Testament of Job

Kohler1897 English translation, printed page 325

Testament of Job. 325 19. But 1 replied to her: “Behold I have been for these seven years plague-stricken, and I have stood the worms of my budy, and I was not weighed down in my soul by all these pains. 20. And as to the word which thou sayest: ‘Speak some word against God and die!’, together with thee I will sustain the evil which thou seest, and let us endure the ruin of all that we have. 21. Yet thou desirest that we should say some word against God and that He should be exchanged for the great Pluto [the god of the nether world.|!) 22. Why dost thou not remember those great goods which we possessed? If these goods come from the lands of the Lord, should not we also endure evils and be high- minded in everything until the Lord will have merey again and show pity to us? 23. Dost thou not see the Seducer stand behind thee and confound thy thoughts in order that thou shouldst beguile me?” 24. And he turned to Satan and said: “Why dost thou not come openly: to me? Stop hiding thyself, thou wretched one. 25. Does the lion show his strength in the weasel-cage? Or does the bird fly in the basket? I now tell thee: Go away and wage thy war against me’. 26. The he went off from behind my wife and placed himself before me erying and he said: “Behold, Job, I yield and give. way to thee who art but flesh while I am a spirit. 27. Thou art plague-stricken, but I am in great trouble. 28. For I am like a wrestler contesting with a wrestler who has, in a single-handed combat, torn down his antagonist and covered him with dust and broken every limb of his, whereas the other one who lies beneath, having displayed his bravery, gives forth sounds of triumph testifying to his own superior excellence. 29. Thus thou, O Job, art beneath and stricken with plague and pain, and yet thou hast carried the victory in the wrestling-match with me, and behold, I yield to thee’. 30. Then he left me abashed. 31. Now my children, do you also show a firm heart in all the evil that happens to you, for greater than all things is firmness of heart. 1) Tod μεγάλου. Read Πλουτῶνος for Tod μεγάλου Π]λουτου, which has no sense; cf. minda de.