< Job 5 >
1 Therfor clepe thou, if `ony is that schal answere thee, and turne thou to summe of seyntis.
Call now, if there be any that will answer you; and to which of the saints will you turn?
2 Wrathfulnesse sleeth `a fonned man, and enuye sleeth a litil child.
For wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one.
3 Y siy a fool with stidefast rote, and Y curside his feirnesse anoon.
I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4 Hise sones schulen be maad fer fro helthe, and thei schulen be defoulid in the yate, and `noon schal be that schal delyuere hem.
His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
5 Whos ripe corn an hungri man schal ete, and an armed man schal rauysche hym, and thei, that thirsten, schulen drynke hise richessis.
Whose harvest the hungry eats up, and takes it even out of the thorns, and the robber swallows up their substance.
6 No thing is doon in erthe with out cause, and sorewe schal not go out of the erthe.
Although affliction comes not out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
7 A man is borun to labour, and a brid to fliyt.
Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8 Wherfor Y schal biseche the Lord, and Y schal sette my speche to my God.
I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
9 That makith grete thingis, and that moun not be souyt out, and wondurful thingis with out noumbre.
Which does great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
10 Which yyueth reyn on the face of erthe, and moistith alle thingis with watris.
Who gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields:
11 Which settith meke men an hiy, and reisith with helthe hem that morenen.
To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
12 Which distrieth the thouytis of yuel willid men, that her hondis moun not fille tho thingis that thei bigunnen.
He dissapoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13 Which takith cautelouse men in the felnesse `of hem, and distrieth the counsel of schrewis.
He takes the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the perverse is carried headlong.
14 Bi dai thei schulen renne in to derknessis, and as in nyyt so thei schulen grope in myddai.
They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
15 Certis God schal make saaf a nedi man fro the swerd of her mouth, and a pore man fro the hond of the violent, `ethir rauynour.
But he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
16 And hope schal be to a nedi man, but wickidnesse schal drawe togidere his mouth.
So the poor has hope, and iniquity stops her mouth.
17 Blessid is the man, which is chastisid of the Lord; therfor repreue thou not the blamyng of the Lord.
Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore despise not you the chastening of the Almighty:
18 For he woundith, and doith medicyn; he smytith, and hise hondis schulen make hool.
For he makes sore, and binds up: he wounds, and his hands make whole.
19 In sixe tribulaciouns he schal delyuere thee, and in the seuenthe tribulacioun yuel schal not touche thee.
He shall deliver you in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch you.
20 In hungur he schal delyuere thee fro deeth, and in batel fro the power of swerd.
In famine he shall redeem you from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
21 Thou schalt be hid fro the scourge of tunge, and thou schalt not drede myseiste, `ethir wretchidnesse, whanne it cometh.
You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 In distriyng maad of enemyes and in hungur thou schalt leiye, and thou schalt not drede the beestis of erthe.
At destruction and famine you shall laugh: neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23 But thi couenaunt schal be with the stonys of erthe, and beestis of erthe schulen be pesible to thee.
For you shall be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 And thou schalt wite, that thi tabernacle hath pees, and thou visitynge thi fairnesse schalt not do synne.
And you shall know that your tabernacle shall be in peace; and you shall visit your habitation, and shall not sin.
25 And thou schalt wite also, that thi seed schal be many fold, and thi generacioun schal be as an erbe of erthe.
You shall know also that your seed shall be great, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 In abundaunce thou schalt go in to the sepulcre, as an heep of wheete is borun in his tyme.
You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of corn comes in in his season.
27 Lo! this is so, as we han souyt; which thing herd, trete thou in minde.
Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know you it for your good.