Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
Tete Temanitɔ Elifaz ɖo eŋu na Hiob be,
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
“Ne ame aɖe te kpɔ be yeaƒo nu kpli wò la, ɖe nàgbɔ dzi ɖi aseea? Ke ame kae ate ŋu azi ɖoɖoe le nu sia ŋuti?
3 Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
Bu ale si nèfia nu ame geɖewo kple ale si nèdo ŋusẽ asi beliwoe ŋuti.
4 Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
Wò nyawo lé ame siwo yina anyi dze ge la ɖe te eye nèdo ŋusẽ klo beliwo.
5 But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
Ke azɔ la, dzɔgbevɔ̃e va dziwò, eye dzi ɖe le ƒo wò; eƒo wò ƒu anyi eye nèse veve.
6 Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?
Ɖe wò Mawuvɔvɔ̃ manye wò dzideƒo eye wò blibodede nanye wò mɔkpɔkpɔ oa?
7 Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?
“Azɔ bu eŋuti kpɔ. Ame maɖifɔ ka wohe to na kpɔ? Afi ka wogblẽ ame dzɔdzɔe dome le kpɔ?
8 As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
Abe ale si mede dzesii ene la, ame siwo ŋlɔ vɔ̃ɖivɔ̃ɖi ƒe agble eye woƒã dzɔgbevɔ̃e lae ŋenɛ.
9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
Ne Mawu gbɔ ɖe wo dzi la woyrɔna eye ne eƒe dziku fla la wotsrɔ̃na.
10 The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
Dzatawo aɖe gbe, axlɔ̃ sesĩe gake woate ŋu aŋe aɖu na dzataviwo.
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
Dzata kuna ne mekpɔ nu lé o eye dzatanɔwo kakana.
12 Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.
“Wotsɔ nya aɖe vɛ nam le adzame, nye towo see wotsɔe do dalĩ nam.
13 In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
Le drɔ̃ewo me le zã me, esi amewo dɔ alɔ̃ yi eme ʋĩi la,
14 fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder.
vɔvɔ̃ kple dzodzo nyanyanya lém eye wona nye ƒuwo katã dzo kpekpekpe.
15 Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.
Gbɔgbɔ aɖe ɖo asagba va to nye ŋkume yi eye ɖadoe ɖo to ɖe ŋunye.
16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice:
Etɔ gake nyemate ŋu agblɔ nu si wònye o. Nɔnɔme aɖe va tsi tsitre ɖe ŋkunye me eye mese gbe bɔlɔe aɖe be,
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
‘Ɖe ame kodzogbea anɔ dzɔdzɔe wu Mawua? Ɖe amegbetɔ anɔ dzadzɛe wu eƒe Wɔlaa?
18 If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,
Ne Mawu meka ɖe eƒe dɔlawo dzi o eye wòbua fɔ eƒe dɔlawo be woda vo,
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
ʋuu keke, ke wòahanye ame siwo le anyixɔwo me, ame siwo gɔme woɖo anyi ɖe ke me eye wogbãa wo bɔbɔe abe ŋɔvi ene!
20 They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.
Wogbãa wo gudugudu le fɔŋli kple zã dome, ame aɖeke menyana gɔ̃ hã o, ale wotsrɔ̃na gbidii.
21 Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’
Ɖe womehoa woƒe agbadɔkawo, ale be woaku numanyamanyae oa?’”
