^6:1 But Job, answering, said:
^6:2 Would that my sins, by which I have merited wrath, and the calamity that I suffer were weighed in a balance!
^6:3 Like the sand of the sea, this would appear heavier. Hence also my words are full of sorrow,
^6:4 because the arrows of the Lord are in me; their indignation has drunk up my spirit, and the terrors of the Lord make war against me.
^6:5 Will the wild ass bray when he has grass? Or will the ox bellow when he stands before a full manger?
^6:6 Or can that which is tasteless and not seasoned with salt be eaten? Or can anyone taste what, when tasted, brings death?
^6:7 The things my soul formerly refused to touch are now, because of anguish, my food.
^6:8 Who will grant that my petition may come, and that God may bestow on me what I await,
^6:9 and that he who began may himself crush me, loose his hand, and cut me down?
^6:10 And let this be my consolation: that, afflicting me with sorrow, he not spare me. Nor will I contradict the words of the Holy One.
^6:11 For what is my strength, that I should endure? Or what is my end, that I should act patiently?
^6:12 Neither is my strength the strength of stones, nor is my flesh bronze.

109. But Job, answering, said, etc. As is clear from what has gone before, Eliphaz had noted three things in Job’s lament: despair, because he seemed to desire not to be; impatience, or immoderate sadness, because of the sighs and groans that he said he was enduring; and presumption, because he had asserted himself to be innocent. And the whole preceding speech of Eliphaz was concerned with these three things; in it, in order to show that Job had been subject to sin and therefore had endured adversities, he set forth, among other things, the fragility of the human condition, from which no one can presume himself immune from sin. From this, therefore, Job takes the beginning of his response. For it is certain that, because of the fragility of the human condition, no man is immune from sin, however just he may appear; yet in just men there are not grave and mortal sins, but there are in them light and venial sins, which arise from negligence and being caught off guard. But if this were true which Eliphaz was striving to assert, namely, that the proper punishments of sins are the adversities of the present life, it would follow that for grave sins men would suffer grave adversities, and for light sins, light ones; and thus just men would never be subject to grave adversities, which is plainly false. Therefore Job proposes this reason against the disputation of Eliphaz; hence it is said: But Job, answering, said: Would that my sins, by which I have merited wrath, and the calamity that I suffer were weighed in a balance! As though saying: I cannot say that there are no sins in me; nevertheless, I trust that in me there are not mortal sins, but venial ones. Therefore, if for sins of this kind I have merited wrath, that is, punishment, from God, then calamity and sin ought to have been weighed in the balance of justice, so that according to equality one would correspond to the other.

But the adversity appears much greater, and this is what he adds: Like the sand of the sea, that is, incomparably, this, namely, the calamity, would appear heavier, if the judgment of Eliphaz were true, that adversities in this world are inflicted only according to sins, since many wicked men, in comparison with whose sins the sins of Job were as nothing, are seen to endure certain light adversities.

110. From this, however, he proceeds further to excuse himself from the sadness that he had expressed in words, saying: Hence also my words are full of sorrow; and he brings this in as a conclusion, because the sorrow was caused by the magnitude of the adversity.

But he adds a twofold cause of sorrow: for sorrow is caused sometimes by those things that someone has already suffered, and sometimes by those things that he fears he will suffer.

First, therefore, he assigns the cause of his sorrow from the things he had already suffered, saying: because the arrows of the Lord are in me, by which he shows that he had been afflicted unexpectedly, for an arrow comes from afar and unexpectedly. And to show the magnitude of the blow he adds: their indignation has drunk up my spirit, that is, it has not permitted me to breathe, but has totally taken away whatever strength or consolation could be in me.

Then he shows the cause of his sorrow from those things that he feared he would suffer, saying: and the terrors of God make war against me. For the afflicted are accustomed to be consoled by hope of a better state; but when after affliction someone again fears similar or greater things, no consolation seems to remain.

111. But someone could say: you do indeed have a cause of sorrow, but on account of it you ought not to break forth into words of sorrow. Against this Job answers from those things that are found in other animals. For man is like other animals in sensitive nature, and so those things that follow sensitive nature are naturally present in man as also in other animals; but what is natural cannot be wholly avoided. Now it is found in other animals that they express affliction of heart with the mouth, and he signifies this by saying: Will the wild ass bray when he has grass? Or will the ox bellow when he stands before a full manger? As though saying: no. But the wild ass brays and the ox bellows when they lack necessary food, in which it appears that it is natural to animals to express interior affliction by voice.

