Job · Chapter 33

'However, I pray you, hear' — meaning: do not think that, since my words are many, I am speaking without knowledge, and that I am no better in this than the three companions; rather, hear now my words, and give ear to all of them, and do not grow weary of them for their abundance, for they are not empty words.

'However, Job, I pray you, hear my speech' — Elihu now turns to address Job directly. 'My speech' refers to the specific expressions and particular words, and 'hearken to all my words' refers to the entire debate to its end, for the essence of his response comes at the end of his words.

'Behold now' — now I open my mouth, and my tongue speaks of itself as it touches the palate, in the manner of one who speaks; as if to say: behold, I have already arranged my words, and my tongue hastens to speak clearly, without delay or hesitation.

'Behold now, I have opened my mouth' — now I have only just opened my mouth to bring outward what my tongue had already spoken within my palate; my tongue had already spoken all this within my palate, privately with myself, all along, and now I have opened my mouth to bring the words out.

'They shall speak sincerely' — a clear word.

'My words shall utter the uprightness of my heart' — my words come from uprightness of heart, not from mere talk of the lips meant to mislead and deceive. 'And that which my lips know they shall speak sincerely' — this phrase is inverted, as though it read, 'and clear knowledge shall my lips speak' — meaning, my lips will speak knowledge that is clear and pure, without deception; and the matter is repeated in other words.

'My words shall utter the uprightness of my heart' — my words were not spoken in order to win a debate; rather, they are the uprightness of my heart (that is to say, they are not only in agreement with my intellect, but they are also in agreement with my heart — for the heart signifies desire and will, and sometimes what is upright according to the intellect is not upright according to the heart, since a person's heart and desire may want something his intellect does not agree with; but my words are the uprightness of my heart as well). 'And that which my lips know' — the sense is, my lips speak clear knowledge; for sometimes a person cannot render in his lips, sweetly, everything that is in his thought, especially regarding concepts that are not so clear, and matters hidden from human understanding, which one is forced to express by way of parables and riddles, as Rambam writes in the introduction to the Guide for the Perplexed — but my lips speak clear knowledge; and he means to say, • A) that the matters are already arranged with him even before he brings them out with his lips, • B) that his heart agrees with his words, • C) that he does not clothe his words in parables, but speaks clear words.

The spirit of God made me and I am no stronger than you.

'The spirit of God' — the will of God created me, and the utterance of His mouth gives me life; it is therefore incumbent upon me to plead His cause and to justify Him.

The spirit (ruach) - Will, as in 'behold, I will put a spirit in him (ruach)' (Isaiah 37:7). And the breath (venishmat) - From the term 'neshimah' (breathing) and 'neshivah' (blowing); it refers to speech, which comes about through the exhaling of breath.

(4-5) 'Spirit' — Having explained the worth of his words themselves, he now returns to the worth of the speaker. According to his approach, the one speaking through him is God Himself: for God planted within his soul truths that are inherent to it from its very origin, and the divine ideas rooted in its nature are not attained by way of the senses and empirical investigation — and in this he stands in God's place, beneath Him. On this basis he answers what Job had requested at the end of the first round of argument (Job 13:21): 'Withdraw Your hand far from me; And let not Your terror make me afraid. Then call You, and I will answer; Or let me speak, and answer You me' — to this he replies: behold, I shall stand and argue with you, and answer you in God's stead and in His place, for I am fit to plead in His stead, • A) because I am the creature fashioned by His hands, for 'the spirit of God has made me'; • B) because also the very preservation of my life and its continuation comes only through Hashem, who gives me life at every moment — and this is 'and the breath of the Almighty given me life.' Thus the spirit of Hashem is planted within me, both from the aspect of my creation and from the aspect of my life and its continuation, for it is His soul within me that gives me life. (His view was also that the spirit enters a person while still in the womb, and it is what fashions and completes the body, clothing it according to the measure of the spirit — like the snail, whose shell forms out of itself. So, too, the soul of Hashem — which is the divine soul, drawn down from on high, 'a daughter of God' — gives him life.) And planted within it are the divine ideas and the true understandings that belong to it from birth, by virtue of its divine nature; and in this respect it is like God — his wisdom is the wisdom of God, his mouth is like His mouth, and his speech is like His speech — so that he can stand in His stead and answer in His place. For as to what you said, that you wish that when God argues with you, you not be terrified — neither by awe of His majesty nor by fear of His punishment, as you said, 'Withdraw Your hand far from me; And let not Your terror make me afraid' — that cannot be pictured if it is Hashem Himself who argues with you, whom no man can see and live (cf. Exodus 33:20); but it is not so if I am the one who argues with you — then it can be.

'Set your words in order' [orkhah] — arrange your words.

'If you can' — if your hand can find enough to answer my words, then answer me. 'Set your words in order' — arrange your arguments before me, and stand up opposite me; that is, say whatever you are able to answer.

Behold I am like your mouth to God As your mouth asked to debate with one who would not terrify you, behold I am instead of the Holy One, blessed be He, and on His behalf, to speak His words.

'Behold, I am toward God even as you are' — that is, like your words and your thoughts are toward God; the sense is the idiom 'each man according to his own standing' — as if he had said: 'I am just like you.' 'I also am formed' — that is, I was cut off, shaped, from the same root as 'keretz' in 'a gadfly [keretz] from the north is coming' (Jeremiah 46:20).

'I am formed' [koratzti] — I was created and fashioned.

'Behold, I am toward God even as you are' — behold, I am pleading with you on God's behalf, in keeping with your own words, when you said, 'He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in judgment' (Job 9:32); now behold, I am a man like you, for I too was formed from clay, just like you.

I am formed (korratzti) - My form was cut and hewn; from the term 'keretz' (a cutting), as in 'a biting one out of the north (keretz mitzafon)' (Jeremiah 46).

'Behold, I am toward God even as you are' — that is, as you yourself spoke concerning God: the thing you asked for with your own mouth was that God, when He argues with you, be perceptible to your senses, and not frighten you, neither by dread nor by fear of punishment. So am I, in God's stead — I, who stand in God's place, will be perceptible to your senses, for I too was formed out of the clay, just as you were; and so —

and my coercion Heb. אכפי, my coercion, like (Prov. 16:26), “his mouth forces (אכף).”

'Neither shall my pressure' — some say the meaning is something oppressive, as in 'for his mouth presses him on' (Proverbs 16:26). And some say that the word is [actually] two words joined together, like 'akhzar' [cruel] and 'chelka'im' [the wretched].

