^4:1 But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said:
^4:2 If we begin to speak to you, perhaps you will take it ill; but who can hold back a word once conceived?
^4:3 Behold, you have taught many, and you have strengthened weary hands.
^4:4 Your words have confirmed those who were wavering, and you have comforted trembling knees.
^4:5 But now a scourge has come upon you, and you have failed; it has touched you, and you are troubled.
^4:6 Where is your fear, your fortitude, your patience, and the perfection of your ways?

72. But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, etc. The friends of Job, who had come to console him, after they had at first kept silence because of the greatness of his sorrow, took boldness to speak after Job’s speech. And first Eliphaz the Themanite speaks, who did not take the words proposed by Job in the spirit in which they were said: for the hatred of the present life that he had said he suffered, he imputed to despair; the greatness of his bitterness, to impatience; and the confession of his innocence, to presumption.

73. Therefore, first he argues against his impatience, and he begins to speak to him as to a man subject to the vice of impatience, who becomes indignant at words addressed to him; hence he says: If we begin to speak to you, perhaps you will take it ill. Here he sufficiently expresses the custom of an impatient and angry man, who does not endure to hear words to the end, but is provoked at once at the very opening of the words. He adds, however, perhaps, lest he be condemned for rash judgment, although even in presumptions or suspicions words or deeds are to be interpreted in the better part. But while he accuses Job of impatience, he shows himself guilty of impatience and foolishness, saying: but who can hold back a word once conceived? According to that saying of Sirach 19:12: Like an arrow fixed in the thigh of a dog, so is a word in the heart of a fool. Yet even the just, from divine zeal, sometimes cannot keep silent about the things they conceive should be said for the honor of God, according to that saying of Jeremiah 20:9: I said: I will not remember him, namely, the word of the Lord, nor speak any longer in his name; and it became in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I failed, unable to bear it.

74. Then he proceeds further to show his impatience manifestly. Now he exaggerates his impatience from two things, namely, from his preceding doctrine and from his preceding life. From his preceding doctrine, indeed, because it is disgraceful for a man when he does not observe that to which he leads others, according to that saying in Matthew 23: For they say and do not do. Now Job had previously drawn many back from impatience, and in different ways according as was fitting for different persons. For there are some who fail through impatience because of ignorance, when they do not know how to use adversities for virtue, and with respect to these he says: Behold, you have taught many. But some at first indeed act virtuously in adversities, but while adversity continues, as though wearied by right action, they fail; and with respect to these he says: and you have strengthened weary hands, namely, by good inducements. There are also some who in adversities fall into doubt whether they come from divine judgment, and with respect to these he says: Your words have confirmed those who were wavering. There are also some who would indeed endure a small adversity, but under a great adversity, as under a great weight, they fail; and with respect to these he says: and you have comforted trembling knees, namely, by your words: for the knees of a man carrying a great weight tremble. The Lord exhorts us to fulfill the aforesaid things in Isaiah 35:3, saying: Strengthen the hands that are weak, and make firm the feeble knees.

75. But he consequently wishes to show that Job did not fulfill the things he had taught, whence there is added: But now a scourge has come upon you, and you have failed, namely, from the firmness of mind that you seemed to have and that you suggested to others; and this is to be referred to the adversity that he had suffered in exterior things. It has touched you, and you are troubled, that is, you have lost the quiet of mind that you seemed to have; this is to be referred to the affliction of body that he was sustaining. Hence also above Satan had said: Put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh. Thus, therefore, Job is accused of not having confirmed his preceding doctrine by subsequent patience, contrary to what is written in Proverbs 19:11: The learning of a man is known through patience.

76. But from the past life that seemed to be in Job, he also exaggerates his subsequent impatience; for the virtue that fails so quickly in tribulation seems not to have been true virtue, because, as it is written in Sirach 2:5, Gold and silver are tested in fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. Now someone is preserved in tribulations by manifold virtue, lest he fail:

first, indeed, by divine reverence, while men consider that the evils they suffer come from divine providence, just as Job too had said above: As it pleased the Lord, so has it been done. To exclude this he introduces: Where is your fear? namely, by which you seemed to reverence God.

Second, some are preserved by firmness of soul, which indeed has two degrees: for in some there is such firmness of soul that their spirit is not greatly troubled by adversities, and this seems to pertain to fortitude; hence he says: Where is your fortitude? Nor is fortitude taken here insofar as it preserves a man from succumbing to fear, but so that he not be cast down by sadness. But some indeed suffer a grave passion of sadness from adversity, yet, because of well-disposed reason, are not drawn away by it, and this seems to pertain to patience; so that there is such a difference between patience and fortitude as the philosophers assign between continence and chastity. Therefore he adds: your patience?

Third, some are preserved by love of honorable action and because they shrink from acting shamefully; even if they are inwardly troubled in adversities, nevertheless they do not break forth in word or deed into anything unbecoming, and because of this he adds: and the perfection of your ways? For by ways are understood actions, by which, as by certain ways, one comes to the end; or by ways can be understood carefully considered counsels, by which someone trusts that he will escape, and so he more easily tolerates adversities.