Job · Chapter 42

Job’s Reply I knew that You can do everything That You can do anything that pleases You. and no design is restrained from You He repeats his words, that no design or plan is restrained or withheld from You, that You can complete and fulfill Your plans, for strength and might are in Your hand, and You have the power to do all that pleases You. This verse is similar to (Gen. 11:6), “Now will nothing that they have planned to do be restrained (יבצר) from them?”

'That You can do every thing' — like the emphatic doubling 'you shall surely be able'; and likewise, 'if you indeed remain in this land' (Jeremiah 42:10). But the correct understanding is: You are able to do every single thing, and no plan can be withheld from You — for the first 'every' (כל) carries itself forward and draws the next clause along with it.

'I know' — I have known all along that You are able to do whatever You wish, and that no wise design can be withheld from You; and so he had said earlier, "wise in heart, and mighty in strength" (Job 9:4).

'You can do every thing' [כל, from תוכל] — [understood] as yachol (able); an expression of capability, with the first root-letter of the verb dropped; so too, 'the yield (bul) of the mountains' (above, 40). 'Can be withheld' [יבצר] — [means] can be prevented, as in 'and now nothing will be withheld from them' (Genesis 11:6). 'Purpose' [מזמה] — thought; meaning, wisdom, for wisdom resides in thought.

'I know' — Now that the debate has reached its very end, Job reveals what was in his heart: that in truth his heart had been whole with Hashem his God, and that he had truly withstood the trial, for in his heart he believed in all the foundations of faith and never departed from his righteousness. The entire debate that he had conducted was only by way of philosophical inquiry and investigation, meant to bring the matter to clarity through investigation and analysis — for which it is necessarily the case that one person take the position that denies the belief and speak in its name, presenting all its arguments and proofs, while the others take the position of the views that uphold the belief, each replying according to his own approach, so that through this the truth would be clarified and brought to light through the give-and-take of debate. Job took the position of the view denying providence, free will, and the belief in the survival of the soul and its reward in the World to Come — not because his heart actually inclined toward these views, for his heart was whole in faith regarding all of them, but only so that through this the matters would be clarified and refined, since he wanted the faith to be established through reason and investigation as well. And when he called upon Hashem to argue the matter with him, his call was that He enlighten the eyes of his understanding in this, so that he might truly understand the things he believed in his heart, and that they not remain for him like wondrous things beyond the grasp of reason. This is the meaning of 'I know' — that is: even at the outset, at the time of the debate, I knew that You can do every thing — that You possess absolute capability — and also that 'no purpose can be withheld from You': all wisdom and every profound thought is present with You. And so I truly believed that in Your wisdom You watch over every detail and know all deeds, even though free choice rests in the hand of man, and that Your governance is conducted with wisdom and power, in keeping with justice, to reward each person according to his deeds. But my arguing, and making myself out to be one who claims and denies all these things, was only so that I might attain these truths also through investigation — so that I would not have to merely believe, but would know these things with clear knowledge, for —

Who is this who concealed and covered the counsel and the wonders of the Holy One, blessed be He, without knowledge? I knew that everything is in Your hand to do, and so I related some of Your mighty deeds as were in my heart; as I knew [them]. but I did not understand But I did not understand so much, as You informed me, for many wonders are hidden and concealed from me, which I do not know.

'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge' — since might and wisdom are Yours, who could conceal Your counsel? Such a person would be without knowledge. The sense: I myself was without knowledge, in that I wished to conceal Your counsel in the world. 'Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not' — a word came out of my mouth improperly, and I ventured into matters too wondrous for me, which I did not know. And the truth is that I am unable to know, except what You Yourself inform me — and this is the sense of 'I will ask You' [Job 42:4].

'Who is this,' etc. — that is, now as for what He said in His first response, "Who is this that darkens counsel," etc. (Job 38:2) — [the words] "conceal" and "darken" are one in meaning; only that he [Job] adopted a term of honor, as if the Omnipresent were saying to him: who is this whose heart was so full as to think that sound counsel was hidden from Me — and that very thought is without knowledge, for he thought that I had handed everything over to the workings of the constellations. 'Therefore' — that is, to this I answer: therefore, on account of that very thing — because I spoke without knowledge — I then declared this folly, and did not then understand Your wondrous providence; for the things I recounted were, because of the greatness of Your providence, wonderful and hidden from me, and I did not know them then. As if to say: truly, I spoke without knowledge what I spoke; but now, after You have told me of Your providence, I acknowledge to You that the truth is so.

