1 I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.
v.1
VERS. 1.-- « I made a covenant with my eyes. » Now he enumerates his own virtues in order, so weaving the history of his life that he may insert something very rare which can be understood allegorically. « I made a covenant with my eyes. » For that the thoughts of the heart, etc., *as far as* They ought not to behold the things which it is not lawful to covet.
2 For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high?
v.2
VERS. 2.-- « For what part should God have in me from above. » As if he should say: The founder of the high places refuses to have me for his possession, if my mind wastes away with weak desires before his sight. For no good things please God without cleanness of mind.
3 Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity?
v.3
VERS. 3.-- « Is there not destruction for the wicked. » Then will there be alienation for the reprobate, when they shall behold themselves to be anathema from the inheritance of the strict judge.
4 Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?
v.4
VERS. 4.-- « Doth not he himself consider my ways and all. » By the name of ways, etc., *as far as* the things which among us have grown cheap by use remain unexamined. Knowing himself to be seen he takes heed, yet not secure and perfect indeed among the ancients, he weighs in the precepts of the Christ to come how much he lacks of perfection. Therefore he says: « If thou goest about. »
5 If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit:
6 Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.
v.6
VERS. 6.-- « Let him weigh, » as if he should say: So far as concerns the measure of human life I see no evils in me; but unless the mediator appear, who surpasses all men, I do not know how far I am distant from true simplicity. « In a just balance. » By the name of the balance the mediator of God and of men, etc., *as far as* if he had truly held a simple life.
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:
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VERS. 7.-- « If my step hath turned aside from the way. » So often does the step turn aside from the way, as often as our thought forsakes the path of rectitude through consent to error. « And if my heart hath followed my eyes. » For as temptation is drawn in through the eyes, so sometimes that which has been conceived within compels the eyes without to serve it.
8 Then let me sow and let another reap: and let my offspring be rooted out.
v.8
VERS. 8.-- « And let my offspring be rooted out. » Whosoever lives not according to that which he speaks, those whom he has begotten by word he plucks up by his work from the stability of rectitude
9 If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend's door:
v.9
VERS. 9.-- « If it hath been deceived. » By this the holy man is shown not even to have thought about the stain of fornication. « And if at the door. » By this he plainly shows, etc., *as far as* according to this which he says if the heart has been deceived, etc.
10 Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her.
11 For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity.
v.11
VERS. 11.-- « For this is a wickedness. » Herein does sin differ from crime, etc., *as far as* but it devours even unto perdition.
12 It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.
v.12
VERS. 12.-- « And rooting out all offshoots. » The germs of the soul are good works, because if the evil of luxury is not resisted, those things also perish which seemed good; but in so great a cleanness of chastity he opens how humble he was, when he subjoins:
13 If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:
v.13
VERS. 13.-- « If I have despised to undergo. » He who refuses not to be judged together with his menservants and maidservants, etc., *as far as* whence also he forthwith adds: « For what shall I do. »
14 For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?
v.15
VERS. 15.-- « Did not he make in the womb. » For men in power the virtue of humility is great. Having considered the equality of their condition, he now turns himself to the works of liberality.
16 If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:
v.16
VERS. 16.-- « If I have denied what they wished. » After chastity and humility he adds concerning liberality; by this it is shown that he served the poor not only in their want but even in their desire. « And the eyes of the widow. » That is to be given without delay which is sought with true humility, that is, which is asked not out of desire, but out of necessity, so that the merits of good works may be increased not only by the gift, but also by the swiftness of the gift.
17 If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:
v.17
VERS. 17.-- « If I have eaten my morsel alone. » Not only did I give outwardly, etc., *as far as* Nor does he ascribe this piety to himself, but to the grace of God, saying.
18 (For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother's womb:)
19 If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:
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VERS. 19.-- « If I have despised him that passed by. » In that he despised not the poor man, he showed the virtue of humility; but in that he covered him, the virtue of piety. And he shows that he had pity on a neighbour unknown to him, whom he calls one passing by, because with a pious mind nature avails more than acquaintance, as in Job.
20 If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep:
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate:
v.21
VERS. 21.-- « If I have lifted up against the little one. » As if he should plainly say, etc., *as far as* it signifies that which was done in the gate.
22 Let my shoulder fall from its joint, and let my arm with its bones be broken.
v.22
VERS. 22.-- « My shoulder. » If those good things which I have brought forth with my mouth, etc., *as far as* that he may show them joined together in himself, he enumerates them one by one.
23 For I have always feared God as waves swelling over me, and his weight I was unable to bear.
v.23
VERS. 23.-- « For always as it were. » The floods, when swelling they hang over from above, etc., *as far as* which the saints daily dread. « I could not bear its weight, » since he who considers the coming of the last judgment with intent mind, is assuredly seen to be so terrified that so great a dread hangs over him, as he fears not only to see then, but even now to foresee.
24 If I have thought gold my strength, and have said to fine gold: My confidence:
v.24
VERS. 24.-- « If I have thought gold. » For it would have been to despair of the Creator, if he had placed hope in the creature: for he who leans upon that which is falling, must needs fall with what falls.
