^21:1 But Job, answering, said:
^21:2 Listen, I pray, to my words, and you will do penance;
^21:3 bear with me, that I also may speak, and after my words, if it seems good, laugh.
^21:4 Is my disputation against man, so that I should deservedly not have to be saddened?
^21:5 Attend to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth.
^21:6 And I, when I remember, am utterly astonished, and trembling shakes my flesh.
^21:7 Why then do the impious live, are lifted up, and strengthened with riches?
^21:8 Their seed remains before them, a crowd of relatives and grandchildren in their sight.
^21:9 Their houses are secure and peaceful, and the rod of God is not upon them.
^21:10 Their cow conceived and did not miscarry; their cow gave birth and was not deprived of her offspring.
^21:11 Their little ones go forth like flocks, and their infants exult in games.
^21:12 They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
^21:13 They lead their days in good things, and in a moment descend to the lower regions.
^21:14 They said to God: Depart from us; we do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
^21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what does it profit us if we adore him?
^21:16 Yet truly, because their goods are not in their hand, may their counsel be far from me.
^21:17 How often will the lamp of the impious be extinguished, and an inundation come upon them, and he will distribute the sorrows of his fury?
^21:18 They will be like chaff before the face of the wind, and like ash that the whirlwind scatters.
^21:19 God will preserve the sorrow of the father for his sons, and when he has repaid, then he will know:
^21:20 his eyes will see his own slaughter, and he will drink of the fury of the Almighty.
^21:21 For what does his house after him pertain to him, or if the number of his months is halved?

311. But Job, answering, said: Listen, I pray, etc. Since Zophar, in the preceding words, had already consented in some respect to Job’s judgment, so as to posit that sins are punished after death, although he still retained his judgment in this, that even in this life sins are punished temporally, Job was raised up in hope of converting them totally to the true judgment; and therefore first he humbly leads them to attention, when he says: Listen, I pray, to my words. And because up to now they had heard his words with a certain mockery, he adds: and do penance, namely, for this, that you have mocked my words or have contradicted the truth; and because all of you have now spoken twice, bear with me, that I also may speak, namely, by responding to the things last proposed. And lest they pronounce a judgment of condemnation before they hear him, he adds: and after my words, if it seems good, laugh, as if to say: if you judge this judgment of mine to be laughable; nevertheless, first hear my response, and if it does not satisfy you, afterwards you will be able to laugh more justly. And lest his words seem destined to be despised, he shows that he is going to speak about great matters, namely, about divine judgments and not human ones, whence he adds: Is my disputation against man, so that I should deservedly not have to be saddened? As if to say: if the intention of my disputation tended to this, that I should inquire whether some man had afflicted me justly or unjustly, however this had happened, I would deservedly be free from sadness;

but my disputation tends toward inquiring how this has happened by the just judgment of God. And because this disputation is about a great matter, it is to be heard attentively, whence he says: Attend to me; it is also to be heard not lightly and with mockery, but rather gravely and with astonishment, whence he adds: and be astonished; it is also to be heard silently and without murmuring, whence he adds: and place a finger over your mouth. And lest he seem to say this boastfully, as though demanding honor to be given to his own authority, he shows that he too is astonished at the height of this question, whence he adds: And I, when I remember, am utterly astonished, namely, lest in so great a question I should in some way fall short of the truth or speak irreverently about divine judgments; but this fear does not remain in the mind, but reaches even to the flesh, whence he adds: and trembling shakes my flesh; for by a vehement passion of the soul even the flesh is changed.

312. After these things have been set forth, sufficient to arouse attention, he proceeds to the question; and because Zophar had said that the prosperities of the wicked, if there are any, are quickly ended and are turned into evil for them, therefore Job at once disproves this, saying: Why then do the impious live?, namely, for a long time. As if to say: if the impious man thus quickly passes away, like a bird flying away and like a vision of the night, whence is it that many impious men have length of life? Likewise, if the joy of the hypocrite is like a point and his ascent is quickly cast down, why are they lifted up, that is, promoted to honors? Likewise, if the riches that he devoured he vomits out, why are they strengthened with riches, that is, why are their riches confirmed for them? Against this also, that he had said His sons will be worn down by want, he says: Their seed remains before them, that is, their sons continue while they see them; and he adds the same concerning other persons joined to them, saying: a crowd of relatives and grandchildren in their sight. By this he designates a twofold prosperity, because neither are their relatives taken away by death, which he signifies by saying remains, nor are they removed far by exile or something of this kind, which he designates by saying before them and in their sight.

313. Then he pursues in detail the aforesaid prosperity of the impious, first indeed with regard to themselves, setting forth first their immunity from evil when he says: Their houses, that is, their families with the things necessary, are secure, namely, from the assault of enemies, and peaceful, that is, lacking internal dissension; and they are also immune from the divine scourge, and with regard to this he adds: and the rod of God is not upon them, because, namely, for their sins they are not corrected in this life. And he adds concerning the multiplication of goods, because, namely, their goods are not sterile nor deprived of their fruit; and he makes this clear in the species of oxen, which among the ancients were especially valued because of agriculture. Hence he says: Their cow, that is, the female cow, conceived, by which sterility is removed, for conception is first in the fruitfulness of animals; the second is the formation of the conceived offspring in the womb and its being brought to perfection, which is impeded by miscarriage, and with regard to this he says: and did not miscarry; the third is birth, and with regard to this he says: the cow gave birth, signifying the same by the name of ox and cow, and he uses both either for the adornment of speech or because of the necessity of meter; but the fourth is the rearing of offspring, and with regard to this he adds: and was not deprived of her offspring, namely, by death forestalling it.

