Verse 9: 'As the cloud is consumed and passes away, so he who descends to the nether world shall not come up' (Job 7:9). 33. For the damned there is no return to pardon, nor to the things they loved. — For the cloud is suspended toward the higher regions; but, condensed, it is driven by the wind so that it runs, and by the heat of the sun it is dispersed so that it vanishes. Just so, without doubt, are the hearts of men, which by the native power of the reason they have received flash forth toward the heights, but, driven by the blast of the malign spirit, are dragged this way and that by the depraved motions of their desires; but, at the strict scrutiny of the Judge on high, they are, as it were, liquefied by the heat of the sun, and, once delivered to the places of punishment, they no longer return to the exercise of working.
The holy man, therefore, expressing the exaltation, the downfall, and the failing of the human race, says: 'As the cloud is consumed and passes away, so he who descends to the nether world shall not come up.' As if he were plainly to speak, saying: He who by pride tends toward destruction fails while rising on high; and him whom guilt once drags down to punishment, mercy no longer leads back to pardon. Whence it is still further subjoined: