"5. The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." "7. Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is be?" 16. He shall suck the _poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him_." How? "23. When he is about to fill his belly, _God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him_, and shall RAIN IT UPON him, while he is eating. "24. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. {p. 298} "25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword" (the comet?) "cometh out of his gall: _terrors are upon him_. "26. _All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him_. . . . "27. The heavens _shall reveal his iniquity;_ and _the earth shall rise up against him_. "28. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall _flow away_ in the day of his wrath." What does all this mean? While the rich man, (necessarily a wicked man,) is eating his dinner, God shall rain upon him a consuming fire, a fire not blown by man; he shall be pierced by the arrows of God, the earth shall quake under his feet, the heavens shall blaze forth his iniquity; the darkness shall be hid, shall disappear, in the glare of the conflagration; and his substance shall flow away in the floods of God's wrath. Job answers him in powerful language, maintaining from past experience his position that the wicked ones do not suffer in this life any more than the virtuous (chap. xxi): "Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They spend their days in wealth, and _in a moment go down to the grave_. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." And here we seem to have a description (chap. xvi, Douay ver.) of Job's contact with the comet: "9. A false speaker riseth up against my face, contradicting me." That is, Job had always proclaimed the goodness of God, and here comes something altogether evil. {p. 299} "10. He hath gathered together his fury against me; and threatening me he hath _gnashed with his teeth upon me:_ my enemy hath beheld me _with terrible_ eyes." "14. He has compassed me _round about with his lances_, he hath wounded my loins, he hath not spared, he hath poured out my bowels on the earth. "15. He hath torn me with _wound upon wound_, he hath rushed in upon me _like a giant_." "20. For behold _my witness is in heaven_, and he that knoweth my conscience is on high." It is impossible to understand this as referring to a skin-disease, or even to the contradictions of Job's companions, Zophar, Bildad, etc.