^26:1 Then Job, answering, said:
^26:2 Whose helper are you? Of one who is weak? And do you sustain the arm of him who is not strong?
^26:3 To whom have you given counsel? Perhaps to him who has no wisdom? And have you shown your very great prudence?
^26:4 Whom did you wish to teach? Was it not him who made breath?
^26:5 Behold, the giants groan beneath the waters, and those who dwell with them.
^26:6 Hell is naked before him, and there is no covering for perdition.
^26:7 He stretches out the north over emptiness and hangs the earth upon nothing.
^26:8 He binds the waters in his clouds, so that they do not burst forth downward all together.
^26:9 He holds back the face of his throne and spreads his cloud over it.
^26:10 He has set a boundary around the waters until light and darkness come to an end.
^26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are afraid at his nod.
^26:12 By his strength the seas were suddenly gathered together, and by his prudence he struck the proud one.
^26:13 His spirit has adorned the heavens, and by his hand serving as midwife the winding serpent was brought forth.
^26:14 Behold, these things have been said in part of his ways; and since we have scarcely heard a little drop of his words, who will be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?

360. Then Job, answering, said: Whose helper are you? etc. In the preceding words Bildad wished to convict Job from consideration of the divine power, dreadful to all, in relation to which no man can put forward justice or innocence so as to assert that he has been punished without sin. Hence Job adds a threefold response, the first of which is directed especially against Bildad, who had attempted to terrify Job from consideration of the divine power.

Now men who do not use reason against someone condemned, but instead allege the power and wisdom of the judge, are accustomed to do this in favor of the judge;

but favor is shown to a person in two ways:

in one way because of a defect of power in him to whom favor is shown,

in another way because of a defect of wisdom;

therefore, with respect to the first he says: Whose helper are you? Of one who is weak? As if to say: these things that you have spoken, not according to the way of reason but as though in God’s favor—did you say them so that you might bring help to God as to one who is weak? But one who defends someone’s operation seems to help him, whence he adds: And do you sustain the arm of him who is not strong? As if to say: by these words do you wish to defend God’s operation by which I have been punished by him, as if he were not strong enough to defend himself?

361. Then, with respect to the favor that is shown to someone because of a defect of wisdom, it must be considered that this favor is twofold: one indeed from the fact that counsel is given to someone concerning things to be done, and with respect to this he says: To whom have you given counsel? Someone seems to give counsel to another when he defends his cause without reason. But God, who is perfect in wisdom, does not need counsel; whence he adds: Perhaps to him who has no wisdom? As if to say: do you doubt whether God has wisdom, that you speak so foolishly on his behalf? But one who gives counsel to the wise seems to do this to show his own wisdom, whence he adds: And have you shown your very great prudence? As if to say: did you wish by this to display the abundance of your prudence?

362. But another mode of favor against a defect of wisdom is that someone instructs the ignorant concerning things that can be known, and with respect to this he adds: Whom did you wish to teach? For you seemed to teach God when you alleged his power against me; but he does not need to be taught, since he is the cause of all human knowledge, whence he adds: Was it not him who made breath?, that is, who created the human soul through which man both understands and breathes? For it is one and the same soul that receives knowledge through the intellect and gives life to the body through the other powers.

363. Then, lest he seem to derogate in any way from the power of God, he commends it much more fully than Bildad, enumerating many effects of the divine power, and he begins from the things that he did powerfully in the human race concerning the flood. For it is read in Genesis 6:4 that giants were upon the earth in those days, and afterwards it is added: when God had seen that the earth had been corrupted, indeed all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth, he said to Noah: The end of all flesh has arrived in my sight, and afterwards he adds: Behold, I shall bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth and put to death all flesh. Therefore he shows this effect of the divine power, adding: Behold, the giants, namely, those of old, groan, namely, in the punishments of Hell, beneath the waters, that is, those who were submerged by the waters of the flood; and because they alone did not perish, but many others with them, both then and afterwards, he adds: and those who dwell with them, namely, they groan in like manner, by the force of his power.

364. And lest someone believe that divine providence extends only to judging men in this life, but not after death, as Job’s friends seemed to think, to exclude this he adds: Hell is naked before him, as if to say: the things that are done in Hell are conspicuous to his eyes and are done according to his judgment; whence, as an explanation of this, he adds: and there is no covering for perdition, that is, for those who are lost in Hell, by which they could be hidden from the eyes of God, as they are hidden from us.