'My pressure' [ve-akhpi] — like 'my palm' [ve-khapi]; its sense is like 'my hand' or 'my blow.' This is in response to what Job had said: 'Withdraw Your hand far from me, and let not Your terror make me afraid' (Job 13:21).

'Behold, my terror' — you will not be made to tremble with fear of me, so that your arguments become choked off. 'Neither shall my pressure' — the coercion and pressure exerted by me will not weigh heavily upon you; that is, I have no power over you, for I am just like you.

Make you afraid (tiv'ateka) - From the term 'be'atah' (terror) and 're'adah' (trembling). And my pressure (ve'akhpi) - From the term 'kefiyah' (coercion) and 'negisah' (pressing), as in 'for his mouth presses him (ki akhaf alav pihu)' (Proverbs 16:26).

'Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid' — that is, the awe of majesty; 'neither shall my pressure be heavy upon you' — that is, the fear of punishment.

'Surely you have spoken in my hearing' — as if to say: even if you did not speak to me but only to your companions, it still reached my ears, and I too heard it. 'And the voice of your words' — a voice of mere talk, without sense.

'Surely you have spoken in my hearing' — this is what you said there, in that same chapter: 'How many are my iniquities and sins?...' and 'You put my feet also in the stocks' (Job 13:23,27); 'and I have heard the voice of your words' — that is, I understand that this was your intent, that you are saying:

I am clean Heb. חף, pure and cleansed, like (Bezah 35b), “A nazirite may not cleanse (יחף) his head...” and like (Shabbath 50a),” we may cleanse (חפין) vessels with anything.”

'I am innocent' — some say it is like 'covered [transgression]' (Psalms 32:1), and this is close [to correct]. Others say it means 'enveloped in righteousness,' in the sense of 'I put on righteousness, and it clothed me' (Job 29:14). But most commentators explained it, from context, as equivalent to 'zakh' [pure].

'Clean' [zakh] — pure; and likewise 'chaf' (unstained) is of the same sense, related to what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: 'a nazirite may not scrub (yachof) his head.'

'I am clean' — I am cleansed of sin; and the matter is stated twice in different words.

Clean (zach) - From the term 'zekhut' (purity) and 'behirut' (clarity). Innocent (chaf) - Scoured and cleansed; and so in the words of our sages, who tie [the requirement of] chafifah (washing/combing the hair) to tevilah (immersion) (Niddah 66).

'I am clean' — • A) that I have not transgressed in deed, • B) that even if there had been some sin in my thought, that sin is not attributed to me — for foreknowledge compels choice, and man is compelled in his actions; so I am innocent, and the sin is not attributed to me. Rather —

pretenses Heb. תאונות, pretenses to turn away from the Omnipresent, an expression of (Jud. 14: 4), “that he sought a pretense (תאנה).”

'Behold, He finds occasions [against me]' — like 'and you shall know My displeasure' (Numbers 14:34). 'He finds' — that is, the Omnipresent.

'Occasions' [tenu'ot] — pretexts, and turnings-away from His commandments; meaning, so that He will not accuse me of having strayed from His commandments. Or the sense may be that He finds, because of me, something that diverts me from what He seeks of me, so that I am unable to fulfill even a single one of them.

'Behold, He finds occasions' — behold, He has found pretexts against me, and considers me His enemy, as though He were taking vengeance on me.

Occasions (tenu'ot) - Pretexts and baseless charges, as in 'and you shall know My displeasure (tenu'ati)' (Numbers 14:34); and it may be that it is the reverse [in letter order] of 'to'anah,' as in 'he is seeking an occasion (to'anah hu mevakkesh)' (Judges 14:4).

(10-11) 'Behold, He finds occasions against me' — that He fabricates charges against me, as though I had the choice to thwart and nullify His foreknowledge and eternal decree; and therefore, 'He counts me for His enemy,' and 'puts my feet in the stocks.' And all this is the very language he used there, in that same passage: 'Why do You hide Your face, And hold me for Your enemy?' and 'You put my feet also in the stocks' (Job 13:24,27).

'In the stocks' — like 'and you shall coat them with plaster' (Deuteronomy 27:2).

'In the stocks' [bassad] — a device of confinement in which the feet of the prisoner are placed.

'He puts my feet in the stocks' — He has put my feet into wooden fetters, locked shut, and has further gone on to watch all my paths, so that I could not flee — even though my feet are already bound and I am unable to walk; meaning, He has heaped sufferings upon me beyond measure. Now, these are the very words I heard you speaking.

In the stocks (vasad) - These are wooden fetters for locking the feet of a captive; as in 'and put my feet in the stocks (vattasem basad)' (above, 13).

for God exceeds man God does not have to be so exact with man because the Holy One, blessed be He, has more virtues than man.

'That God is too great for man' — that is, is great [i.e., 'yirbeh' is 'yigdal']; and the sense is that you say: 'God is greater than man' [too remote to concern Himself with him]. And the point is: because you were not right, I will answer you, so that I may show you the true greatness of the Omnipresent.

'That God is too great for man' [yirbeh Eloah me'enosh] — from the same root as 'many' [rabbim] and 'honored, noble' [nikhbadim]; the sense is that Hashem is far greater in honor than man.

'Behold, I answer you,' etc. — meaning: this is what I answer you — that you are not right in your complaints — because God is far greater in rank than man; and if even a perfect man does not go looking for pretexts against others, how much more so the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who is far greater in rank than the patriarchs. As if to say: I will not answer you the way your companions answered you — that you are not right because you are full of sin — for it may well be that you are righteous, and even so you would not be complaining justly, since the judgment surely belongs to the Omnipresent; as he will go on to explain below, in this same response, 'Do you think this to be your right,' etc. (Job 35:2).

Is too great (yirbeh) - Is greater, as in 'and the great officers of the king (verabbei hamelech)' (Jeremiah 41).

'Behold, I answer you: In this you are not right, That God is too great for man' — that is, I answer you that you are not right in this. As for what you say, that God demands of man things far too many and great for his strength and capacity — that is not true. For in truth, the service that Hashem asks of man is not excessive: He does not demand of him many or mighty things, but only according to man's capacity, according to what he is able to render Him, given that he is a being of matter. Nor does He fabricate charges against him, that he should serve Him as one of the hosts on high — and all the more so, that He would punish him for things beyond man's power to do, as you hold, that man is compelled in his actions, and yet Hashem punishes him for them regardless. In all this, you are not right.

'Why have you striven against Him?' — why did you argue against Him, on the grounds that He does not answer man in all his words? Meaning: He does not reveal to a person what he sinned and became guilty of, so that he might cease from it and hasten to repent; and this is what you said, 'Make me know my transgression and my sin' (Job 13:23).

