< Job 4 >
1 Forsothe Eliphat Themanytes answeride, and seide,
Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit:
2 If we bigynnen to speke to thee, in hap thou schalt take it heuyli; but who may holde a word conseyued?
[Si cœperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies; sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?
3 Lo! thou hast tauyt ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
Ecce docuisti multos, et manus lassas roborasti;
4 Thi wordis confermyden men doutynge, and thou coumfortidist knees tremblynge.
vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti.
5 But now a wounde is comun on thee, and thou hast failid; it touchide thee, and thou art disturblid.
Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti; tetigit te, et conturbatus es.
6 Where is thi drede, thi strengthe, and thi pacience, and the perfeccioun of thi weies?
Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua, patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum?
7 Y biseche thee, haue thou mynde, what innocent man perischide euere, ethir whanne riytful men weren doon awei?
Recordare, obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt?
8 Certis rathir Y siy hem, that worchen wickidnesse, and sowen sorewis,
Quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem, et seminant dolores, et metunt eos,
9 and repen tho, to haue perischid bi God blowynge, and to be wastid bi the spirit of his ire.
flante Deo perisse, et spiritu iræ ejus esse consumptos.
10 The roryng of a lioun, and the vois of a lionesse, and the teeth of `whelpis of liouns ben al to-brokun.
Rugitus leonis, et vox leænæ, et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt.
11 Tigris perischide, for sche hadde not prey; and the whelpis of a lioun ben distried.
Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.
12 Certis an hid word was seid to me, and myn eere took as theueli the veynes of priuy noise therof.
Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum, et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri ejus.
13 In the hidousnesse of `nyytis siyt, whanne heuy sleep is wont to occupie men,
In horrore visionis nocturnæ, quando solet sopor occupare homines,
14 drede and tremblyng helde me; and alle my boonys weren aferd.
pavor tenuit me, et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt;
15 And whanne the spirit `yede in my presence, the heiris of `my fleisch hadden hidousnesse.
et cum spiritus, me præsente, transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ.
16 Oon stood, whos chere Y knewe not, an ymage bifor myn iyen; and Y herde a vois as of softe wynd.
Stetit quidam, cujus non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi.
17 Whether a man schal be maad iust in comparisoun of God? ethir whethir a man schal be clennere than his Makere?
Numquid homo, Dei comparatione, justificabitur? aut factore suo purior erit vir?
18 Lo! thei that seruen hym ben not stidefast; and he findith schrewidnesse in hise aungels.
Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles, et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem;
19 Hou myche more thei that dwellen in housis of cley, that han an ertheli foundement, schulen be wastyd as of a mouyte.
quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas, qui terrenum habent fundamentum, consumentur velut a tinea?
20 Fro morewtid til to euentid thei schulen be kit doun; and for no man vndurstondith, thei schulen perische with outen ende.
De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur; et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt.
21 Sotheli thei, that ben residue, schulen be takun awei; thei schulen die, and not in wisdom.
Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis; morientur, et non in sapientia.]