25 If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much.
v.25
VERS. 25.-- « If I have rejoiced. » For nothing outside God suffices the mind which truly seeks God, etc., *as far as* The understanding either grows torpid in idleness, or vanishes away in elation, and therefore he says: « If I have rejoiced. » But when the things which it understands, etc., *as far as* the heart gaping outwardly is blinded away from the invisible light, and this is the sense.
26 If I beheld the sun when it shined and the moon going in brightness:
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VERS. 26.-- « If I have seen the sun. » Almost alone do men not see their own good things, etc., *as far as* while by the contemplation of the mind, the sun from heaven. « And the moon going. » By the moon he means fame, which, shining in the night of this life, receives its strength from good work. « And my heart hath not rejoiced in secret. » For there are those who are exalted in their own praises before themselves, and rejoice. And this is:
27 And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth:
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VERS. 27.-- « And it hath rejoiced, etc. » And because a heedless mind, drawn by favours, sometimes praises what it has done, he adds: « And I have kissed: » by the mouth speech is signified: he therefore kisses his own hand with his own mouth, who praises what he does.
28 Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God.
v.28
VERS. 28.-- « Which is an iniquity. » Because whosoever ascribes to himself what he works is convicted of denying the grace of his own author. « Most great. » Every sin which is of infirmity does not lose hope, because it seeks pardon from God; but presumption, by how much the farther it is from humility, by so much the more grievously in despair, and while it ascribes strength to itself, it seeks not from God.
29 If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him.
v.29
VERS. 29.-- « If I have rejoiced at. » Because, namely, loving even his enemy, when he grieved with his falling adversary, he himself also grew to good out of that man's evils
30 For I have not been given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul.
v.30
VERS. 30.-- « For I have not given. » For there are some who strike with cursing those whom they reckon adversaries, because by strength they are by no means able.
31 If the men of my tabernacle have not said: Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled?
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VERS. 31.-- « If the men have not said. » For he bore with adversaries dwelling beside him, because he did not yield by silence to those who acted unjustly, but withstood them by rectitude. « Who may give of. » This mystically of Christ, of whose flesh they desired to be filled, either the Jews of the household, willing as it were to destroy his body by consuming it, or the believing Gentiles, who are daily refreshed from his body.
32 The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller.
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VERS. 32.-- « The stranger did not stay without. » About to speak of his own bounty in the grace of hospitality, he first set forth what manner of man he had been within himself, because outward gifts are seasoned out of the inward cleanness of the heart.
33 If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom.
v.33
VERS. 33.-- « If I have hidden as a man. » He perceives it to be proper to man, etc., *as far as* the confession of sin being expressed, it is rightly subjoined:
34 If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door.
v.34
VERS. 34.-- « If I have dreaded at the multitude. » To desire nothing of the world is great security, so that, cleaving to him who is unchangeable, a man is not troubled in mind though all things below be in tumult, even if outwardly he is sometimes troubled by the infirmity of the flesh. « And the contempt. » Good men, even when despised, do not open their own things, etc., *as far as* they go forth as through the door of the mouth, whence: « And I was not rather silent. » Well does he set « I was silent, » first, because he who impatiently knows not how to be silent goes out from the house of conscience. This mystically of Christ, who feared not his many persecutors, nor those who despised him, who both was silent, and, having gone out, did not avenge himself by his power.
35 Who would grant me a hearing, that the Almighty may hear my desire: and that he himself that judgeth would write a book,
v.35
VERS. 35.-- « Who will grant me a hearer, that he may hear my desire? » He requires a mediator, knowing that the prayers of human desire cannot be heard unto the rest of eternal deliverance except through his own advocate: of whom it is added. « And that he write a book; whence: The Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son. » Who, coming for our redemption, etc., *as far as* but why, blessed Job, dost thou desire that a book be written?
36 That I may carry it on my shoulder, and put it about me as a crown?
v.36
VERS. 36.-- « That I may carry it upon my shoulder. » To carry the book upon the shoulder is to fulfil Holy Scripture by working. But first it is described as carried upon the shoulder, and afterwards as encircling like a crown, because if the commands of the sacred eloquence are now well carried in work, afterwards they present to us the crown of victory in the recompense.
37 At every step of mine I would pronounce it, and offer it as to a prince.
v.37
VERS. 37.-- « Through my every step. » He calls the increases of the virtues steps, etc., *as far as* but shows it also by works. « And I would offer it as to a prince. » What we offer, we hold in the hand. Therefore to offer the book to him who comes to judgment is to have held the words of his precepts in action.
38 If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn:
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VERS. 38.-- « If against me. » For a greater showing, etc., *as far as* and it is called a land tilled by no works. « And with it the furrows. » Those are called furrows who, etc., *as far as* and the untaught cry out against him, and the perfect weep
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the son of the tillers thereof:
v.39
VERS. 39.-- « If I have eaten its fruits. » He who presides and he who is subject, etc., *as far as* from whom he received the fruit of bodily service. « I have afflicted the soul of its husbandmen. » The ruler of the Church afflicts the souls of the husbandmen, etc., *as far as* who seeks not his own glory, wills to be helped by all.
40 Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.
v.40
VERS. 40.-- « Instead of wheat. » If, I say, I did this or that, etc., *as far as* of them therefore, « Its glory as the flower of grass. » « Instead of wheat. » For instead of wheat a thistle, and instead of barley a thorn arises, when in the last recompense, in which the reward of labour is sought, the pricking of grief is found.