'Why' — and as for your having striven against Him and argued against Him, saying that He does not answer any of his words — why does He not answer and make matters known, as you yourself said, 'Then call You, and I will answer; Or let me speak, and answer You me,' 'Why do You hide Your face' (Job 13:22,24) — this too is not true.

'Man perceives it not' — [the pronoun refers] to the soul. And the meaning of [the phrase in v. 16] 'and seals their instruction' (Job 33:16) — after He disciplines them, He seals their sentence.

'Perceives it' [yeshurenah] — he sees it.

'For God speaks in one way' — behold, it is not so as you say; rather, God speaks in one manner, and again in a second manner, to one who does not perceive the first and does not understand it.

Perceives it (yeshurennah) - He sees it, as in 'I see him, but not near (ashurenu velo karov)' (Numbers 24).

'For God speaks in one way' — that Hashem speaks to man and informs him of the decree issued against him on account of his sins, so that he take heed and return in repentance; this is the notification that comes by way of a dream, as he goes on to explain. 'Indeed in two' — 'though man perceives it not': one who does not notice or pay heed to the first mode of speech, He speaks to him in a different way, namely, the notification that comes through sickness and pain, which is likewise a warning to return in repentance. And he now explains — the first mode of speech is:

'In a dream' — the first manner is: in a dream, in visions of the night; or at the time when deep sleep falls upon men, which is a heavy sleep; or at the time one dozes upon his bed, which is a light sleep — each according to his own disposition.

'In a dream, in a vision of the night' — and this comes in one of two forms: either in a true dream, in which the divine message descends upon the imaginative faculty, to inform him of what is to come upon him; or in a vision of the night, in which he sees some vision or sight during sleep that points to the future. And he explains: the dream comes 'when deep sleep falls upon men,' that is, during deep sleep; while the vision of the night comes 'in slumberings upon the bed,' at a time when one is not in deep sleep but only in a light doze — half-asleep, half-awake — at which time one sees some vision.

Then He opens the ear of men as He did to Abimelech in the dream of the night. and with their chastisement He seals [them] He seals them and binds them with suffering because of their iniquity.

'By their chastisement' [u-vemusaram] — by their confinement and their sufferings.

'Then He opens' — through the dream He opens the ears of men, for He shows him in the dream something resembling what has been decreed upon him, which corresponds measure for measure to the matter in which he sinned and became guilty. 'And by their chastisement seals [the decree]' — and if they do not gain understanding through the dream, and do not repent to Hashem, then He completes the revelation by sending upon them the sufferings fitting for them, resembling their transgressions, so that they may learn from them and repent to Hashem; and these are, as it were, the very utterance of the Most High — as it is written, 'You turn man to contrition, and say: Return, you children of men' (Psalms 90:3).

By their chastisement (uvemosaram) - The chastisement of afflictions. Seals (yachtom) - An expression of completion and finalization; as in 'and upon the sealed [writ] (ve'al hechatum)' (Nehemiah 10); and so in the words of our sages, 'all who conclude (chotmei) blessings' (Berachot 63).

'Then' — through the dream and the vision, He 'opens the ears of men,' to inform them of the heavenly decree; and 'by their chastisement seals' it — that is, by the moral force implanted in man's soul, a psychic power that arouses him to morality (German: das moralische Gefühl, 'the moral feeling'). Through this force he is stirred to be affected by the dream and to examine his deeds, for the moral sense planted in his soul prophesies to him, through the impact of the dream, that he has gone beyond the bounds of morality. And thereby it seems as though the dream writes these things upon the tablet of his soul; and so that he believe that this writing is 'the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets' (cf. Exodus 32:16), the moral force in his soul affixes its seal to it, to confirm and establish the truth of the writing — that is, so that he feels, by the very nature of his soul, that he has sinned and that he has been forewarned from above.

To restrain man in his illness. a deed that he had intended to do. and He covers haughtiness from man with his suffering, in order to vanquish him and humble him to repent, so that he withhold his soul from utter death. haughtiness Heb. וְגֵוָה, like גַאֲוָה.

'Pride' — like 'you shall say: pride' (Job 22:29), and it is like [the word] 'ge'eh' [proud, haughty]. And 'hide' is the opposite of 'see' — for the essence of pride lies in the gaze of the eyes.

'Pride' [gevah] — meaning 'body'; or it may mean 'pride' [ga'avah].

'That men may put away' — meaning: at first He opens the ear through a dream, in order to turn man away from the deed that has been decreed against him, when he repents to Hashem; and in order that pride be hidden from man, so that he not continue to grow proud and rebel against Hashem.

And pride (vegevah) - Like 'vega'avah' (pride).

That men may put away — and through this dream He arouses him from above, for two purposes: 1) That the person remove and abandon some deed that is not good, 2) That He hide pride from man — for if evil images belonging to the traits and dispositions embedded deep within the soul were to be revealed and rise up into the mind [this would be harmful]. In the human soul all traits, good and evil, are embedded, sunk in its depths, and the spirit raises these images from the depths of the soul up to the mind; the person is then stirred to do and act according to that particular trait or disposition. Now if evil images rise up out of the 'pride' — that is, out of the inner self of the soul — such as pride, anger, vengeance, cruelty, and the like, and the person is drawn after these evil traits to behave accordingly, the dream stirs him to abandon these evil traits and to sink them back down into the depths of the abyss of the soul, so that they remain hidden from him and no longer rise into his mind. Thus 'He hides the pride from the man' — pride being the trait whose dwelling is in the inner self of the soul — so that it remains only a disposition (תכונה), not an active trait (מדה), to be acted upon.

and his life from perishing by the sword by the weapon and the sword of the Angel of Death; that is to say, He brought suffering upon you for your good. by the sword Heb. בשלח, a weapon, and so in Ezra (Neh. 4:11): “and one was holding the weapon (השלח).”

'His life' — the living soul [i.e., 'nefesh']. 'By the sword' — that is, weapon, like 'there is no discharge in war' (Ecclesiastes 8:8).

'That He may keep back his soul' — and by this He keeps his soul back from the grave, and also saves his life from passing away by the sword; meaning, even in the days of his life he is saved from suffering.

By the sword (beshelach) - By the sword, as in 'and he made weapons (shelach) in abundance' (II Chronicles 32).

That He may keep back — and thereby He keeps back his spiritual soul from the pit, so that his soul is not destroyed; this is the rescue of the soul from spiritual punishment. And his life He keeps back from perishing by the sword — that is, from the death of the body.

