^17:10 Therefore, all of you, turn back and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man.
^17:11 My days have passed; my thoughts have been scattered, tormenting my heart.
^17:12 They have turned night into day, and again after darkness I hope for light.
^17:13 If I endure, the lower regions are my house; in darkness I have spread my little bed.
^17:14 I have said to rottenness: You are my father; to worms: My mother and my sister.
^17:15 Where, then, is my expectation now? And who considers my patience?
^17:16 All that is mine will descend into the deepest lower region; do you think that at least there will be rest for me there?

272. Therefore, all of you, turn back, etc. After Job had proposed those things by which the judgment of Eliphaz is refuted, here he gathers what has gone before and orders it toward showing his purpose. And first he stirs up attention, saying: Therefore, since, namely, the aforesaid things are true, all of you, namely, you who have come together against me, and your fathers, turn back from your errors, and come to consider the truth; once it is examined, it will be clear how far you are from true wisdom, and this is what he adds: and I shall not find among you any wise man. And he says this to repress the boasting of Eliphaz, who had said above in 15:9: What do you know that we do not know?, etc., and again: The wise acknowledge, etc.

273. Now he intends especially to show their foolishness in this, that they promised him the consolation of temporal prosperity; against this, first, he proposes that the time of his life had already for the most part elapsed, and this is what he says: My days have passed. Then he proposes the evils that he suffers when he adds: my thoughts have been scattered, that is, hindered from the quiet contemplation of wisdom because of the bitterness of bodily pain, and this is what he adds: tormenting my heart, because, namely, his thoughts had been led away from the sweet consideration of truth into the bitterness by which his heart was tormented. But this torment of heart was not interrupted by night, which is the time appointed for human rest, whence he adds: They have turned night into day, because, namely, on account of the aforesaid thoughts he passed the night sleepless as though it were day. Now it is more grievous to suffer the lack of sleep at night than by day, because by day the soul of man is relieved by the company of men and the sight of light; and therefore, since the night was sleepless for him, he desired it to be ended quickly, and this is what he adds: and again after darkness I hope for light, that is, I hope that the light of day may again come after the darkness of night.

274. But because Eliphaz was inducing him to bear all adversities patiently under expectation of the future, he therefore consequently shows what seems to remain for him in the future from temporal things, whence he says: If I endure, that is, if I bear pains of this kind patiently, nothing remains for me except the dwelling of the tomb, and this is what he says: The lower regions are my house. Now he calls the tomb the lower regions according to the opinion of those against whom he was disputing, who did not believe that the soul of man remains after death, but only the body in the tomb, which they called the lower regions because it is situated beneath the earth. But a man lying in the tomb suffers darkness, both because of the lack of sense and also because of the lack of exterior light, and therefore he adds: in darkness I have spread my little bed. And just as a man at birth takes his origin from parents, from which he contracts kinship with them, so after death, lying in the tomb, he is resolved into rottenness and worms, which are generated from his body, and therefore he adds: I have said to rottenness: You are my father; my mother and my sister, to worms, as if to say: no kinship with any other temporal thing will remain for me in the tomb except with rottenness and worms.

275. Therefore, as though leading from these things to an unfitting consequence, he concludes, saying: Where, then, is my expectation now? As if he were saying: if I were consoled because of the expectation of temporal prosperity, my expectation would be vain. And again he leads to a greater unfitting consequence, adding: And who considers my patience? As if to say: if I endure through patience, nevertheless nothing remains except the tomb and its darkness, rottenness, and worms; therefore, if I had patience in order to merit temporal goods from God, it would follow that God does not consider patience, which is to deny providence. And lest perhaps someone should say that even in the tomb temporal prosperity would be given to him by God, he adds this as though ridiculing it: All that is mine will descend into the deepest lower region, that is, whatever is mine will be led down to the tomb, which alone remains for me; do you think that at least there will be rest for me there? That is, should I expect earthly prosperity even there? It is manifest that this is ridiculous.