Fathers

Job 23

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

Then Job answered and said, Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Job 23:13

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

But He is Himself alone, and no man can turn away His thought. And what His soul desireth, even that He doeth. Are there not angels and men, the heavens and the earth, the air and the waters of the ocean, all the winged creatures, quadrupeds, and creeping things? And surely it is written, Which God created that they should be. Whereas then there is such a multitude of things in the circle of nature, wherefore is it now said by the voice of the blessed man, He is Himself alone? …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI ↗

Thomas Aquinas

To the objection that this proof which he introduced on the basis of the righteousness of his life is not fitting, he shows as a consequence that the most certain and demonstrative proof cannot be introduced about divine judgments because of the incomprehensibility of the divine will. So he then says, "Truly he is alone," as if to say: There is no other creature like or equal to him who can comprehend him, and consequently his will. …

Commentary on Job ↗

Bonaventure

The fear of the Lord arises in us from the consideration of the perspicacity of divine wisdom. Whence Job: "For he alone is, and no one can turn away his thoughts. And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him, I am made fearful with dread." He alone is, that is, from himself alone he has being, and all other things are from him. And just as all things flow from the first being, so God is the cause of all things. …

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2 ↗