^4:7 Remember, I beseech you: who ever perished being innocent? Or when were the upright destroyed?
^4:8 Rather, I have seen those who work iniquity and sow sorrows, and reap them,
^4:9 perish when God breathed, and be consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
^4:10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the young lions have been broken.
^4:11 The tiger has perished because it had no prey, and the cubs of the lion have been scattered.

77. Remember, I beseech you, etc. After Eliphaz had accused Job of impatience, taking the occasion from the fact that he had said, Before I eat, I sigh, he now intends to accuse him of presumption because he had said that he was innocent. But to show that he is not innocent, he takes an argument from his adversity, saying: Remember, I beseech you: who ever perished being innocent? Or when were the upright destroyed? Here it must be considered that this was the opinion of Eliphaz and of the other two, as was said above: that the adversities of this world do not come upon anyone except as the punishment of sin, and, conversely, prosperities come as the reward for justice. Hence, according to his opinion, it seemed unfitting that someone innocent should perish temporally, or that someone upright, that is, just according to virtue, should be destroyed by the loss of temporal glory, which he believed to be the reward of justice. And he believed this opinion to be true to such an extent that even Job could not disagree with it; yet he thought that, because Job’s mind had been disturbed, he had as it were forgotten the truth that he had once known, and therefore he says: Remember.

78. Therefore, having posited that adversity does not happen to the innocent and the upright, he consequently adds to whom adversity does happen, saying: Rather, I have seen those who work iniquity and sow sorrows, and reap them, perish when God breathed, and be consumed by the spirit of his wrath. Now in saying I have seen, he gives us to understand that he has proved these things by experience. By those who work iniquity he understands those who manifestly commit injustice, and especially to the harm of others; but by those who sow sorrows and reap them he understands those who harm others by deceit: for these sow sorrows when they prepare calumnies by which they may render others sorrowful, and they reap these sorrows when they bring their malice to effect, and they hold this as a great fruit. He pursues this metaphor further with respect to punishment: for crops are accustomed to be dried up and consumed by a burning wind, whence it is said in Malachi 3:11: I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, namely, the wind, and it will not corrupt the fruit of your land; and this is what he says, that they perish when God breathes, as though the divine judgment itself, proceeding to vengeance upon iniquity, were a certain blast of wind. But the very vengeance of God is called the spirit, that is, the wind, of his wrath. Now he says not only that they perish, but that they are consumed, because they are punished not only in their own persons, but also their children and their whole household perish, so that nothing seems to remain of them; in this he seemed to touch Job, who had been scourged in his body and had lost his children, household, and wealth.

79. But because this seemed to be against the opinion of Eliphaz, that children and household should be punished for the sin of a parent, since he intends to defend this opinion, that adversities in this world are punishments of sin, in answering this objection he adds: The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the young lions have been broken. Here the first thing that occurs to be considered is that man surpasses the other animals by reason; therefore, when reason is set aside and he follows brutal passions, he is made like beasts, and the name of that beast whose passion he imitates is fittingly applied to him. For example, one who is subject to the passions of concupiscence is compared to a horse or mule, according to that saying of the Psalm: Do not become like the horse and mule, in whom there is no understanding;

but on account of ferocity or anger he is named a lion or a bear, according to that saying of Proverbs 28:15: A roaring lion and a hungry bear, so is an impious prince over a poor people, and Ezekiel 19:3: He became a lion and learned to seize prey and to devour men. Thus, therefore, he now compares a ferocious man to a lion, saying: The roaring of the lion, for roaring is the indication of leonine ferocity. Now it frequently happens that ferocity is added to a man from the suggestion of his wife, and so the things that a man does ferociously are imputed as fault to his wife, as is clear concerning the wife of Herod, who impelled him to behead John; on account of this it is said: and the voice of the lioness. But the things that some tyrant ferociously acquires, his children sometimes use luxuriously, and so they delight in the rapine of their father; hence they too are not immune from fault, on account of which there is added: and the teeth of the young lions have been broken, according to that saying of Nahum 2:12: And the lion seized enough for his cubs. And thus he seems to have answered the preceding objection, because when the wife and children are punished for the sin of the man, it is not unjust, since they too had been participants in the fault. All this he said wishing to brand Job and his household with rapine.

80. Yet what he had said did not seem to pertain to Job, because his wife did not seem to have been punished, and therefore, to remove this, he adds: The tiger has perished because it had no prey; for those who are accustomed to seize prey reckon that they are being punished in this very thing, that they are not permitted to seize prey. Now it must be considered that he compares the woman both to a lioness because of the ferocity of wrath, and to a tigress because of readiness or swiftness to anger; for it is said in Sirach 25:23: There is no wrath above the wrath of a woman, and again: All malice is brief compared with the malice of a woman. And because the children of Job had entirely perished, he adds: and the cubs of the lion have been scattered.