And he is chastised an expression of reproof that he repent of his iniquity, and most of his bones, which are strong, He chastises with pain.

'And all his bones' — [chastened] with constant pain; for the first word functions on its own, and afterward together with the next clause as well — the matter being stated twice, as is customary [in the parallelism of Hebrew poetry].

'And all his bones grow stiff' [ve-rov atzmotav eitan] — meaning, throughout his many bones there is an unrelenting pain; that is, throughout his many limbs there is a severe pain.

'He is chastened also with pain' — and when he has been chastened with pain, because he did not gain understanding from the revelation of the dream and did not repent to Hashem, there comes to him a second revelation, in that he is disciplined with pain, laid sick upon his bed; here, at the outset, most of his bones are still firm and strong, in case he may yet gain understanding from this small amount of pain.

He is chastened (vehucach) - An expression of retribution and punishment; as in 'and I will chasten him with the rod of men (vehochachtiv beshevet anashim)' (II Samuel 7:14). Stiff (eitan) - Strong, as in 'firm is your dwelling place (eitan moshavecha)' (Numbers 24).

He is chastened also — now [Elihu] explains what he said earlier, 'and in two ways, though man does not perceive it': one who does not attend to and look at the dream, and did not take this message to heart, Hashem speaks with him through another kind of message. For then 'he is chastened' by Hashem — reproof and moral correction come to him — through pain upon his bed; and the contention of his bones is a mighty contention, for the peace of the body is broken, and the passive powers overpower the active powers, until —

And his living spirit causes him to abhor food The soul and the life of the sick person cause him to abhor all food. and his soul abhors all tasty food.

'Makes him abhor' — in the sense of 'it disgusts him and turns foul to him'; and so it is used in the language of Kedar (Arabic) as well; and it has no parallel elsewhere in Scripture.

'Makes him to abhor' [ve-zihamatu] — from the sense of loathing; meaning, his soul brings him to loathe bread.

'So that his life' — and if he still does not gain understanding, then the illness grows heavier, until his vital soul comes to loathe bread. 'Dainty food' — it comes to loathe even pleasant food that every person craves.

Makes him to abhor (vezihamatehu) - An expression of loathing and disgust; and so in the words of our sages, 'the grime is not removed [without washing after a meal]' (Chullin 105) - meaning: that which is loathsome and unclean.

So that his life makes him abhor bread — that even the bread that sustains his life becomes loathsome and repulsive in his eyes, that is, the bread he needs for his sustenance; and his soul likewise loathes dainty food — the food he used to always crave.

His flesh is consumed from sight Heb. יכל בשרו מראי, His flesh is withdrawn from sight, like (Lam 2:11): “My eyes are spent (כלו) with tears”; (Lev. 26:16), “that cause the eyes to pine way (מכלות). and his bones are dislocated Heb. ושפו. They are dislocated from their place. [The word] שֻׁפּוּ is like (Hullin 42b), “that sprung (שף) from its place.” to unsightliness They have neither appearance nor form.

'Is consumed' — like 'yichleh' [the standard form of the verb]. 'That it cannot be seen' — meaning, until it is no longer seen. 'And his bones corrode' — like 'and I beat it, grinding it fine' (Deuteronomy 9:21); the Targum renders it 've-shafit yatei' [I ground it].

'That it cannot be seen' [mero'i] — from sight. 'Corrode' [ve-shuppu] — and they became prominent [i.e., his bones came to stand out]. 'Unsightliness' [ru'u] — [that is,] 'nir'u' (they were seen).

'His flesh is consumed away' — then his flesh, once well-fed, grows lean and is consumed from sight; that is, it wastes away so quickly that the wasting of the flesh seems visible to the eye; and even his bones are crushed, even though they are not visible to the human eye, being on the inside — nevertheless it is truly so.

Corrode (veshufu) - An expression of crushing, as in 'he shall crush your head (hu yeshufcha rosh)' (Genesis 3:15).

Is consumed away — his flesh is consumed away before the eye, as though the eye could watch his flesh wasting away, diminishing moment by moment. And corrode — his bones shift from their place: his bones, which until now were not seen, being covered by flesh, now shift from within to without, so that through his emaciation his bones become visible on the outside.

'To the destroyers' — that is, to the angels who bring death.

'Indeed, his soul draws near' — and when he still does not gain understanding, his soul draws near to coming to the grave, for he is in great danger. 'And his life' — his vital soul draws near to its end, by means of the agents of the angel of death, who put man to death.

And draws near — until he comes close to death, both in the spiritual sense, that his soul draws near to the pit, and in the bodily sense, that his life draws near to the destroyers.

one out of a thousand of those who testify to his guilt, and he intercedes with his uprightness.

'If there be for him an angel' — to declare on man's behalf. ['To man' is used] in the sense of 'about, on behalf of' — like 'say of me: he is my brother' (Genesis 20:13). From this verse one learns that the destroying angels who seek out a person's soul are many, but a single angel is appointed over him to guard him — and one who understands the secret of the order of the heavenly hosts will affirm this.

'If there be for him an angel' — when he is then judged in the heavenly court, if there is found for him an angel who pleads in his favor, a good advocate, to tell of whatever uprightness the man has done — even if this angel is but one among a thousand, for nine hundred and ninety-nine argue for his guilt, and he alone pleads in his favor.

If there be — then he has a remedy by which to be saved from death, in one of three ways: 1) By virtue of merits — if there is an angel for him: if he has, of himself, a merit earned through his earlier deeds, having performed some commandment on account of which he deserves to be saved from death, this merit is called an 'angel,' for it goes as a messenger and agent to plead his merit on his behalf. And if this angel 'pleads as one out of a thousand' — meaning that the commandments Hashem has set before a person, which can plead well for him, number many thousands, and if, out of the thousand advocates and merits that Hashem has prepared for a person to earn merit through, the angel pleads with even one of them (that is, even though he fulfilled only a single commandment out of Hashem's very many commandments) — then the angel pleads to tell this sick person of his uprightness and his merit, and thereby —

He is gracious to him i.e., the Omnipresent. Redeem him Heb. פדעהו, like פְדָאֵהוּ. The “alef” is replaced by an “ayin.” The context proves it. “I found ransom,” which is redemption.

'Then He is gracious to him' — that is, the Omnipresent; and He says to the intercessor: 'peda'ehu' [deliver him] — like [the more standard form] 'pedehu,' in meaning; and this word has no parallel elsewhere in Scripture. Likewise 'rutafash' (Job 33:25) — its meaning is 'tender, soft.'

