Job 16
1 Respondens autem Iob, dixit:
Then Job answered and said,
2 Audivi frequenter talia, consolatores onerosi omnes vos estis.
I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are you all.
3 Numquid habebunt finem verba ventosa? aut aliquid tibi molestum est si loquaris?
Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldens you that you answer?
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:
I also could speak as you do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.
5 Roborarem vos ore meo: et moverem labia mea, quasi parcens vobis.
But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief.
6 Sed quid agam? Si locutus fuero, non quiescet dolor meus: et si tacuero, non recedet a me.
Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
7 Nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus, et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes artus mei.
But now he has made me weary: you have made desolate all my company.
8 Rugæ meæ testimonium dicunt contra me, et suscitatur falsiloquus adversus faciem meam contradicens mihi.
And you have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face.
9 Collegit furorem suum in me, et comminans mihi, infremuit contra me dentibus suis: hostis meus terribilibus oculis me intuitus est.
He tears me in his wrath, who hates me: he gnashes on me with his teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes on me.
10 Aperuerunt super me ora sua, et exprobrantes percusserunt maxillam meam, saciati sunt pœnis meis.
They have gaped on me with their mouth; they have smitten me on the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
11 Conclusit me Deus apud iniquum, et manibus impiorum me tradidit.
God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 Ego ille quondam opulentus repente contritus sum: tenuit cervicem meam, confregit me, et posuit me sibi quasi in signum.
I was at ease, but he has broken me asunder: he has also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
13 Circumdedit me lanceis suis, convulneravit lumbos meos, non pepercit, et effudit in terra viscera mea.
His archers compass me round about, he splits my reins asunder, and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 Concidit me vulnere super vulnus, irruit in me quasi gigas.
He breaks me with breach on breach, he runs on me like a giant.
15 Saccum consui super cutem meam, et operui cinere carnem meam.
I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
16 Facies mea intumuit a fletu, et palpebræ meæ caligaverunt.
My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Hæc passus sum absque iniquitate manus meæ, cum haberem mundas ad Deum preces.
Not for any injustice in my hands: also my prayer is pure.
18 Terra ne operias sanguinem meum, neque inveniat in te locum latendi clamor meus.
O earth, cover not you my blood, and let my cry have no place.
19 Ecce enim in cælo testis meus, et conscius meus in excelsis.
Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
20 Verbosi amivi mei: ad Deum stillat oculus meus.
My friends scorn me: but my eye pours out tears to God.
21 Atque utinam sic iudicaretur vir cum Deo, quomodo iudicatur filius hominis cum collega suo.
O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor!
22 Ecce enim breves anni transeunt, et semitam, per quam non revertar, ambulo.
When a few years are come, then I shall go the way from where I shall not return.