'Too wonderful' [נפלאות] — [meaning] hidden things, as in 'if a matter be too hard for you' (Deuteronomy 17:8).

(3–4) Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? — For I said: is it conceivable to hide counsel — that is, Hashem's governance, all of which is conducted by the counsel of wisdom? How could its mysteries be hidden and concealed from us, so that we do not know their meaning and must rely on faith alone? Is it not better that what is hidden be revealed, so that we may know the counsel through knowledge, and not through faith alone? Therefore I said — regarding the fact that I did not understand the counsel, and that it held wonders beyond me which I did not know — ‘Hear, I beseech You, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You will declare it to me.’ That is, I said that I wanted You to speak with me, so that I could ask and You would inform me, in order that I might understand and know. For since human inquiry and the philosophers raise many questions about this faith — such as the question of foreknowledge and free will, and the question of why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper, along with the other questions Job raised in the course of his argument — and since he could not understand or know how to answer these questions, it was not right to hide counsel without knowledge and rely on faith alone. He therefore argued and contended, wanting Hashem to answer him on these questions, so that through the debate these matters would be clarified for him by inquiry, and he would know how to answer the heretic. Moreover, knowledge and comprehension are greater than faith alone without understanding — this was his intent throughout the whole debate, even though in truth his heart never strayed from the foundations of faith: he believed in Hashem's providence and the righteousness of His judgments, and did not ascribe anything improper to God in his heart.

'Hear, I beseech You' — he returns and says to Hashem: hear me, I pray, and I will speak; I will answer what You said in Your second response, "I will demand of you, and declare to me" — meaning, I will ask you out of my astonishment at my wonders, and you must answer whether this is indeed the truth.

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear Many many times I have heard of You. and now, my eye has seen You Your Shechinah.

'But now my eye sees You' — from this verse we learn that Job had not prophesied before this; he had only heard that there were prophets in the world, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

'By the hearing of the ear' — meaning: to this I now reply — until now I had only heard report of You; it is as if to say, so it is with a thing known only by report, which is not so deeply engraved in the heart of the hearer. But now my eye has seen You, and the words come directly from You, and so they are indeed engraved in my heart. Thus I have found the answer: it was not that Your hand was too short to pay me my reward, but rather that I had not yet reached the fullness of perfect righteousness — and so I have no reward to ask of You.

By the hearing of the ear — But all this had been true only until now, when I had heard You only by the hearing of the ear; I had not seen You in prophecy, only received what I had received by tradition. Therefore I had only faith, not knowledge, and there was room to doubt all these matters. But now my eye sees You, and through this everything has become clear to me with certain knowledge. For by Your having been revealed to me in a vision, I saw that You oversee the deeds of individual human beings — for You heard the debate I had — and I also learned the answer to these questions from Your own mouth. Moreover, through this vision it became clear to me, in the vision itself, that the soul exists apart from the body, and that it is possible for the soul to cleave to God; for were this not so, a person could not perceive Hashem in a vision at all, since a vision is a matter of the soul detaching from the body and cleaving to its supernal root, just as it is destined to cleave to it after being separated from the body and returning to its abode with the God of spirits — which is itself the reward of the soul in the World to Come. So it became clear to me with certain knowledge what the soul's reward and spiritual recompense are. Therefore I despise this bodily life, and am comforted concerning the body, which is dust and ashes; for the life of the body and its success are as nothing compared to this precious delight, the life of the soul with God, which is the true bliss that the souls of the righteous merit. And now there is no longer any question or difficulty about why the righteous suffer, for the good or ill of the body and the dust is as nothing compared to a single moment of the soul's delight in spiritual bliss. From now on the clouds have parted, a clear light appears, and the light of knowledge has been revealed to me.

Therefore Since I merited to see Your Shechinah. I despise I despise my life. on dust and ashes if I were resting in the grave, to return to dust and ashes whence I was taken.

'Wherefore I abhor' — [I abhor] all my words. 'And repent, seeing I am dust and ashes' — for I am lowly, in the sense of 'I am but dust and ashes' (Genesis 18:27).

'Wherefore' — because of my love for the perception I have attained, in that my eye has seen You, I abhor all bodily possessions, for they are as nothing next to the preciousness of that perception. 'And repent' — now I have great comfort for the suffering I endured in sitting amid dust and ashes, as it is written, "and he sat among the ashes" (above, Job 2), for this very suffering was the cause of my attaining the truth.

and your two companions Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. because you did not speak Because you did not speak to Me with a correct argument as did My servant Job, for he did not rebel against Me except for what he said (above 9:22), “He destroys both the innocent and the wicked,” and through the Adversary who denounces the world, as it is stated (ibid. verse 23): “If the scourge kills suddenly etc.” And if he continued to speak, he spoke because of the severity of the pains that burdened him and overwhelmed him; but you rebelled by condemning him, saying (4: 6), “Behold, your fear was your foolishness,” and you held him to be a wicked man, and at the end when you were silenced and defeated before him, you should have consoled him as Elihu did. Was it not enough for Job with his trouble and his sufferings, that you added rebellion to your sins to provoke him?

'For you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right' — the reason [Job spoke rightly] is that he confessed and said, 'and I repent' (Job 42:6).

'And against your two friends' — these are Bildad and Zophar. 'For you have not, etc.' — because you did not speak the correct and true answer on My behalf: you said that his sufferings came upon him because of the abundance of his sin, and that is not so, for he had not sinned so much; rather, he had simply not yet reached the fullness of perfection, and the reward for one's deeds comes only by way of [divine] kindness — and he was not yet fit to receive that kindness. 'As my servant Job has' — just as Job did not speak correctly in saying that everything comes about through the workings of the constellations, so you did not speak correctly in saying that it came upon him because of the abundance of his sin. (And even though Job too did not speak correctly, He nevertheless called him "My servant" — and our Sages derived from this that a person is not held culpable for what he says out of his own anguish, since it was the harshness of his suffering that made him speak as he did.)

'Of Me' [אלי] — [meaning] concerning Me.

My wrath is kindled against you — for you have not spoken of Me correctly, as My servant Job has. Job spoke sinful words with his mouth, but in his heart he spoke rightly, for his heart was whole with Hashem. His companions were the opposite: with their mouths they argued in defense of Hashem, but their hearts did not agree with their mouths — as Job said to them (Job 13), ‘Will you mock Him as one mocks a man? ... will not His majesty terrify you?’, rebuking them for saying things they themselves did not truly believe in their hearts. For the essence of speech directed to Hashem is the speech of the heart, not the outward speech of the mouth — and in that regard, you have not spoken of Me correctly, as Job has.

and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves So that you placate and appease Me, provided that My servant Job pray for you that I forgive your sins, and no longer remember your transgressions. for I will favor him Heb. כי אם, because I will favor him to accept his prayer (thus the word אִם is used for “that”), and likewise (Gen. 24:19), “until (עד אם) they have finished drinking”; (Ex. 21:30), “in which case (אם) an atonement is placed on him,” and many others. for...not Because...not.

'For him will I accept' — Hashem shows favor to the righteous in this world, though not so in the world to come; and heaven forbid that Hashem should do anything unseemly. Rather, [He stresses this] because Job's friends were among those who defended Hashem's justice: had Hashem brought evil upon them [without this], those of confused spirit would say, 'this is indeed an unseemly thing.' I will yet explain further the words of Job and his friends, and where they erred. And Hashem said they should go to Job, because they had condemned him for nothing — and thus it became clear that Job had been a wholly righteous man.

'And offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering' — to make yourselves acceptable to Me; and Job shall pray for you concerning this, for it is his face that I will lift up, and I will accept his prayer, so as not to deal with you according to an ugly and disgraceful punishment, since you did not speak the correct answer on My behalf, just as Job did not speak correctly either. (Yet I will still lift up Job's face, as stated above, because he spoke out of the harshness of his suffering, and a person is not held culpable for what he says out of his own anguish.)

'To you' [לכם] — [meaning] for yourselves. 'For' [כי אם] — [meaning] for, just as. 'Anything unseemly' [נבלה] — something repugnant and disgraceful; and for this reason a person of low character is called a naval (base person).

Now therefore — He commanded them to offer burnt-offerings to atone for the thoughts of their hearts — for in their hearts they had harbored doubts about the fundamentals of the faith, and their hearts were not in accord with their mouths. And also, because they had reviled Job without cause and treated him as a wicked man and a betrayer of Hashem, it was necessary that Job pray on their behalf; through this Hashem would accept him (Job), so as not to deal with them disgracefully by punishing them. For you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right — since now this refers also to their outward speech, in which they sinned against Job by their words, he must forgive the insult and pray on their behalf.

and the Lord favored Job Heb. וישא, [lit. and the Lord lifted His countenance] as in (Gen. 19: 21), “I have favored you (נשאתי) also in this respect,” that He accepted his prayer and showed him a bright countenance.

'And Hashem accepted, etc.' — meaning, He accepted his prayer and forgave them their sin.

Now the Lord returned Job’s captivity when he prayed [The word] שָׁב is inappropriate in this matter, and it is as though it were written: “And He returned (נשאתי) Job’s captivity when he prayed.” for his friend In the merit that he prayed for each friend of his. twice as much Heb. למשנה, for one, two; and Scripture was not exact in its wording.

'And Hashem changed the fortune of Job' — for he had been held captive in the hand of the Accuser [Satan]; [Hashem] brought him out from under his power.

'When he prayed for his friends' — because he prayed for each and every one of his friends, Hashem therefore restored his fortune to what it had been before; for one who prays for his fellow is answered first himself. 'And gave' — after that, Hashem went on adding to all the wealth he had, until it reached twice what he had had before.

'Fortune' [שבות] — from the language of hashavah (restoring). 'Twice as much' [למשנה] — [meaning] double, as in 'double money' (Genesis 43).

(10–12) And Hashem — in the merit of the fact that he forgave the insult and prayed on their behalf, good came to him: not only did Hashem restore his fortune, but He also increased everything Job had to twice as much. And as it appears from the words of our Sages, his possessions were not actually taken from him, nor did his children die; rather, the Satan hid them from Job's sight and sent a messenger to bring him the evil tidings, while all his possessions and his children remained, throughout that entire time, in the Satan's hand. This is why it says ‘all that Job had’ — referring to his previous possessions — for now He added to them until they were doubled, as is spelled out further: that he had fourteen thousand sheep, and so on — all of it double what he had before.

previous All who were his friends and acquaintances before the sufferings befell him. and they bemoaned him Complaindre in Old French, to complain. one piece of money a ma’ah. and each one and every one of them.

'And they bemoaned him' — as in, to grieve with him and comfort him. 'A piece of money' [קשיטה] — a small lamb.

'And all those who had been of his acquaintance before' — his friends and acquaintances, who had been his before the suffering came upon him; for while he was suffering, friend and companion had kept away from him, as it is written, "and my acquaintances have utterly turned strangers to me," etc. (above, Job 19). 'And did eat' — to rejoice with him now that his fortune had been restored. 'Bread' — every meal is called by the name "bread." 'And they bemoaned him' — they shook their heads over him, in the way people console someone after he has been delivered from his distress. 'And comforted him' — with words of comfort. 'Every man' — each and every man gave him as a gift "a piece of money," etc.; this was a way of showing him special affection.

'Before' [לפנים] — in former days, as in 'now this was the custom in former times in Israel' (Ruth 4:7). 'A piece of money' [קשיטה] — the name of a coin, a me'ah; so too, 'for a hundred kesitahs' (Genesis 33). 'A ring' [נזם] — a nose ornament, as in 'and the nose-rings' (Isaiah 3).

more than his beginning More than his former wealth.

'And he had fourteen thousand sheep' — the meaning is 'double' [of his original flock], but the intervening years are not accounted for here, since [his former possessions] were no longer in his hand. [A compressed grammatical note in the source: the nun of 'shiv'anah' (fourteen) is compared to the nun of 'boshnah' in 'be-shanah Efrayim yikkach' (Hosea 10:6, 'Ephraim shall receive shame') — i.e., a nun that is part of the word's own form, not a separate grammatical suffix.]

'More than his beginning' — more than the blessing He had given him at first, at the beginning of his days. 'Fourteen thousand, etc.' — double what he had had before, as stated above: "and Hashem gave Job twice as much as he had before."

'The latter end' [אחרית] — the end of his days. 'A yoke' [צמד] — a pair, as in 'and he took a yoke of oxen' (I Samuel 11).

fourteen Heb. שבענה. They were twice seven, two sevens, like (Lev. 12:5), שְׁבֻעַיִם which means two weeks.

'Seven' — two times seven: double what he had had before.

He had also — According to what is said in the name of our Sages, these were the same sons as before; only the daughters increased in beauty, and because of this renewed beauty he gave them new names indicating their surpassing beauty.

And he named the first Jemimah They were named according to their beauty. Jemimah Bright and white as the sun (יום). Keziah She had a fragrant and perfumed scent like the spice, cassia. Keren-happuch Because of the horn in which they put stibium and lixivium, as it is stated (Jer. 4: 30): “that you enlarge your eye with paint (בפוך).”

'Jemimah' — from the root of 'a full year (ימים) shall be his right of redemption' (Leviticus 25:29). 'Keziah' — from the root of 'myrrh, and aloes, and cassia (קציעות)' (Psalms 45:9). 'Keren-happuch' — from 'and put [her eyes] in paint' (2 Kings 9:30).

'And he called' — as if to say: the daughters were doubled in their beauty, and were named after their beauty. 'Jemimah' — she was as radiant as the light of the sun. 'Keziah' — her fragrance was as sweet as the spice keziah [cassia]. 'Keren-happuch' — she had a brilliance like the puch-stone [used as an eye-cosmetic].

'Jemimah' [ימימה] — the sun is called yom (day); so too, as it is written, 'in the cool [lit. wind] of the day' (Genesis 3). 'Keziah' [קציעה] — a kind of spice; so too, 'myrrh, and aloes, and cassia' (Psalms 45). 'Keren' — an expression of radiance and shining, as in 'the skin of his face sent forth beams' (Exodus 34:29). 'Happuch' — the name of a precious stone, as in 'stones of puch, and stones of varied hue' (I Chronicles 29).

And the daughters were successful both in beauty and in the wealth he gave them, granting them an inheritance among their brothers. And because, at the end of the debate, from Hashem's being revealed to him, he came to recognize the life of the soul in the World to Come — that a single moment of contentment in the World to Come is better than all the life of this world — through this he recognized that the essence of life, reward, and punishment lies in the World to Come. That is why he said, ‘Therefore I despise [this life] and am comforted concerning dust and ashes’ — for he no longer grieves over the loss and suffering of the body, seeing that when the soul strips off its soiled garments it will return to the God of spirits and there delight in eternal bliss. This is why, when Rabbi Yochanan would finish reading the Book of Job, he would say: ‘The end of man is to die, and the end of a beast is to be slaughtered; all are destined for death. Happy is he who grew great in Torah and labored in Torah, who brings satisfaction to his Maker, who grows in a good name and departs the world with a good name’ — for from this he saw that the purpose of life is death, since it is there that the essential life, the life of the soul, begins; the purpose is the end. And so long as a person lives, he is constantly drawing closer to this purpose, and must prepare provisions for the appointed day by laboring in Torah to perfect his soul. Of such a person Solomon said in his wisdom, ‘A good name is better than fine oil,’ for the day of death begins from the day of one's birth, since that is the goal toward which a person travels and draws ever closer from the time of his birth; and of all his labor in this world, the essential thing that remains to him is the good name — and ‘a good name is better than fine oil.’

Nowhere...were women as beautiful as Job’s daughters to be found An instance of beautiful women like the phenomenon of the beauty of Job’s daughters was not found. This verse is on the pattern of (Num. 9:6), “But there was [an incident of] men who were unclean.” and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers Because of (their esteem and) their beauty, he gave them an inheritance with their brothers.

'And in all the land were no women found, etc.' — there were no women found in the whole land whose beauty compared to that of the daughters of Job. 'Gave' — because of their importance and their beauty, their father gave them an inheritance of property among their brothers.

'Even four generations' — here Isaac 'the Befuddled' erred, who said that each generation is thirty-five years — yet from Adam to Noah there are ten generations [which does not fit that reckoning]. And further: Heman lived in the days of David, and David was the eleventh generation from our father Jacob, while Heman [by lineage] would be double that number of generations removed.

'And after this' — after his sufferings had departed from him. 'And saw, etc.' — he saw with his own eyes four generations of his descendants, and not one of them died in his lifetime.

and sated with days Heb. וּשְׂבַע.From וְשָׂבֵעַ he says וּשְׂבַע, in the construct state.

'And full of days' — his days were spent in honor and joy. The word-by-word explanations of the book of Job are now complete; I will now set out its reasoning. Job said: 'that which I was afraid of has overtaken me' (3:25). Now Eliphaz reasoned that Job would not have feared such a thing except on account of some sin he had committed; and here is the principle behind it: when Job's friends saw the sudden death of all his children, the fire falling from heaven, the plundering by his enemies, and the disease covering his body, it became clear to them that Hashem does not strike with blows like these except against sinners and transgressors, like the people of the generation of the Flood. That is why Eliphaz said, 'whose foundation was poured out as a stream' (22:16), and that the people of Sodom, their remnant, fire consumed. That is why they said to him: 'Remember, I pray you, who ever perished, being innocent?' (4:7); 'so are the paths of all who forget God' (8:13). And Zophar said: 'the eyes of the wicked shall fail' (11:20); and because Job's sons were forever at feasts, and wine destroys the mind, it was said: 'if your children sinned against Him, He delivered them into the hand of their transgression' (8:4). And they said that he should repent, and Hashem would forgive him. But Job knew of himself that he was righteous; therefore he said: 'I am innocent — I regard not myself' (9:21), 'although there is no violence in my hands' (16:17); and he would cry out that these blows Hashem had struck him with were not on account of sin, but for nothing — therefore he said: 'and multiplies my wounds without cause' (9:17). His friends answered this, that Hashem is righteous in all His ways and does no wrong. Job answered and said: there are in the world righteous and wicked alike who suffer pain — 'He destroys the innocent and the wicked' (9:22) — and there are also wicked people who live pleasantly; this is the sense of 'the tents of robbers prosper' (12:6). His friends answered that the good fortune of the wicked does not last: 'though his excellency mount up to the heavens... yet he shall perish forever like his own dung' (20:6–7). Then Job answered: 'why do the wicked live, become old, indeed, wax mighty in power?' (21:7); 'they spend their days in prosperity, and peacefully they go down to the grave' (21:13) — they remain in good fortune right up to the day of their death! At that Bildad no longer knew how to answer, and so fell back on praising Hashem: 'dominion and fear are with Him' (25:2). Then Job answered: 'how have you helped him who is without power!' (26:2) — and he too praised Hashem, the point being: you have no answer except to praise Hashem, but I know how to praise Him even better than you. At that Zophar fell silent, and Job went on speaking further, since none of his friends answered him again. And the sense of 'the earth, out of it comes bread, and underneath it is turned up as it were fire' (28:5), and afterward, 'but wisdom, where shall it be found?' (28:12), is that Hashem does as He wills: He deals harshly with the wicked and with the righteous alike, and there are also righteous people and wicked people to whom He grants every good thing they could want; and He acts this way even in the earth and in its streams, which have no understanding of their own — so to know this wisdom, why should it be so far beyond human understanding? The point is this: just as human beings cannot know Hashem's thoughts, and His decrees are deep, so too these decrees He has decreed upon me — He alone knows why He decreed them, and it may well be that they are not on account of my having sinned before Him. Job then took up his second discourse (29:1): there he recounts his righteous deeds, for his friends had said to him, 'you have sent widows away empty' (22:9), and this was taken as proof that he had held the office of judge; therefore he said: 'a father was I to the needy... and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy' (29:16, 13). 