314. Consequently, he adds concerning prosperity with regard to children; and concerning this, first he sets down the multitude of offspring when he says: They go forth, namely, walking in the streets, not forestalled by death, their little ones like flocks, namely, in multitude and mutual concord;

second, he sets down their health when he adds: and their infants exult in games, as though they do not groan with infirmities;

third, he sets down their training, by which among the ancients children were instructed in music, whence he says: They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and rejoice at the sound of the organ, as though instructed so that they themselves may fittingly use music and, by hearing others, judge prudently.

315. But lest someone say that this prosperity of theirs lasts only a little while like a point, against this he adds: They lead their days in good things, as if to say: they pass all the days of their life in prosperity. Now by the common condition it is necessary that they finally experience death, yet they suffer this without preceding anguish, whence he adds: and in a moment they descend to the lower regions, that is, into death; for all the ancients, before the advent of the Redeemer, of whom he had spoken above, descended to the lower regions. But some, pressed by adversities in life, descended to the lower regions not suddenly but through many bitternesses, as Jacob said in Genesis 37:35: I will descend to my son mourning into the lower regions; but those who flourish in prosperity until death descend, as it were, in a moment to the lower regions.

316. Now it could be answered that the impious, among the many evils that they do, have merited earthly prosperity from God either by loving him, or by knowing him, or by serving him with works of some kind, or at least by asking temporal goods from him; but he excludes this, adding: They said to God, namely, from the purpose of their heart, as though sinning from deliberate malice: Depart from us, which pertains to a lack of love; we do not desire the knowledge of your ways, which pertains to a lack of knowledge through affected ignorance: now the ways of God are called his precepts and judgments, by which we are disposed by him; What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?, which pertains to the lack of good works proceeding from contempt of God; and what does it profit us if we adore him?, which pertains to contempt of petition because of lack of hope.

317. Thus, therefore, he has most evidently refuted their judgment, showing that temporal prosperity is not always the reward of virtue, nor temporal adversity the punishment of sin, because the impious frequently prosper in this life, meriting nothing good from God, and along with this they suffer no grave adversities. But someone could object: if prosperous things happen to the wicked and they lack adversities, then there is no reason for turning away from wickedness; whence it is said in Ecclesiastes 9:3: The same things happen to all, whence also the hearts of the sons of men are filled with malice. But he responds to this objection, saying: Yet truly, because their goods are not in their hand, may their counsel be far from me. Concerning this it must be known that certain goods are in the hand of man, that is, in his own power, namely, the voluntary works of virtues, of which he is master through free will helped by the grace of God; and therefore the virtuous can always retain goods of this kind as long as they wish, and on account of this the counsel of pursuing such goods is to be accepted. But the goods of temporal prosperity are not in the power of those who have them, so that they can acquire or retain them when they wish, and therefore their counsel must be rejected, by which they despise God and justice in order to live prosperously, because by this they cannot attain what they intend, but sometimes are oppressed by adversities.

318. It must be considered further that the adversity of the impious is more grave than that of the just, because when the just man suffers temporal adversity, the support of virtue and consolation in God remain to him, whence he is not totally dissipated; but for the wicked, when the temporal goods that alone they have sought have been lost, no support remains. Hence there is added: As often as the lamp, that is, the prosperity, of the impious is extinguished, that is, brought to an end, and an inundation comes upon them, namely, by divine judgment, that is, a grave storm of adversity, and as often as God divides, that is, distributes under a certain measure, the sorrows, that is, certain afflictions, of his fury, that is, arising from his fury, they will be, namely, the impious, like chaff before the face of the wind, which, namely, because of its lightness cannot resist the wind, and like ash, which remains after wood has been burned, that the whirlwind scatters, because, namely, it has no moisture by which to hold itself together. So also the impious, when adversity comes, cannot resist, because they lack the support of divine hope, and they are scattered through diverse thoughts, lacking the moisture of virtue.

319. And after this he adds concerning adversity with regard to children when he says: God will preserve the sorrow of the father for his sons, because, namely, the punishment of the father reaches even to the sons, imitators of their father’s wickedness. Nor will this be delayed until after the father’s death, but this will be while the father is living and knowing it, whence he adds: and when he has repaid, namely, when God has repaid punishment to the sons, then he will know, namely, the father; whence he adds: his eyes will see his own slaughter, that is, that of his sons, or any adversity whatever, and in this very thing he will drink of the fury of the Almighty, because it pertains to the punishment of the father that his sons are punished while he is living, but not if they were punished after his death. Hence he adds: For what does his house after him pertain to him? That is, he would not be afflicted by future misfortunes of his descendants, especially since the sinner after death does not know this, as was said above in 14:21: Whether his sons have been noble or ignoble, he will not understand; or also, what does it pertain to him if the number of his months is halved? He cannot suffer pain over this in life, because he did not know that this would happen.