as in (I Sam. 3:13), “for the iniquity [of the matter] that he knew that his sons were bringing disgrace (מקללים) upon them.” Another explanation: Their portion shall be cursed—the following generations will curse by them: He who requited the generation of the Flood. So I heard. (Gen. Rabbah 30:2). Another explanation: their portion is cursed; he does not turn by the way of the vineyards They would not accept reproof from the good men. Another explanation: They were swift to sail in ships to kill and to plunder property, but in the way of the land that was inhabited by humans and planted with vineyards they did not care to go.

'their portion is cursed, and he does not turn' - not one of them [turns]. 'by the way of the vineyards' - they will perish from the world - they, their portions, and their vineyards - like snow-waters that sweep them away. 'drought, also heat' - the snow that was once in the world will no longer be seen; so too will they go down to Sheol, they, the sinners.

'He is swift upon the face of the waters' — he is quick to flee, when morning comes, over the surface of the water, and to hide there so that he not be found.

'He is swift' — when he flees at daybreak he is very swift to swim and glide over the surface of the water, for he is afraid to travel by land lest the pursuers come upon him; therefore he glides over the water, in places where no one walks. 'Their portion is cursed' — the stretch of land over which they travel is utterly accursed, for they never travel through cultivated, sown land, but only through parched and desolate country where no people are to be found; he will not even turn aside to travel by way of the vineyards, for he is afraid of the people found in the vineyards. It is as if to say: they fear men, but do not fear Hashem.

'Their portion' — the field is called this, as in, "see, Joab's portion" (II Samuel 14).

'He is swift' — after recounting the deeds of the robbers, thieves, and murderers on land and in the wilderness, he begins to speak of the pirates of the sea, who likewise keep away from other people and are destroyers of civilization. If he is 'swift upon the face of the waters' — if his trade is to cross the water in a vessel of papyrus reeds in order to plunder those who travel by sea — then 'their portion in the earth is cursed': their share in the land, meaning their fields and vineyards, is utterly cursed, for 'he does not turn by way of the vineyards' — he never once comes into settled land where there are fields and vineyards. In this way they are even further removed from other people than the robbers of the wilderness, and they are always distant from civilization, whether in summer or in winter, for—

Dryness and heat they steal away Because of their evil, they caused for themselves that the world should change for one year from its six seasons: sowing, reaping, heat, cold, summer, and winter. snow water Like: and snow water. This too they stole from the world, because they sinned so that they descended to the grave. In some words, the “vavin” are missing, like (Jer. 11:19), “And I was like a lamb, a bull,” which is interpreted as, a lamb and a bull. There are many more in Machbereth Menachem ben Saruk (p. 26).

'Consume the snow waters' [yigzelu mimei sheleg] — meaning: that they destroy them with such ease that it appears as though they were plundered. 'So does the nether-world those who have sinned' — and so too Sheol destroys with ease the people who have sinned.

'Drought and heat' — behold, when the time appointed for them arrives, they die an easy and swift death; just as dryness together with scorching heat swiftly and easily steals away and destroys the water melting from snow, so the netherworld swiftly destroys the men who have sinned, without their suffering the pain of illness.

'Drought' — parched heat and dryness.

'Drought and heat' — in the season of summer and warmth, when people cross the sea in ships, they rob those who travel by ship; and in the season of the melted snow-waters, in the winter, when the waters are full of snow, frost, and ice, and it is impossible to cross by ship, then 'they sinned in Sheol' — then they dwell in a 'Sheol,' a deep place, in deep caverns on the islands of the sea, and there they sin through licentiousness. And he first explains their sin in the winter—

The womb forgets him [i.e., the womb of] his mother. Rabbi Tanchum expounded that the generation of the Flood would take their children and place them underneath themselves in order to stop up the windows of the deep, and even his mother would have no mercy on him. he is sweet to the worms to die, and for the worms to eat their (sic) flesh. he will no longer be remembered In one year they were [to be] uprooted, but Job was complaining about the reprieve that was given them [the wicked] from the start, for many died and did not see this retribution.