'Deliver him' [peda'ehu] — from the sense of ransom [pidyon].

'Then He is gracious to him' — nevertheless the Omnipresent shows him favor and says to the interceding angel: redeem him from going down to the pit, for through that merit and uprightness I have found a sufficient ransom for his soul — even though the advocates for guilt are many — for that uprightness, by its greatness and abundance, is accounted enough to outweigh it all.

Deliver him (pad'ehu) - Like 'pedehu' (redeem him).

Then He is gracious to him — that is, Hashem is gracious to him — and says, deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom — for this merit is the ransom for his soul, and through it he is redeemed from death; and then —

His flesh is agitated from shaking Heb. רֻטֲפַש means escos in French, shaken. from shaking His flesh was agitated from the shaking, that it was shaken [by the suffering of] his illness. This word [רֻטֲפַש] has no similarity in Scripture, and according to the context, we found it necessary to explain according to the meaning of the topic. But the one who interprets it as an expression of mire (רפש) and claims that the “teth” is added to it, as in (Gen. 44:16), “How can we clear ourselves (נצטדק)?” is in great error, because the “teth” is added to a word only in the reflexive voice, and to a word in which there is a radical “zaddi,” but nor in other words. for example, צדק and נצטדק, and like (Lev. 13:44) צרוּע, stricken with “zaraath,” and נצטרע, was stricken with “zaraath.” (Prov. 25: 13), “an emissary (ציר) faithful,” and (Josh. 9:4), “and they went and disguised as ambassadors (ויצטירו)”; (Gen. 45:21) “צֵדָה, provision,” and (Josh. 9:12) “הִצְטַיַדְנוּ, we took... for our provision.” he will be restored with his strength and with healing to the days of his youth.

'Tenderer' [rutafash] — it became moist and freshened. 'His youth' [alumav] — his youthful days.

'His flesh is tenderer than a child’s' — then his flesh grows moist with fat and increases beyond what it was even in the days of his youth, for it is the way of a person to be moist and full of flesh at that age. 'He returns to the days of his youth' — in strength and health.

Tenderer (rotafash) - A compound word, from 'ratov' (moist) and 'pash,' an expression of spreading, as in 'if it spreads further (pasoh tifseh)' (Leviticus 13). His youth (alumav) - His young years, as in 'whose son is this young man (ben mi zeh ha'elem)?' (I Samuel 17).

His flesh is tenderer than a child's — his flesh becomes fresh and grows more vigorous than a youth's, as though youthfulness were stirred anew within him, like a tree that returns to sprout again with fresh strength — as though the days of youth, in which the body grows, were beginning again; and from that youthfulness he returns to the days of his prime and his original vigor.

'With joy' — that is, in prayer.

'So that he sees His face with joy' — that is, with gladness.

'With joy' [biteru'ah] — with joy; or, with prayer and outcry.

'He prays to God' — when he prays to God and is accepted by Him in prayer, he sees His face, giving thanks before Him with joyous shouting, because He has redeemed his soul from death. 'And He restores' — then the Omnipresent will again restore to him the reward of his righteousness, and will not deduct anything from it on account of having redeemed his soul from death.

He prays (ye'ater) - An expression of abundant prayer/entreaty, as in 'and Isaac entreated (vaye'tar Yitzchak)' (Genesis 25).

He prays — (The second way) — he attains merit through prayer: if he prays to God and multiplies his prayer until He is appeased by him, and he sees His face with joy — meaning that his soul is bound and joined to God in the soul's clinging [to Him] — then through this too He restores to man his righteousness: even though until now he was accounted wicked in judgment, he returns to being righteous, and goes forth acquitted in judgment just as he was before he sinned, through repentance and prayer.

He makes a row of men He makes a row of men when he is saved from his illness and confesses [before them] to his Creator. but I did not profit I had no profit in its matters.

'He comes before men' — that is, he goes around among them, as in 'he lurks about, like fowlers lying in wait' (Jeremiah 5:26); and for this reason a wall too is called 'shur' [from the same root] — as in 'its branches run over the wall' (Genesis 49:22) — because walls encircle a city. 'And it profited me not' — that is, I did not do what was proper; and the sense is that he confesses before people, in public.

'He comes before men' [yashor] — the word is of the sense of gazing and attentive regard.

'He comes before men' — when he goes and walks among the multitude of people and confesses publicly, saying: 'Behold, I have sinned and perverted the right way, and did not hold to the straight and proper path; and it is because of this that suffering has come upon me, and not for nothing.'

He comes (yashur) - He walks and goes, as in 'and walk in the way of understanding (ve'ishru bederech binah)' (Proverbs 9:6). And perverted (he'eveiti) - I made crooked; from the term 'avon' (iniquity) and 'ivvut' (perversion).

Comes before — (The third way) — if he sinned in matters between man and his fellow, prayer and remorse over the sin do not avail in such a case; here he has a remedy if he restores whatever he took by force and all that he sinned against his fellow. And this is the meaning of 'he comes before men' — he must straighten out the crookedness and the wrong he has done against people: against the wrong he must set right the straight, restoring what he extorted and stole. And afterward he says, 'I have sinned' — confessing both the deed and the willfulness, which is the intent and the perversion of the mind called iniquity; hence he says, 'I have sinned,' meaning I have sinned in deed, 'and perverted that which was right,' meaning in mind and intent. And thereby, 'it profited me not' — for just as I was crooked and perverse, turned away from what is straight and right, so no straightness is found in my body, and I fell ill through the deviation of my body's balance and the balance of its constitution and faculties. And through these three ways — repentance, prayer, and charity — which avert the decree — thereby —

'So He redeems his soul' — through this confession He redeems his soul from passing into the pit of the grave, and his living soul beholds the light of life. That is, his being saved from death is accounted for the act of confession, but nothing is deducted from his righteousness on that account.

He redeems his soul from going into the pit — this is the deliverance of the spiritual soul; and his life beholds the light — this is the life of the body in the light of the living.

twice or thrice He chastises him for his iniquities with his illness in order not to destroy him, but if he provokes Him further, he should be concerned with Gehinnom or death, as it is written, “Yea for four, I will not return them” (Amos 1:3).

'Lo, all these things' — things like these God does with a person two or three times: that is, when he repeatedly sins, up to three times He stirs his heart to repentance through a dream, and if he does not take heed, he is rebuked through suffering.