112. Again, someone could say that it is natural for conceived sorrow to be expressed by voice, but that it does not belong to a wise man to conceive sadness in his heart from any causes whatever, as the Stoics held. But Job shows that this is contrary to sensitive nature: for sense cannot fail to flee what is harmful or unsuitable; and therefore he says: Or can that which is tasteless and not seasoned with salt be eaten? As though saying: no, because such tasteless things are not suited to the delight of taste. And similarly, the heart of man cannot willingly accept things that are not delightful, and much less those that are bitter and harmful; hence he adds: Or can anyone taste what, when tasted, brings death? As though saying: no. And just as this is impossible in exterior sense, so it is impossible that those things that are apprehended through the interior senses as harmful should be received without sadness.

113. But because, although a wise man suffers sadness, nevertheless his reason is not swallowed up by sadness, Job consequently shows that, although he suffered sadness, yet there was in him the greatest solicitude and fear that he should protect himself against sadness, lest through sadness he be led into something vicious; and to avoid this he preferred death. To express this he says: The things my soul formerly refused to touch are now, because of anguish, my food, as though saying: the things my soul formerly abhorred, it now seeks with delight. And he shows what these things are, saying: Who will grant that my petition may come? And to show that he proposes this petition not merely with his mouth but also from his inmost heart, he adds: and that God may bestow on me what I await? And he shows what that petition is, adding: and that he who began, namely, to afflict me, may himself crush me, namely, by death; and this is what he adds: may he loose his hand and cut me down? He calls the hand of God the divine power by which God had afflicted him; and this hand seems in a certain way bound by the divine will and mercy while he ceases to afflict, but in a certain way it is loosed when the divine blow is brought through to the end of killing.

114. And because he had said that the things he formerly refused to touch are now his food, he shows how this is to be understood, namely, because death, which had been horrible to him, has now become sweet; hence he adds: And let this be my consolation: that, afflicting me with sorrow, namely, God, he not spare me, that is, that he not draw back his hand, but bring me through to death. And he shows why he desires this by what he adds: Nor will I contradict the words of the Holy One, that is, of God, namely, his judgments or sentences by which he has afflicted me. For Job feared lest through many afflictions he be led into impatience, so that reason could not restrain sadness; but the nature of impatience consists in this, that someone’s reason is so led away by sadness that it contradicts divine judgments. But if someone indeed suffers sadness according to the sensitive part, while reason conforms itself to the divine will, there is no defect of impatience. And thus Eliphaz was accusing Job in vain when he had said: Now the plague has come upon you, and you have failed; for although he was saddened, nevertheless he had not failed.

115. Then he assigns the reason, from his own fragility, why he feared lest he be brought to this, that he would contradict the words of the Holy One. For fear of this kind could be taken away from two causes:

first, indeed, if there were in him such strength of reason that he could in no way be overcome, as there is in those whose free will has been confirmed by grace; but he did not feel this strength in himself, and so he says: For what is my strength, that I should endure?, namely, any tribulations whatever;

second, if it were necessary to tolerate tribulations and sadnesses for some brief time; and therefore, to remove this, he adds: Or what is my end, that I should act patiently? As though saying: what limit has been set to my tribulations, so that, waiting until it, I could presume that I would preserve patience? And to explain these things he adds, saying: Neither is my strength the strength of stones; for the strength of stones is without sense, but the strength of man is with a sense of those things that are harmful, on account of which he adds: nor is my flesh bronze, that is, without sense, because however strong the reason of a mortal man may be, nevertheless it is necessary that from the side of the flesh he experience the sensation of pain. And by this the rebuke of Eliphaz is excluded, who accused blessed Job of sadness: for although strength of mind was present in blessed Job, nevertheless the sensation of pain was present on the side of the flesh, and sadness followed upon this. At the same time also, by this the opinion of the Stoics is refuted, who say that the wise man is not saddened, an opinion which Eliphaz seems to have held; but blessed Job intends to defend this, that the wise man is indeed saddened, but strives by reason so as not to be led into what is unfitting, which the Peripatetics also held.