'The womb forgets him' - [that is,] his mother; and the worm becomes sweeter to him [than she was].

'The womb' [rechem] — meaning: one who loves; the Targum renders 'he loved' as 'meracheim.' 'The worm feeds sweetly on him' — the worm shall eat him, and he shall be sweet to it.

'The womb forgets him,' etc. — he is sick only a little while, and at his death the womb that bore him forgets him. Meaning: even the womb in which he was formed comes to forget him, since he was sick only briefly and she did not need to visit him often, so that little of him remains in her memory. 'The worm feeds sweetly on him' — he is sweet to the worm, for from the abundance of fat on his flesh he does not waste away, but dies healthy and fat, and so his flesh is made sweet to the worm. 'He shall be no more remembered' — he will not be spoken of by people for very long, for since he did not suffer the pain of illness, there is not much to tell about him. 'And unrighteousness is broken as a tree' — the man of unrighteousness is broken with great ease, like the breaking of a tree that snaps quickly under iron or the like — unlike trees that bend this way and that a great deal before they finally break.

'No more' — [od,] its meaning is an extended span of time; so too, "and he wept on his neck a good while [od]" (Genesis 46:29). 'Unrighteousness' — a man of unrighteousness.

'The womb forgets him' — the young woman whom he seduces into illicit relations with him: once he has sated his desire with her, he comes to despise her and chooses another, to whom he gives a cup of a sterility-potion to drink, so that she not bear children and not lose her beauty. And the first one sits like a living widow, desolate and sorrowful. This is the meaning of 'the womb forgets him; the worm feeds sweetly on him' — the word for 'worm' (rimah) echoes 'deceit' (mirmah): that is, the young woman whom he deceived with guile, and whose nakedness he uncovered (see the Beur HaMilot), forgets him afterward, for he no longer holds this bond in mind; afterward he no longer comes to her, and forgets her. 'And unrighteousness is broken as a tree' — the 'unrighteousness' (namely, this young woman, a passing sin with whom he was licentious) 'is broken as a tree' that breaks once its sap has dried up, for then—

He feeds the barren woman who will not bear so was their custom: One would marry two wives, one for coitus and one for children. The one intended for coitus he would give a potion of roots to drink in order that she should never give birth, and he would feed her delicacies, bathe her, and adorn her, so that she should appear beautiful. The one intended for children he would dress in widow’s garments and starve. This is the meaning of his statement that the barren woman who will not give birth he would feed and adorn, but the “widow,” who was intended for children, he would not adorn.

'He preys upon the barren' - from the root of 'you shall break them' (Psalms 2:9), since he does harm to the barren woman who bears no children. He mentions the barren woman because she has no children to help her, and [likewise] the widow, because she has no husband. Further: he drags away the mighty, men of strength, by his own power - and it is he who realizes, when he rises from his bed, that he may well die.

'He devours the barren' [ro'eh akarah] — meaning: he does harm to the barren woman.

'He devours the barren' — although he was so exceedingly wicked that he even oppressed the barren woman — even though she had never borne children and had no one to take her part — and he likewise oppressed the widow, until she had no one to do good for her and her spirit was very bitter within her — nevertheless he had no pity on her; and so it is only fitting that he receive his due reward.

'He devours' [רועה] — [the sense is] breaking, crushing, as in 'You shall break them with a rod of iron' (Psalms 2:9).

'He devours the barren' — he attaches himself to another woman, whom he has given a cup of a sterility-potion to drink, so that she not bear children. And 'the widow' — that is, the earlier young woman, who now sits as a widow, separated from him — 'he does no good to' any longer, for he comes to hate her and abandons her.

And He draws The Holy One, blessed be He, [draws] those mighty men with His strength to retribution and to sustenance by the reprieve that He granted them. he rises one day. and does not believe in his life Heb. בחיין, like בחיים ; (Gen. 7:11): “on that day all the fountains of the deep were torn apart etc.”

'He rises up, and he trusts not his own life' — each of the mighty men rises up, and has no confidence in his life, out of fear of the wicked man.

