約伯記 4
1 特曼人厄里法次開始說：
Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,
2 人若和你講話，你能忍受嗎﹖但誰又能忍住不說﹖
If we essay to address a word to thee, wilt thou be wearied? yet who is able to refrain from speaking?
3 看，你曾勸戒過許多人，堅固過軟弱無能的人；
Behold, thou hast [ere this] corrected many, and weak hands thou wast wont to strengthen.
4 你的話扶起了跌倒的人，堅固了膝弱無力的人；
Him that stumbled thy words used to uphold, and to sinking knees thou gavest vigor.
5 但是現今災禍一臨於你，你就萎靡不振；一接觸你，你就沮喪失意。
Yet now, when it cometh to thee, thou art wearied: it toucheth even thee, and thou art terrified.
6 你敬畏天主之情，豈不是你的依靠﹖你完善的行為，豈不是你的希望﹖
Is not then thy fear of God still thy confidence, thy hope equal to the integrity of thy ways?
7 請想：那有無辜者喪亡﹖那有正直者消逝﹖
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous destroyed?
8 照我所見：那播種邪惡的，必收邪惡；散佈毒害的，必收毒害。
Even as I have seen, that those who plough wrong-doing, and sow trouble, have to reap the same.
9 天主一噓氣，他們即滅亡；一發怒氣，他們即消失。
Before the breathing of God they perish, and before the breath of his nostrils they come to their end.
10 獅吼豹嗥完全止息，幼獅的牙齒也被打碎；
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11 壯獅因缺獵物而滅絕，牝獅幼子各自東西離散。
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness have to scatter themselves abroad.
12 我竊聽到一句話，我耳聽見細語聲。
But to me a word came by stealth, and my ear took in a scarcely perceptible whisper thereof.
13 當人沉睡時，夜夢多幻象；
In intense thoughts out of visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men:
14 我恐怖戰慄，全身骨頭發抖。
Dread came over me, with trembling, and it caused all my bones to shudder.
15 寒風掠過我面，使我毛髮悚然。
Then flitted a spirit past before my face; the hair of my body stood up:
16 他停立不動，但我不能辨其形狀；我面前出現形影，我聽見細微的聲音：
It stood still, but I could not recognize its form; a figure was before my eyes, a slight whisper, then a [louder] voice I heard, saying,
17 人豈能在天主前自以為義﹖在造他者前，自以為潔﹖
Can a mortal be more righteous than God? or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 看，他的僕役，他還不信；他的使者，他還歸罪，
Behold, in his servants he putteth no trust, and his angels he chargeth with folly:
19 何況那以泥屋為居所，以塵土為基礎的人! 他們為人踐踏，有如蠹蟲；
How much less in those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed till they come to be eaten by the moth?
20 晨昏間即化為齏粉，永遠消亡而無人一顧。
From morning to evening are they broken to pieces: without laying it [to heart] they perish for ever.
21 幕索如已自斷，他們豈不是因缺少智慧而死亡﹖
Behold, their excellency which is in them is torn away: they die, and this without wisdom.
