Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Forsothe Eliphat Themanytes answeride, and seide,
2 Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?
If we bigynnen to speke to thee, in hap thou schalt take it heuyli; but who may holde a word conseyued?
3 For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,
Lo! thou hast tauyt ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
4 and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.
Thi wordis confermyden men doutynge, and thou coumfortidist knees tremblynge.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.
But now a wounde is comun on thee, and thou hast failid; it touchide thee, and thou art disturblid.
6 Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?
Where is thi drede, thi strengthe, and thi pacience, and the perfeccioun of thi weies?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Y biseche thee, haue thou mynde, what innocent man perischide euere, ethir whanne riytful men weren doon awei?
8 Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
Certis rathir Y siy hem, that worchen wickidnesse, and sowen sorewis,
9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
and repen tho, to haue perischid bi God blowynge, and to be wastid bi the spirit of his ire.
10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
The roryng of a lioun, and the vois of a lionesse, and the teeth of `whelpis of liouns ben al to-brokun.
11 The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
Tigris perischide, for sche hadde not prey; and the whelpis of a lioun ben distried.
12 But if there had been any truth in your words, none of these evils would have befallen you. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?
Certis an hid word was seid to me, and myn eere took as theueli the veynes of priuy noise therof.
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
In the hidousnesse of `nyytis siyt, whanne heuy sleep is wont to occupie men,
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
drede and tremblyng helde me; and alle my boonys weren aferd.
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
And whanne the spirit `yede in my presence, the heiris of `my fleisch hadden hidousnesse.
16 I arose and perceived it not: I looked, and there, was no form before my eyes: but I only heard a breath and a voice, [saying],
Oon stood, whos chere Y knewe not, an ymage bifor myn iyen; and Y herde a vois as of softe wynd.
17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
Whether a man schal be maad iust in comparisoun of God? ethir whethir a man schal be clennere than his Makere?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
Lo! thei that seruen hym ben not stidefast; and he findith schrewidnesse in hise aungels.
19 But [as for] them that dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he smites them like a moth.
Hou myche more thei that dwellen in housis of cley, that han an ertheli foundement, schulen be wastyd as of a mouyte.
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.
Fro morewtid til to euentid thei schulen be kit doun; and for no man vndurstondith, thei schulen perische with outen ende.
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Sotheli thei, that ben residue, schulen be takun awei; thei schulen die, and not in wisdom.