'He draws away' — but it was not so; rather, the Omnipresent drew away each one of those mighty men to the grave while he was still in his strength, for he had not been weakened by the pain of illness. 'He rises up' — he is still standing on his feet, hale and strong, and suddenly his soul draws near to death, until he himself cannot believe that he will remain alive; and he did not suffer at all from the pains of illness.

'The mighty' — [i.e.,] the strong. 'His own life' — the nun [of בחיין] stands in place of the usual mem [of בחיים].

'And he draws' — after describing what they do in the winter, he returns to tell what they do in the summer, to explain what was said, 'drought and heat, they rob.' For 'he draws the mighty by his power' — meaning he draws strong ships toward his place; and 'he rises up in a place where he does not trust his own life' — he stands in a place so exceedingly dangerous that any ship coming there will be wrecked or sunk in the sea, and there he draws the mighty ship in with great force.

He grants him safety until the day of their catastrophe and they rely [on it].

'He gives him to be secure' - God gave him what he wanted. 'and he leans [on it]' - for He is able to take vengeance on him, and His eyes are upon their ways.

'Though it be given him to be in safety' — throughout all the days of his life the Omnipresent grants him to dwell securely, and he leans upon Him so as not to totter; and it is as though He watches with His eyes over the ways of those wicked men, so that they do not stumble — like a man who watches over the ways of a friend and urges him to be careful.

'He rests' — [i.e.,] he leans, is supported.

‘Though it be given him to be in safety, on which he rests’ — even though the place where he stands is very dangerous, he is nonetheless given safety there: he stands secure and unafraid, leaning there so that he not fall into the sea. And from there, ‘His eyes are upon their ways’ — from there he lies in ambush for the ships sailing the sea, watching to see which way they will go.

They are taken away in a second They are taken away from the world in a fleeting second. and they are crushed crushed and impoverished. like all they are gathered in Like all things that are gathered in and taken away at the time of the harvest, vintage, and olive harvest; just as those are gathered in, so were they destroyed instantly.

'They are exalted a little while' - he means: even if they were exalted for a short while, they will all perish. 'and they are brought low' - from '[they] were brought low through their iniquity' (Psalms 106:43). 'as all others' - like all of them.

'They are exalted for a little while' [romu me'at] — this is a past-tense verb; its sense is: when these men have turned aside and moved off a short distance, the wicked man will not then be found in the city, but his eyes will be on their ways, to kill them. 'They are brought low' [vehumechu] — a past-tense verb of the hufal construction; its root is n-m-kh, and n-m-kh and m-kh-kh are two roots of a single meaning; it is of the same sense as 'and they were brought low through their iniquity' (Psalms 106:43). 'They are gathered in as all others' [kakol yikafetzun] — like each of the people with whom they [the wicked] have made no covenant: the wicked shut their mouths so that they not cry out, and then kill them. 'And wither' [yimalu] — meaning: are cut off.

'They are exalted for a little while' — as if to say: although it is indeed fitting that they be raised up in rank and honor, so that their pain be doubled when they fall to a lowly state, it would have been fitting that they be raised up only for a short while, after which the honor departs and is gone, and immediately they return to being lowly and despised — and this happens many times over, like anything that leaps and springs up: sometimes it is high in the air, sometimes low on the ground, and it lingers aloft only a little while, but rests on the ground far longer. 'And wither as the tops of the ears of corn,' etc. — and when his time came, it would have been fitting for him to be made to suffer in pain for a long time, like the stalk of the ear of grain, which crumbles away of itself little by little until all of it has crumbled; so too it would have been fitting for the duration of his illness to be prolonged until he died of it. This refers back to the beginning of his words, meaning: so it would have been fitting for these wicked men. Yet the continuance of their tranquility and the swiftness of their death come upon them from the side of the heavenly order, which so decreed at the time of their conception and birth. So why does the Almighty not store away the times? Why does He not override the decree issued at those times, so that they might receive their reward in full?