'So his friends ceased to answer him, because he was righteous in his own eyes' (32:1) — though he was not so in his friends' eyes; rather, they had settled in their minds that he was wicked, which is why these harsh troubles had come upon him so suddenly. Elihu's anger was kindled against Job for having gone on at such length out of his impatience, and for having spoken improper words against Hashem, such as: 'I know... make known to me why You contend with me' (9:28; 10:2), 'is it good to You that You should oppress...?' (10:3), 'and hold me for Your enemy?' (13:24). This is the sense of 'because he justified himself rather than God' (32:2). And his anger was also kindled against Job's three friends, for what they had said — that Hashem is righteous while Job alone was wicked. For it might well be that Job was righteous, and there is no doubt that Hashem is righteous — this is the sense of 'and yet had condemned Job' (32:3). Now the essence of what Elihu said to Job and his friends is this: 'you have all gone astray, for you imagined that you stood in Hashem's secret counsel.' To Job's friends he said that Hashem tests a person and afflicts him either on account of sin, or in order to remove sin, or so that he may receive reward. And to Job he said that he had been complaining against Hashem for not answering him, whereas in fact Hashem does not answer every word, since His governance is a matter openly evident in deed; rather, Elihu found fault with Job for having spoken wickedly with his own mouth, having spoken too freely against Hashem. So too: 'is it fit to say to a king, You are base?' (34:18). The sense: is it proper conduct for a servant to say to his king, 'you are base,' or 'wicked'? Or does it mean a king speaking to noblemen — for a king serves himself first, and his people after? Or perhaps its sense is directed at one particular nobleman, comparable to 'a son of donkeys' [one of humble origin]; the first explanation seems correct to me. All the more so, since Hashem 'respects not the persons of princes' (34:19) — therefore it was said: 'would that Job were tried to the end' (34:36), 'who goes in company with the workers of iniquity' (34:8). And finally, 'Elihu again proceeded' (36:1) to speak, and the point is significant: just as one does not know how or why or when the wonders of rain occur, and these mysteries are beyond him, so too Hashem's judgments toward human beings are beyond him, for they are deeper still than these wonders that occur in visible physical bodies. The point directed at Job is: why did you raise your voice to say, 'why have You afflicted me'? You ought to have borne it and kept silent, and not spoken so haughtily. This is the sense of 'then Hashem answered Job out of the whirlwind' (38:1); and the point is: you who keep asking why this is so — do you know the time when the wild goats give birth? Do you know how long they live (39:1–2)? And this light in which you delight — do you know its place (38:19)? Or do you know the secret of how birds are born, and animals too? This is the sense of 'have You given the horse his strength?' (39:19). At that, Job fell silent. Hashem answered again: 'shall he who reproves contend with the Almighty?' (40:2). Then Job gave an answer that was not fully adequate, for he did not vindicate Hashem, but only said: 'behold, I will be silent, and speak no more' (cf. 40:5). Therefore 'Hashem answered Job again out of the whirlwind' (40:6), and mentioned Behemoth — that being the name of that creature — and its might on dry land; and He also mentioned the might of Leviathan (40:15, 25). The point is as though He said to Job: how could you exalt yourself against Me? That is why He mentioned these great creatures. And the matter is this: look at My own creatures — not the exalted beings on high, but simply the animals that are on the earth and in the waters beneath the earth: two mighty creatures whom you cannot overpower or subjugate, nor make a covenant regarding Leviathan in order to eat him. For a human being ought not exalt his heart against the angels, nor against the sons of God, since they are many times more exalted than he is, as I explained regarding the verse 'behold, I send an angel' (Exodus 23:20), with complete proofs from rational argument and from the facts of nature; and the words of the prophets likewise agree with this, unanimously; and what we find written in the words of our sages of blessed memory is also true, for they spoke only of angels created for their own time, for the honor of the prophets. Rather, here the rebuke concerns a person's heart exalting itself against animals and birds — in the sense of 'who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth' (35:11). So Hashem said: there are creatures on earth beside you that are mightier than you, whom you cannot overpower — so why should your heart be so exalted? Therefore Job at last admitted it, and said: 'wherefore I abhor my words, and repent, seeing I am dust and ashes' (42:6) — and this is the correct reading, that this was the last thing Job said.

'And full of days' — meaning, he lived many days, filled with much good, until he was sated with them, owing to their great abundance and to the abundance of the good he had in them; this is a figurative expression.