This piece is a meditation on the problem of pain and suffering. It sets the story of Job, a just man, who after experiencing the great number of evils still finds the words "Naked I departed from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Just as it pleased the Lord so has it been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
un-premiered
Vir erat | 2016 | SATB w/ divisi a cappella | 6'
Job 1
Vir erat in terra Hus, nomine Job: simplex et rectus, ac timens Deus: quem Satan petiit, ut tentaret et data est ei potestas a Domino in faculates, et in carnem ejus: perdiditque omnem substantiam ipsius et filios: carnem quoque ejus gravi ulcere vulneravit. et dixit (Job): "Nudus egressus sum de utero matris mea, et nudus revertar illuc: Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit: sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est: sit nomen Domini benedictum."
There was a man in the land of Hus named Job: simple and upright and fearing God; whom Satan besought that he might tempt: and power was given him from the Lord over his possesions and his flesh; and he destroyed all his substance and his children and he wounded his flesh also with a grievous ulcer. and Job said: "Naked I departed from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Just as it pleased the Lord so has it been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.