'They are exalted' — an expression of raising up, of being made high. 'They are brought low' — an expression of lowliness, as in 'the roof sinks in' (Ecclesiastes 10:18). 'The ears of corn' — that is the stalk of the grain, as in 'seven ears' (Genesis 41:5). 'Wither' — [i.e.,] they are cut off, as in 'it fades and withers' (Psalms 90:6).

‘They are exalted for a little while’ — if the mighty ones, the ship’s owners, rise up above the water so that they can spot the place where he is hiding, ‘and they are gone’ — he hides himself as if he were not there, so that they do not see him. ‘They are brought low’ — when they move in low, near the deep spot where he stands in ambush — ‘then, like all others, they are gathered in’ — meaning all of them are made to leap into the sea, and they wither like the head of a stalk of grain.

And if it is not so, then [If it is not] as I said, let one of you come and prove me a liar. and make my words as nought [That is, my words] with which I criticize Him to know His standards, that He is slow to anger with the wicked, but He chastises those who love Him as I do, and He does not put them to death, as he complains above (23:17): “Because I was not cut off from before the darkness,” but those who remove the landmarks and commit all these [crimes] were not smitten with suffering.

'nothing' [la'al] - [means] 'to naught.'

'Nothing worth' — meaning: to vanity, to something without substance. Explanation of the words of the response: Job answered and said: Even today, though I am bitter and have gone to excess in my anger, uttering a great, heavy complaint, my stroke is heavier than my sighing; therefore do not blame me if I have magnified and added to my complaint over my suffering. Oh, that I knew where Hashem is, that I might find Him and come even to His seat! For if this were possible, I would set my case in order before Him and argue with Him with strong arguments; then I would know the words He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me, and I would learn the truth through this inquiry — for in truth He would not come at me with the kind of falsehoods that you bring, to the point that you have mistreated me by claiming that I had already committed the sins you mentioned, from which I am in truth innocent. Is it fitting for Hashem to contend with me and overpower me by the greatness of His strength? Surely that would not be right; rather, He would put strength in me to stand before Him and argue. In this way an upright person could reason with Him if something befell him, rather than being subject to strict judgment, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge — for Hashem, on hearing that justice was on my side, would turn His anger away from me. But what can I do, since I am unable to find Hashem anywhere? I go east to seek Him, and He is not there; I go west, and I do not find Him either. I also go north, where He performs His wondrous deeds on earth, since that is where the inhabited world lies — yet even there I cannot see Him; and the south is hidden from me, since there is no habitation there and it is surrounded by water, so I cannot see Him there either. Behold, if Hashem knows the way in which I have walked, and tests me, I would come forth pure, without dross, like gold — for my foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and have not turned aside from it, meaning the code of human conduct by which every whole-hearted person governs himself. I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips, and I have treasured the words of His mouth more than I keep the regimen that is my necessary food — that is, the food, drink, and similar things a person requires; for what is necessary for a person's life is called a chok [statute], as we have mentioned. For He is one with Himself, and who can turn Him back? His will does not change, and there is nothing stronger than He to compel Him otherwise; rather, He is sovereign over whatever He desires, so that whatever His soul desires, He does. It follows, from the greatness of His power and wisdom, that He completed what was appointed for me in creating me — meaning, that He brought into being within me all the organs and faculties my existence would require; and many such wonders are found with Him in the rest of His creatures as well. Therefore I am affrighted before Him always; when I consider His greatness and His being, I contemplate His wondrous works, and I fear Him. This is what Job said in answering Eliphaz for having attributed to him the same evil that befell the people of the generation of the Flood and the people of Sodom; for far be it from him to be wicked — rather, he feared Hashem out of his contemplation of God's wondrous works. God has made my heart faint — through the illnesses that afflicted me, so that I am continually afraid of the day to come, lest I suffer in it a mortal pain. And the Almighty has terrified me, because I was not yet cut off before the darkness of these troubles arrived, and the gloom of the suffering remains hidden from me — for it is not death that I fear, since it is the end of every man, but I fear these pains, which I am unable to bear. After this, Job began to refute Eliphaz's view by way of a logical inference, saying: why should temporal matters not be hidden even from the Almighty — for those who know Him do not see His days, meaning, they perceive in Him no relation to time; and from this it is evident, on Job's argument, that Hashem has no knowledge of these temporal matters. After this, Job began to refute Eliphaz's view from experience, regarding how Hashem is excused for the prosperity the wicked enjoy over a long period — Eliphaz having said that since this reproof does not come from Hashem except to benefit the people of the earth, it is possible that the punishment of the wicked is prolonged for a long time. Job began to refute his words from experience, saying that these wicked men, whose prosperity he had described, remove the landmarks, and violently take away flocks and pasture them on the stolen ground — and this is an extraordinary sin. