^34:24 He will crush many and innumerable, and he will make others stand in their place.
^34:25 For he knows their works; therefore he will bring in night, and they will be crushed.
^34:26 He struck them as impious men in the place of those who see,
^34:27 who as if deliberately withdrew from him and were unwilling to understand all his ways,
^34:28 so that they made the cry of the needy reach him, and he heard the voice of the poor.
^34:29 For when he grants peace, who is there who may condemn? Since he has hidden his face, who is there who may contemplate him? Both over a nation and over all men,
^34:30 he who makes a hypocritical man reign because of the sins of the people.
^34:31 Therefore, because I have spoken to God, I do not forbid you also.
^34:32 If I have erred, you teach me. If I have spoken iniquity, I will add no more.
^34:33 Does God require it from you because it has displeased you? For you began to speak, and not I. But if you know anything better, speak.
^34:34 Let men of understanding speak to me, and let a wise man hear me.
^34:35 But Job has spoken foolishly, and his words do not sound of discipline.
^34:36 My father, let Job be tested even to the end; do not cease among men of iniquity.
^34:37 Because he adds blasphemy upon his sins, let him meanwhile be bound among us, and then by his words let him provoke God to judgment.

456. He will crush many and innumerable, etc. There are two things on account of which men are especially accustomed to decline from justice,

the first of which is that they defer to the great,

the second is that they defer to the multitude against justice;

but above he had shown the perfection of divine justice from the fact that he does not defer to the great; hence now, consequently, for the commendation of divine justice, he shows that he does not even defer to the multitude of sinners, whence he says: He will crush many, namely, sinners, by killing them or punishing them in some other way. And lest it be believed that divine justice proceeds up to some definite measure of multitude and no further, he adds: and innumerable, as though saying: those whom the justice of God crushes because of sins cannot be contained within a fixed number. But lest the state of the human race be thought to perish on account of this, he adds: and he will make others stand in their place, because, namely, when some die, others succeed them, and when some fall away from prosperity, others are raised up, so that in this way a certain uniformity may appear in the human race. Now it is usual to happen that when many are to be punished, judges cannot diligently examine the cases of individuals; but lest this be believed of God, he adds: For he knows their works, namely, what each one deserves; and therefore he repays each according to his works, whence he adds: therefore he will bring in night, that is, sudden and unexpected adversity, and they will be crushed, namely, unexpectedly.

457. But why they are oppressed in the night he shows from the fact that, although they could have seen what was expedient for them, they despised it; and therefore it is just that there not be given to them the capacity to foresee the evils that are coming upon them, so as to guard against them. And this is what he adds: He struck them as impious men, that is, as those rejecting the knowledge of piety, namely, while they were in the place of those who see, that is, in a state in which they could see, both through natural reason and through sacred doctrine, what was to be done and what was to be avoided; but they themselves rejected this, whence he adds: who as if deliberately withdrew from him, namely, from God, sinning from certain malice. Hence he consequently sets down in them an affected ignorance when he adds: and all his ways, that is, the commandments of God, they were unwilling to understand, and so it is clear that they are not excused because of ignorance, but rather are rendered more damnable. But he shows the effect of affected malice of this kind, adding: so that they made the cry of the needy reach him, as though saying: they show themselves ignorant of the ways of God to such a degree that they oppressed the poor, whom God hears; hence, just as they do not shrink from the oppression of the poor, so they do not fear the indignation of God, whence he adds: and he heard the voice of the poor, as though saying: they make little of the fact that God applies his will to hearing the poor.

458. And because he had attributed the crushing of a multitude to divine judgment, but someone could believe that the fact that one multitude is crushed and another prospers does not come from divine judgment, but through the governance or assault of some powerful prince, therefore, to exclude this, he adds: For when he grants peace, who is there who may condemn? As though saying: therefore I say that he himself is the one who crushes many and innumerable, because if he wished to grant them the peace of time and prosperity, no one could condemn the multitude; and conversely, if he intends to condemn, there is no one who can furnish peace, whence he adds: Since he has hidden his face, namely, by withdrawing the presence of his consolation, who is there who may contemplate him, that is, who can find consolation in him, as though by seeing his beauty?

