Job 16
1 Respondens autem Job, dixit:
And Job made answer and said,
2 [Audivi frequenter talia: consolatores onerosi omnes vos estis.
Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble.
3 Numquid habebunt finem verba ventosa? aut aliquid tibi molestum est, si loquaris?
May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them?
4 Poteram et ego similia vestri loqui, atque utinam esset anima vestra pro anima mea: consolarer et ego vos sermonibus, et moverem caput meum super vos;
It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:
5 roborarem vos ore meo, et moverem labia mea, quasi parcens vobis.
I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.
6 Sed quid agam? Si locutus fuero, non quiescet dolor meus, et si tacuero, non recedet a me.
If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?
7 Nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus, et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes artus mei.
But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble.
8 Rugæ meæ testimonium dicunt contra me, et suscitatur falsiloquus adversus faciem meam, contradicens mihi.
It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.
9 Collegit furorem suum in me, et comminans mihi, infremuit contra me dentibus suis: hostis meus terribilibus oculis me intuitus est.
I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes;
10 Aperuerunt super me ora sua, et exprobrantes percusserunt maxillam meam: satiati sunt pœnis meis.
Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me.
11 Conclusit me Deus apud iniquum, et manibus impiorum me tradidit.
God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers.
12 Ego ille quondam opulentus, repente contritus sum: tenuit cervicem meam, confregit me, et posuit me sibi quasi in signum.
I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.
13 Circumdedit me lanceis suis; convulneravit lumbos meos: non pepercit, et effudit in terra viscera mea.
His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
14 Concidit me vulnere super vulnus: irruit in me quasi gigas.
I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war.
15 Saccum consui super cutem meam, et operui cinere carnem meam.
I have made haircloth the clothing of my skin, and my horn is rolled in the dust.
16 Facies mea intumuit a fletu, et palpebræ meæ caligaverunt.
My face is red with weeping, and my eyes are becoming dark;
17 Hæc passus sum absque iniquitate manus meæ, cum haberem mundas ad Deum preces.
Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.
18 Terra, ne operias sanguinem meum, neque inveniat in te locum latendi clamor meus:
O earth, let not my blood be covered, and let my cry have no resting-place!
19 ecce enim in cælo testis meus, et conscius meus in excelsis.
Even now my witness is in heaven, and the supporter of my cause is on high.
20 Verbosi amici mei: ad Deum stillat oculus meus:
My friends make sport of me; to God my eyes are weeping,
21 atque utinam sic judicaretur vir cum Deo, quomodo judicatur filius hominis cum collega suo.
So that he may give decision for a man in his cause with God, and between a son of man and his neighbour.
22 Ecce enim breves anni transeunt, et semitam per quam non revertar ambulo.]
For in a short time I will take the journey from which I will not come back.