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, and take the widow's ox for a pledge — the very ox with which the poor would plow and obtain enough for their sustenance — so that this becomes the cause of their victims' death by starvation; the needy turn aside from their way out of fear of them, lest they be killed, and the poor of the earth hide themselves from them together. These wicked men are like predatory beasts in the wilderness, preying on whatever they find; they go out to their work at daybreak to prey in the wilderness, so that each of these wicked men obtains bread for himself and his young men — for they kill the people passing by and take what belongs to them. While in the field, they harvest its provender and reap its grain, even though it is not their own; and it is not enough that they leave the wicked man's own field alone and do not touch it — even the vineyard of the wicked man, which is readily available to eat from, they hold back and are late to take from, because they favor the wicked man and so do not touch what is his, except when they can find sustenance nowhere else. Naked, men lodge at night, without clothing — meaning that their night-covering is stolen from them, and they have nothing to cover themselves with against the cold. These oppressed people go to hide from the wind among the rocks of the mountains, and there they become drenched by the mountain downpour and the moisture found there, and, having no shelter, they hug the rock to hide there. Out of their great rapacity these men rob the fatherless, and take as a pledge the garment worn by the poor; in this way they cause the poor to go about naked without clothing, since they strip from them their daytime covering, and they cause hunger to those who carry the sheaves, since they seize the grain from them and leave them nothing to eat. Those men who work in the presses to make their oil, and those who tread the winepresses to make their wine, go thirsty — for these wicked men rob them of their oil and their wine and do not let them drink from it. From the city, men cry out over the violence done to them, and the soul of the slain cries out to God from outside the city. And how can you say that Hashem places nothing improper in all these matters? For since these wicked men put many people to death by the sword, by exposure, and by thirst, and destroy them with all their might, it would have befit Hashem, were He mindful of people in order to benefit them, not to prolong the days of such wicked men, so as to save from their hand the people they would otherwise kill — for showing mercy to these wicked men is cruelty toward the good. Thus there is no way at all to excuse Hashem in this matter; and in Job's view, this would also constitute a deficiency on Hashem's part, in that He arranged this order, governed by the stars, from which such injustice and violence necessarily follow. Are not these men among those who rebel against the light — meaning, they rebel against the light of day, which gladdens people, and grow anxious when it comes; they do not recognize its ways nor abide in its paths, but flee from it with all their strength, doing their deeds at night so that people will not see them. Because of the light, the murderer rises early, before daybreak, and kills the poor and needy man he finds on the road, going out to his own work; and in the depth of night he becomes a thief, to steal whatever he can, since he can then hide himself from people. And the eye of the adulterer waits for the evening to come, saying, then no eye will see me, and the darkness of the night serves as a covering for his face. One of them tunnels through the walls of houses which by day they had marked, so as to recognize them at night and steal what is found there. Thus none of these men know the good of the light, since they reject it — for together, when it comes, the morning is to them like the shadow of death; and when the light of morning comes, in which one man can recognize another and see him, it is to them like the terrors of the shadow of death, since then they grow alarmed and flee so as not to be found. He is swift to flee when day comes, over the face of the waters, so as not to be found; the portion of land through which they travel is greatly cursed — meaning, they do not pass through a place that is worked or sown, and none of them turns aside by way of the vineyards, so that the workers of the vineyards and fields will not find them there, but they travel through desolate places to hide from people. These men, despite