459. But there is also another punishment of the multitude besides crushing, namely, that by which it is afflicted by the dominion of tyrants; and with respect to this punishment he adds: Both over a nation and over all men, as though saying: not only in one nation does he exercise his judgments by crushing or by the oppression of tyrants, but also over all men. And he adds concerning the oppression of tyrants: he who makes a hypocritical man reign because of the sins of the people, namely, the people afflicted by his rule. In this he also seems to answer the question that Job had proposed above in 21:7: Why do the impious live, have they been strengthened and exalted with riches? For he asserts that this happens not because of their merits, as Job had proved in the same place, but because of the demerits of others, who are punished by their prosperity.

460. Thus, therefore, having shown that there can be no injustice in God, and that his justice is especially manifest from the judgments that he exercises upon princes and upon the multitude, he gives Job room to respond, whence he adds: Therefore, because I have spoken to God, that is, the things that pertain to the honor of God, I do not forbid you also, namely, giving you room to respond. And he shows to what his response ought to tend, adding: If I have erred, namely, as you charged your other friends, namely that they were cultivators of perverse doctrines, you teach me, namely, the truth, so that I may be freed from error. But someone can fail in speaking not only by erring against the truth of doctrine, but also by failing in a particular judgment against the truth of justice, whence he adds: If I have spoken iniquity, I will add no more, showing, namely, that he is prepared for correction. And because he judged that Job was gravely disturbed against him, he consequently shows that his disturbance is unjust, adding: Does God require it from you? As though saying: even granted that I have spoken iniquity, you are not bound to answer to God for it, and therefore you ought not to be gravely disturbed by this, whence he adds: because it has displeased you? Namely, through an inordinate disturbance of soul.

Second, he shows that he ought not to be gravely disturbed by it because Job himself had begun the words, saying: Let the day perish, etc., from which the whole disputation took its origin; whence he adds: For you began to speak, and not I.

Third, he shows that he ought not to be gravely disturbed because he himself also has the ability to say what he pleases, whence he adds: But if you know anything better, namely, than I have said, speak, namely, by showing my error or iniquity.

461. And lest he seem to have said this as though doubting his own justice and the truth of his words, he consequently intends to assert that Job is deficient both in wisdom and in understanding; and on account of this he considered him unworthy of his disputation. One part of disputation belongs to the one objecting, in whom sharpness of understanding is especially required for finding reasonable ways to show the proposed point, whence he adds: Let men of understanding speak to me, namely, by objecting to me. But the other part of disputation belongs to the respondent, in whom wisdom is especially required, so that he may judge well concerning what has been heard, whence he adds: and let a wise man hear me, namely, as I object, ready to respond. But he had gathered the absence of these things in Job from his words, whence he adds: But Job has spoken foolishly, that is, against wisdom, namely, with respect to the fact that he considered him to have said something against the rectitude of divine judgment, and his words do not sound of discipline, which, namely, pertains to ordered understanding; and this he seems to have referred to the fact that Job asserted himself to be just.

462. And because Job did not recognize these defects in himself, Elihu turns his words to God, asking that Job be tested so as to recognize his defects, whence he adds: My Father, that is, O God, whom I regard as Father because of the reverence that I have toward you, defending your justice in all things, let Job be tested, that is, let his defect be shown to him through scourges, even to the end, that is, until he recognizes himself as unjust; or even to the end, that is, even unto death. And he shows the justice of this petition, adding: do not cease from the man of iniquity, as though saying: his iniquity merits this, that scourges should not cease. And for greater amplification he adds: because upon his sins, namely, past sins for which he has been scourged, he adds blasphemy, namely, by asserting himself to be just, but God to be unjust; for this he wishes for him, first indeed, punishment in the present, whence he adds: let him meanwhile be bound among us, namely, by adversities;

second, however, he hints at future punishment, whence he adds: and then, namely, once he has already been afflicted temporally, to judgment, namely, of future vengeance, let him provoke God by his words, namely, those by which he blasphemes against him.