(29–30) Lo, all these things — the message through the dream, and the message through illness — God works twice, even thrice, with a man, meaning many times, for the purpose of bringing back his spiritual soul from the pit, and bringing him to the light of the living — that is, the life of the body.

'To bring back his soul' — so as to bring his soul back from the grave, and so that his soul may again be lit up by the light of eternal life in the World to Come.

'Mark well, O Job' — as if to say: behold, I have now answered you regarding what you said, that the Omnipresent does not answer human beings; for it is not so, since the dream and the suffering are indeed His words to them. Mark well further, and listen to me, and hold your peace, and I will go on speaking to answer the rest of your words.

Mark well, O Job, hearken to me — for Job too had earlier received such messages, first through dreams, as he himself said, 'For I feared a fear, and it came upon me' (3:25) — for he had already seen in a dream what was to befall him in the future, and was afraid of it; and afterward, through illness. Hold your peace, and I will speak — only —

'If you have any thing to say' — if you have anything to answer regarding what I have already said, answer it, and speak all that is in your heart; for my whole desire is to vindicate you, and it is better for you to speak all that is in your heart, since I will answer all of it, to set you right on the path of truth and justice. But if you refrain from speaking and keep the matter within you, you will then remain in a mistaken view, and will no longer be in the right.

If you have any words — if you have a reply to my words, speak; for I desire to justify you — I do not wish to condemn you outright, for my wish is that you be acquitted when judged — but only if you have words and a valid answer. But —