365. Then he enumerates the effects of divine providence in natural things, and he begins from the extremes, namely, from heaven and earth, in both of which something appears to have been established by the divine power that exceeds human strength. Now according to what appears sensibly, heaven seems to be stretched out over the earth like a kind of tent, while the earth is under heaven like the floor of the tent; but whoever sets up a tent puts something beneath it by which the tent is sustained, whereas this does not appear in heaven: for nothing is seen sustaining heaven except the divine power, whence he says: He stretches out the north over emptiness. By the north he understands the upper hemisphere as regards us: for to us the northern pole is raised above the horizon, while the southern is lowered beneath the horizon; hence he says that the north is stretched out over emptiness, because beneath the upper hemisphere of heaven nothing appears to us except space filled with air, which ordinary men consider empty. For he speaks according to the estimation of ordinary men, as is customary in Sacred Scripture. Similarly also, one who lays a floor fastens it upon something; but the earth, which is like the foundation of heaven, does not appear to be fastened upon anything that could sustain it, but is sustained by the power of God alone, whence he adds: and hangs the earth upon nothing. These things, however, are not said as though heaven were heavy so as to need support lest it fall, or as though the earth could descend except as far as the center, but they signify that the very natural powers by which bodies are naturally contained in their places have proceeded from the divine power: for just as violent motion is from human power, so natural inclination is from the divine power, which is the principle of nature.

366. Then he enumerates the effects of the divine power in the middle space between heaven and earth, and first in the air, in which this seems wonderful: that water, raised up as vapor, is suspended in the air and does not fall all at once, but drop by drop, as appears in rains. Hence he says: He binds the waters in his clouds, that is, in those caused by his power, so that they do not burst forth, namely, the waters of rains, downward all together, but drop by drop, according as is useful for the tempering of the earth, as though by divine power what remains in the clouds is bound so that it does not fall from the beginning: for by divine power it comes about that vapors are not condensed all at once, so that they would have to be converted into water all at once and fall together. But when rains fall downward from the clouds, certain remnants of vapors remain, from which mists are generated, by which heaven is covered for us, which is, as it were, the throne of God, according to that of the last chapter of Isaiah: Heaven is my seat; and with respect to this he adds: He holds back the face of his throne, that is, he keeps, as it were, hidden the face of heaven, which is his throne; and this is through the mists by which we are prevented from seeing heaven, whence he adds: and spreads his cloud over it, that is, one produced by his power.

367. Then he shows the effect of the divine power in the waters when he adds: He has set a boundary around the waters: for according to the natural order of the elements, the waters ought to cover the earth on every side; but that some part of the earth remains uncovered by the waters has been brought about by divine power, which has made the earth to be covered by the waters up to a certain boundary. And this seems especially to pertain to the Ocean, which surrounds the earth on every side, and on account of this he adds: until light and darkness come to an end; for the light of day and the darkness of night come to an end for us when the sun approaches or withdraws from the upper hemisphere that lies over our habitable region, which is, as it were, enclosed on every side by the Ocean. Or it can be understood that the boundary of the waters will remain unchangeable as long as this state of the world remains, in which there is the succession of light and darkness.

368. Thus, therefore, having enumerated the effects of the divine power in bodily creatures, he shows its effect in spiritual creatures, which he calls the pillars of heaven, because, namely, by their office the motion of the heavens is administered. Hence he says: The pillars of heaven, namely, the angels, tremble and are afraid at his nod, that is, they obey him at a nod; and he speaks according to the likeness of a servant obeying his lord at a nod because of fear and trembling before him, so that fear is referred to the soul, trembling to the body. But it must not be thought that there is servile fear in the holy angels; rather, their reverence toward God is here named fear, and thus dread is referred to affection, while trembling is referred to the exterior effect.

369. And because among the angels there are some who withdrew from due reverence for God, concerning whom it was said above in 4:18: in his angels he found depravity, therefore he consequently adds concerning the distinction of good and evil angels. Now it is believed that, together with the distinction of the bodily creature, there was also the distinction of the spiritual creature, and therefore, to suggest the distinction of the spiritual creature, he first speaks of the bodily creature, saying: By his strength the seas were suddenly gathered together, according to Genesis 1:9: Let the waters that are upon the earth be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And just as bodily creatures are distinguished by divine power, so also spiritual creatures, whence he adds: and by his prudence he struck the proud one, that is, by the power of his providence the proud devil was deprived of his glory; and once he was struck, spiritual gifts were increased for the good angels, whence he adds: His Spirit has adorned the heavens, that is, the heavenly spirits, with the ornaments of spiritual gifts. But it was not fitting that the one struck by the privation of glory should remain with those adorned by the Holy Spirit, and therefore he adds: and by his hand serving as midwife was brought forth, namely, from the society of the good angels, the winding serpent, that is, the devil, who is compared to a serpent because of the venom of malice and is called winding because of cunning. But he pointedly says that he was brought forth by the hand of God serving as midwife: for just as a midwife sometimes brings forth a dead infant in such a way that the mother is not harmed, so God brought forth the devil from the midst of the angels in such a way that the society of the good angels suffered no detriment at all.

370. And lest someone believe that these effects, although they are great, equal the divine power, he adds: Behold, these things have been said in part of his ways, that is, of his works, by which we both ascend to the knowledge of God and God in some way communicates himself to us. And lest these things, even if they do not equal the whole divine power, seem nevertheless in great part to approach equality with it, he adds: and since we have scarcely heard a little drop of his words, who will be able to behold the greatness of his thunder? As if to say: the comparison of all the things that have now been said concerning the effects of the divine power to the divine power is less than that of one small word, as though silently dripping, to the very great sound of thunder.