the greatness of their rebelliousness, receive no punishment at all in their lifetime, but die easily; for just as drought and heat rob the snow-waters and destroy them so easily that no trace of them remains, so does the netherworld easily destroy these men who have sinned. Each of his friends forgets him, and the worm feeds on him as though he were something sweet to it; his name is no longer remembered, and he breaks as easily as a tree — this wicked man — and without pain. By this it is shown that Hashem cannot be excused by what Eliphaz said. This man's cruelty reached such an extreme that he would break the barren woman who bears no children, even though she is bitter of soul, and he would likewise break the widow, to whom no one shows kindness despite the bitterness of her soul — he had no compassion on her. His strength was so great that he could draw away even the mighty by his power and kill them; whenever one of them rose up, he could not trust in his own life for fear of him. Though such a man was given a gift as a pledge of safety and relied on it not to be harmed, this wicked man nevertheless did not refrain from harming him — rather, his eyes were fixed on their ways, to pursue them. Or the sense may be that this wicked man would give the other his hand in pledge of safety and make a covenant with him, and on this the other would rely, trusting that he would not be harmed — yet nevertheless the wicked man's eyes were fixed on their ways, to pursue them so as to harm them. These men are removed for a little while, so that the wicked man is no longer to be found in the city, and these mighty men whom he had pursued are brought low, like all the other men who had not made a covenant with him; the wicked man seizes them and shuts their mouths so that they cannot cry out, and kills them as easily as the top of an ear of corn is cut off. And despite all these evils, it does not appear that any punishment reaches him, neither in his lifetime nor at his death, as Job has said; from this it is clear that there is no excuse for Hashem in what Eliphaz said, that He prolongs the days of the wicked. And Job said: If you wish to dispute this, who will prove me a liar and make my speech nothing worth? For no one can dispute my words, since experience itself testifies that the matter is as I have said. The general principle that emerges from all this is: that Job answers Eliphaz that what he attributed to him by way of sins is falsehood and deceit, since his own foot has always held fast to the ways of Hashem; and that there is no excuse for Hashem in what Eliphaz said — that since Hashem rebukes the wicked only in order to benefit mankind, it is possible that He allows them to remain in their prosperity and prolongs their punishment for a long time, in the hope that they will repent. For we see that, among the wicked who enjoy great prosperity, there are those who commit great acts of violence, causing people's deaths through exposure, hunger, and thirst; they also kill people, commit adultery, and steal at night whatever they can, without sparing the widows and barren women pursued by their destructiveness; and it happens, out of the abundance of their wickedness and rebelliousness, that they make a covenant with people so that these people will rely and trust in them, and afterward kill them. Why, then, should Hashem prolong the days of such people? Surely it would have been fitting to destroy them at once, so that they would not go on killing other people — surely it is better that these should die, so that others may be saved from their hand. Moreover, we see that such wicked men receive no punishment at all in their lifetime, and at their death they die an easy death, without suffering — where, then, is the punishment due to these men for their rebelliousness? All of this indicates that a person is not held accountable by Hashem for his deeds.

'And if it be not so' — and if you say that this is not so, then where is the man, who is he, that will give me the lie, saying that the great bulk of goodness and tranquility is not found among such men, and will render my words of complaint as nothing? As if to say: it is impossible to deny a matter that is well known and common. (The upshot of this speech: he denies the words of Eliphaz, saying that the truth is not with him — for Eliphaz held to the ways of the Omnipresent, claiming that whatever He did, He did in justice. Yet Job protests: why does the Omnipresent prolong His patience and not destroy the wicked, who destroy many souls? Is it conceivable that He should have pity on them, and not on the souls destroyed by their hand? Moreover, besides the prosperity the wicked enjoy in their lives, it does not part from them even in their death, for they die easily and swiftly, without the pain of illness — all the more so, because the heavenly order so decreed at the time of conception and birth. He therefore protests: why does the Omnipresent not override the decree of that order? Is it not He who arranged it?)

'Nothing worth' [לאל] — [means] worthless, as naught.

‘And if it be not so’ — that is, if this is not so, then whoever can prove me a liar in this can nullify my words. But since you cannot prove me a liar, for these things are true, then my arguments concerning providence are likewise strong and firm.