'And I will teach you' — meaning: I will instruct you. What follows is the explanation of the content of the response that Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite delivered, addressing some of what Job had said. He said: 'I am young, and you are very old; therefore I held back, and dared not declare to you my opinion' — for I thought that 'days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.' But from what I have found in you, it is clear that the matter does not depend on old age. Rather, 'it is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding' — it is for this reason that one man becomes wiser than another, and it is the influence that comes to men from Hashem that gives them understanding and makes them wise — not length of days and old age. 'It is not the great that are wise, nor the aged that discern judgment' — that is to say, old age and honor are not the cause of wisdom and understanding. Since this is so, I relied on this to answer your words; and though I am young in years, I told you, 'hearken to me; I also will declare my opinion.' Behold, I waited for your words — giving ear and listening to what you said, without answering, until I should hear your insights, while you searched out what to say to answer Job — and I gave you my attention to see whether you would answer him; but there was none of you that answered Job's words. Perhaps you will excuse yourselves and say, 'we have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man' — meaning, there is no need for a man to pursue him and refute him for his sins, since it suffices that God refute him. Now, it is true that Job 'has not directed his words against me'; and by your own words just quoted, namely your statement that God, not man, should vanquish him, it would be fitting for me to remain silent and not answer him — and I would have a better excuse than you for my silence, since he has not directed words at me to speak with me. But it is also possible that the sense of his statement — and of yours — that 'I will not answer him with your speeches,' is that I will indeed answer him, but with words unlike yours, for I will not come at him with false claims as you did; and this was the very reason you could find no effective answer. 'They are amazed, they answer no more; words have departed from them' — Job's companions grew afraid to answer him and withdrew. 'And shall I wait'? I waited some time, thinking perhaps they would speak; but they did not speak — they stood still and gave no answer, for a long while. So I bestirred myself 'to answer my part,' for 'I was full of words' and arguments with which to answer Job, out of my great desire to answer him, as though I were in straits and distress until I should answer. 'Behold, my inwards are as wine which has no vent' — wine not yet opened, and full; 'like new wine-skins,' which, being full, burst open easily: so my spirit bursts open easily to bring forth the arguments and proofs of which my heart is full. He describes the matter as a bursting-open to show that he is, as it were, compelled by what he knows on this question to answer Job — for such is the very nature of intelligible things: whoever apprehends something cannot help but make known to others what he has apprehended. 'I will not, I pray you, respect any man's person, nor give flattering titles to any man' — meaning, I will not use euphemism to soften what should be said plainly, so as to avoid stating something explicitly against him — for I am not accustomed to this base trait; I fear that if I conducted myself that way, my Maker would consume me and put an end to me. Now, he says this against Job's companions, who were unwilling to state plainly what they meant against Job, but spoke in euphemisms and concealed their meaning — as you find that Bildad, wishing to say that Job had not striven to attain and know God properly, said instead, 'Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of the one who knows not God' (Job 18:21); and Zophar, wishing to say that Job had already sinned by hurling accusations against God, said instead, 'This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God' (Job 20:29) — neither was willing to state explicitly that Job had sinned in these matters. Now, however: 'hear my speech, I pray you, Job, and hearken to all my words'; 'behold now, I have opened my mouth, my tongue has spoken in my mouth,' and 'my words shall utter the uprightness of my heart, and that which my lips know they shall speak sincerely' — meaning, I will not come to you with claims that you could call false, as your friends were doing. It was on this account that you grew angry with them, and showed how heavily the disputation with them, on this score, weighed upon you; and you longed that it might be possible for God, may He be blessed, to argue with you as a man argues with his fellow, removing His hand from you, so that His terror would not overwhelm you. Behold, you have now arrived at what you longed for: 'the spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty given me life' — I too am a man, as you are — and I will not come to you except with truthful claims. 'If you can, answer me; set your words in order before me, stand forth': behold, by your own measure, I am fit to speak on God's behalf and to argue with you — meaning, 'I am toward God even as you are; I also am formed out of the clay,' so you need have no dread or fear of me; my hand, striking you, will not weigh heavily upon you, for I will not strike you. But you said in my hearing that you are 'clean, without transgression... innocent, neither is there iniquity in me.' 'Behold, He finds occasions against me, He counts me for His enemy' — meaning, He has hedged in my ways and reckons me His enemy, so as to withhold from me what I seek, just as a man labors to withhold from his enemy what he seeks. 'He puts my feet in the stocks, He marks all my paths,' so that I cannot attain a single one of the things I long for. On this account you complained against Hashem, for having ordered man's existence with such a character that man should find himself, in this way, subject to the evil built into that order — to the point that you said it would have been better, since it is impossible without some evils arising from the constellation, for Hashem to have arranged that men doomed to hardship should die from the womb; and you attributed this to Hashem's own insufficiency or exhaustion. 'Behold, in this claim you are not right' — I will answer you as follows: Hashem is far more exalted than man; therefore we ought to consider this matter carefully, and not send forth our words, at the very first stirring of thought, to condemn Him for what He has ordered here — for there is wisdom and perfection in it that ought not to remain hidden from us. Since man is the most perfect of these earthly existing things, it necessarily follows that nature attends to him more than to anything else, and for this reason all the heavenly bodies join together in preserving him and ordering his governance. And if, even so, some evil should befall him incidentally through this arrangement, Hashem also labors, so far as possible, to remove that evil — and it was for this very reason that He created man a rational being. For the intellect rules over this order fixed by the constellation, and from it comes the choice of the good, when the intellect is perfected; and the choice that proceeds from the intellect defeats the choice that would come from the constellation, if a man is willing to be guided by his own intellect. Moreover, whoever brings his intellect to such perfection that he attains some degree of conjunction with the Active Intellect is thereby watched over and protected from these evils by the Active Intellect — whether by its making these evils known to him before they come, so that he may guard against them, or in some other way, as Elihu goes on to mention. 'Why do you contend against Him? For He does not answer every one of His communications' — meaning: is it because He did not inform you of this evil, so that you might take counsel and be saved from it, seeing that you are upright of heart? Behold, all His disclosures, by which He makes known to the upright man how to be saved from the evil set to come upon him because of the constellation, do not come through ordinary speech; rather, this disclosure occurs in degrees, corresponding to the different levels of those who receive it. 'For God speaks in one way, indeed in two' — that is, He speaks in one manner: the message reaches, by way of a dream, one whose degree of conjunction with the Active Intellect suffices to receive it in that way; and He speaks in another manner to one who cannot attain the first path, because his conjunction with the Active Intellect is too slight. Elihu goes on to explain these two paths. 'In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed' — for then the sentient soul rests from its activities, and this makes it possible for the perfect man's intellect to withdraw, by itself, from among the soul's other faculties, and become conjoined with the Active Intellect. Then 'He opens the ears of men, and by their chastisement seals the decree' — that is, seals what is set by the constellation to come upon them, so that they may be saved from it by taking counsel concerning it, since human choice governs this order, as explained above; and this also becomes a further cause for them to fear Hashem, and to return to Him with all their strength. This disclosure comes specifically during sleep in order to remove, at that time, the activity of the sentient soul, and to remove the operation of matter — which, when it dominates, covers over and conceals the emanation of the Active Intellect — meaning, that matter does not then becloud the intellect, since the soul is not occupied with sense-perceptions at that time. In this way Hashem 'keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.' As for the second path: one whose degree does not reach so far as to receive the emanation of the intellect by being informed of the evil set to come upon him is nonetheless saved from this evil, through whatever degree of conjunction he has, by a different means, far removed from the first — namely, that the intellect reproves him with pains, to keep him from continuing on the path he was set to walk, to his death. Along these lines it is said, 'I give thanks to You, Hashem! Although You were wroth with me, Your wrath has turned back, and You comfort me' (Isaiah 12:1). Our Sages, of blessed memory, explained this by way of a parable: a man intends to cross the desert, or to sail the sea, with a certain caravan; he stubs his foot on a stone while still on his way, and is thereby kept from setting out with that caravan — and that caravan is then drowned at sea, or lost in some other way. It then becomes clear that this evil that befell him was, in truth, for his own good. Now, just as nature has placed natural capacities in some animals to protect them, even when they themselves are unaware that they are thereby being protected — just as it has placed in some animals the capacity to flee, on sight, from the animals that prey on them; and where the perception that these are harmful does not come to them in advance, it has instead made the predator's scent repugnant to them, by way of example, so that they flee on that account, so that the intended benefit reaches them even though they did not flee for that conscious purpose, namely, protection from being preyed upon — so too man, being at the very summit of perfection relative to the other animals, when he possesses some degree of conjunction with the Active Intellect by virtue of his individual nature, is watched over by it, which brings about the causes that save him from his misfortune, even if he neither senses nor reckons that these are for his salvation. It is possible that the beginning of Elihu's account of this second path is his statement, 'that men may put away their purpose' — meaning that, because man's own deeds turn him away from the Active Intellect, being occupied instead with bodily concerns and with the perceptions of the soul's other faculties, such as sense, thought, and imagination, and because matter covers over and conceals from him this manner of disclosure, on account of his slight degree of conjunction with the Active Intellect — Hashem therefore withholds him from the wondrous evil set to come upon him, by reproving him with pain 'upon his bed,' as explained above. Or it is possible that the meaning of 'that men may put away their purpose' is that this disclosure comes so that a man may put away the evil deed in which he had been conducting himself, 'and that He may hide pride from man' — meaning, that his heart is humbled when he sees the evil set to come upon him, so that the upright man does not become entangled in the disgraceful deeds he had begun to practice, deeds that would strip him of his perfection. The first explanation is more fitting and more correct as regards the substance of the matter, even though the second may be more fitting as regards what the language itself might suggest. 