Verse 9. — 'Their houses are secure and peaceful, and the rod of God is not upon them.' 47. They are secure and peaceful, because they live sinning, do what is to be lamented, and do not forsake their joys. The rod of heavenly discipline does not strike them, and by so much the more do they advance in guilt, by how much the less they are smitten for their guilt. But because we have heard what prospers within, let us also see what prosperity smiles in the fields. There follows: Verse 10. — 'Their ox conceived, and did not miscarry; their cow calved, and was not deprived of her offspring.' It is the usage of common speech to call the male 'ox' (bos) and the female 'cow' (vacca), but the speech of grammar calls the ox a noun of common gender. Whence now it is said:
'Their ox conceived, and did not miscarry; their cow calved, and was not deprived of her offspring.' To the owners of flocks the first happiness is if the flock, not being barren, conceives; the second, if the conception comes to birth; the third, if that which is born is brought to full growth through nourishment. That he might therefore show all these to be present together to the wicked, blessed Job asserts that their flocks conceived and did not miscarry; brought forth, and were not deprived of their own offspring. But it is a lesser happiness if, while the flocks increase, the keepers of the flocks do not also multiply. Whence to the fruitfulness of the flocks the fruitfulness of the household is soon substituted. For it is said: