Job 4
1 Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit:
Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 Si cœperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies, sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?
If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
3 Ecce docuisti multos, et manus lassas roborasti:
Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
4 Vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti:
Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
5 Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti: tetigit te, et conturbatus es.
But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua, patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum?
Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
7 Recordare obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
8 Quin potius vidi eos, qui operantur iniquitatem, et seminant dolores, et metunt eos,
On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
9 Flante Deo perisse, et spiritu iræ eius esse consumptos:
Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
10 Rugitus leonis, et vox leænæ, et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:
11 Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.
The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
12 Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum, et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri eius.
Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.
13 In horrore visionis nocturnæ, quando solet sopor occupare homines,
In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
14 Pavor tenuit me, et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt:
Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
15 Et cum spiritus me præsente transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ.
And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 Stetit quidam, cuius non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi.
There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:
17 Numquid homo, Dei comparatione iustificabitur, aut Factore suo purior erit vir?
Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18 Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles, et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem:
Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
19 Quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas, qui terrenum habent fundamentum, consumentur velut a tinea?
How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
20 De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur: et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt.
From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
21 Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis: morientur, et non in sapientia.
And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
