Job 4

1 Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit:

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 Si cœperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies, sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?

Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?

3 Ecce docuisti multos, et manus lassas roborasti:

For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,

4 Vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti:

and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.

5 Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti: tetigit te, et conturbatus es.

Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled.

6 Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua, patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum?

Is not thy fear [founded] in folly, thy hope also, and the mischief of thy way?

7 Recordare obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt?

Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?

8 Quin potius vidi eos, qui operantur iniquitatem, et seminant dolores, et metunt eos,

Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.

9 Flante Deo perisse, et spiritu iræ eius esse consumptos:

They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.

10 Rugitus leonis, et vox leænæ, et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt.

The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.

11 Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.

The old lion has perished for want of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.

12 Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum, et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri eius.

But if there had been any truth in thy words, none of these evils would have befallen thee. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?

13 In horrore visionis nocturnæ, quando solet sopor occupare homines,

But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,

14 Pavor tenuit me, et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt:

horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.

15 Et cum spiritus me præsente transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ.

And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.

16 Stetit quidam, cuius non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi.

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],

17 Numquid homo, Dei comparatione iustificabitur, aut Factore suo purior erit vir?

What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?

18 Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles, et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem:

Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.

19 Quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas, qui terrenum habent fundamentum, consumentur velut a tinea?

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.

20 De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur: et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt.

And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves.

21 Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis: morientur, et non in sapientia.

For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.