'He is chastened also with pain upon his bed,' with intense pain throughout most of his limbs; 'so that his life makes him abhor bread' because of his sickness, and his soul abhors even the food the healthy crave. 'His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen' — meaning that no flesh at all can be seen on him, from the sheer extent of his emaciation — and his bones, invisible before the sickness, now stand out and protrude. Now, this manner of disclosure comes to a man who has attained some conjunction with the Active Intellect, in such a way that there stands over him, as it were, 'an angel, an interceding angel, one among a thousand' — the slightest degree of intercession — to tell the man what would set him right and preserve him from evil. In this manner the Active Intellect shows him favor, and undertakes, as it were, to save him and redeem him from going down to the pit, saying, 'I have found a ransom' — namely, the removal of this pain. And in the end he recovers, and returns fresher and more vigorous than he was in his youth, restored to the strength and health he had in his younger days. There follows from this a further benefit: that in the time of his illness he takes it to heart to pray to Hashem, and Hashem is favorable to him, and sees his face in this prayer and outcry, since he is striving to cling to Hashem, may He be blessed, and to return to Him. In this way Hashem restores to the man his righteousness — for even though evil is set to come upon the righteous man because of the constellation, which cannot be otherwise, Hashem, may He be blessed, has placed within him an instrument by which he can be saved from that evil, and He restores to him his righteousness. 'He comes before men, and says, “I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not”'; and once he has set his ways right toward Hashem, may He be blessed, 'He redeems his soul from going into the pit, and his life beholds the light.' Now, all these disclosures Hashem performs 'twice, indeed thrice, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living' — that is, to reprove him whenever he begins to walk in unfitting ways. For just as the Active Intellect watches over the one conjoined to it, to save him from the evils set to come upon him because of the constellation, so too it watches over him to save him from the ways that would bar him from reaching perfection — namely, wicked deeds, which estrange from Hashem, may He be blessed, whoever clings to them, since these too are bounded by the constellation. But it does not watch over him by bringing afflictions upon him to guard him from wicked deeds more than three times, for after that this trait becomes, for him, a fixed and settled disposition, never to be more than it already is. 'Attend, Job, hearken to me; hold your peace, and I will speak.' 'If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you' — I desire that you be found in the right, if the truth is indeed with you. But if you have no arguments with which to answer my words, then hearken to me; hold your peace, and I will teach you the wisdom and the true knowledge of this matter. The general conclusion that emerges from all this is that, in Elihu's view, good and evil are bounded and ordered by the constellation. This, however, intensifies rather than resolves the difficulty raised by the prosperity found among the wicked — for it should be no cause for wonder if Hashem, by means of this nature He has placed in the heavenly bodies, brings good things to men whether they are wicked or righteous. Had it been possible for no evil at all to reach the lower existing things from the heavenly bodies, Hashem would not have withheld that good, since His primary intent in bringing anything into existence is the attainment of good — just as no one wonders that Hashem watches over the preservation even of the lowlier animals, providing them with food and with the organs by which to obtain it, even though they are predators that destroy other creatures, and are undeserving of any good on the score of righteousness, since they cannot be characterized as righteous at all. So too it should be no cause for wonder if good things come from Hashem in this way to men, whether righteous or wicked, since men are far more exalted than the other animals. However, the way in which Elihu resolves this difficulty is nowhere made explicit in his words — as though he had not even attempted to resolve it, taking for granted, at the very outset of his inquiry, that the matter is self-evident, and that no argument against Hashem could arise on this score. This difficulty, therefore, remains for Job, as we will explain further on, in connection with what he says to Hashem, may He be blessed. Now, it does not follow from this that evil must necessarily befall the righteous, for Hashem has placed within them an instrument by which they can be protected from these evils — namely, the intellect, provided a man conducts himself with it as he should, in a way that brings about some degree of conjunction with the Active Intellect. For when this is so, a disclosure reaches the man in a manner that protects him from these evils, in different ways depending on his degree of conjunction. The highest degree is that this disclosure reaches him in a dream — and within this, too, there are many further degrees, which Elihu did not specify. The lowest degree is that this person lacks the capacity to receive any disclosure at all, because his intellect is so bound up with the material faculties that he cannot attain the self-withdrawal from the soul's other parts that is necessary for one capable of this kind of knowledge, as is discussed in the Book of Sense and the Sensible. But the outer limit of disclosure available to such a person is that the Active Intellect brings it about — either to protect him from a sensible evil, fixed and bounded by the constellation, or to protect him from an evil of the soul — by sending pains and illnesses upon him that protect him from falling into that evil, whether it be a sensible evil, or one before which his heart would be humbled, if it were an evil of the soul. And Elihu said that this protection from an evil of the soul comes from Hashem no more than three times. Now, it is clear that people such as these must still be reckoned righteous, since they are only at the very beginning of the path toward wickedness, and have not yet taken hold of that way — and yet such evils befall them, by way of reproof, evils that would not befall the wicked. This gives rise to a real difficulty and perplexity: why should such evils be found more among the righteous than among the wicked? By this, Elihu resolves the difficulty Job raised concerning the prosperity of the wicked and the punishment allotted to the good according to the constellation — for this is no injustice on Hashem's part, since He has provided them with an instrument by which they may be saved from this evil. Nor is it fitting that Hashem should refrain from creating man with this character — wondrous as it is in providing for his protection — merely on account of some evil that may incidentally result from it, given that He was resourceful enough to provide us with an instrument by which we can be saved from evil. Added to this is Elihu's view that this evil also carries a certain benefit of its own — namely, the reproof of the wicked and their destruction, as will become clear — and this is likewise found in Hashem's own speech to Job, and in the words of Solomon, peace be upon him, who said, 'Hashem made everything for a purpose, even the wicked for an evil day' (Proverbs 16:4). I think, further, that there is also a middle degree between these two extreme degrees: that a man experiences a dread concerning some matter — a premonition that some evil was set to befall him — without perceiving anything more precise than this measure of warning; and because of this measure of disclosure he is kept from doing that thing, and is thereby saved from the evil that was set to come upon him. A disclosure of this sort is very well attested by experience; and our Sages, of blessed memory, spoke of its cause: though he himself does not perceive it, his mazal perceives it (Megillah 3a). And you, the reader, should know that this same difficulty is intensified even further, in light of what the Torah says about evils coming upon us when we do not walk in Hashem's ways, and good things coming upon us when we do walk in them, as is stated in the passage of the blessings and the curses. For the community of the nation as a whole is watched over so long as it walks in Hashem's ways; and when it begins to depart from the good way, so that evil, arising from the constellation, is set to come upon it, the disclosure reaches that community by one of the two paths Elihu has mentioned: if there was a prophet among them, the disclosure reaches him, and through him reaches the community as a whole; and if not, then Hashem brings upon that community certain afflictions and pains — either to save them from the bodily evil set to come upon them, or to save them from the moral corruption in which they had begun to become entangled. For this reason the Torah made clear that when such evils come upon the community, they should not attribute them to chance, but should believe that everything comes from Hashem in order to reprove them and turn them away from evil — as it says, 'if you walk with Me in the way of chance...' (Leviticus 26:21). In this way it is established that good comes to us when we walk in Hashem's ways and cling to Him by way of His providence, and not merely because of the constellation, and that evil comes to us when we turn away from His ways. The Torah has already made clear that, in the end, the punishment will consist in the hiding of the Face — that is, the withdrawal of divine providence — but that no further evil will then befall us beyond the evil that was in any case set to come from the constellation, as it says, 'and I will hide My face from them' (Deuteronomy 31:17-18). For the coming of evils by way of providence, in order to reprove men, is not constant — as Elihu states in this response.

'If not' — if you have nothing in hand to answer, then you listen to me, and be silent, and I will teach you wisdom about the rest of these matters. (The upshot of this discourse, which he spoke to Job: 'Behold, I am like you,' just as you asked, and I will answer you in God's place; and as for what Job complained, saying, why does the Omnipresent not answer, to reveal to a person his own transgression — he answers, saying: it is not so, for He speaks to him through a dream and rebukes him through suffering — and this is 'the word to the One on High.' And he goes on to relate the kindnesses of the Omnipresent, and even promises to answer him further on the rest of his words.)

And I will teach you (va'alefcha) - I will instruct you, as in 'and your mouth is instructed by your iniquity (ye'alef avonecha picha)' (above, 15).

If not — if you have no valid answer, it is better that you be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.