Job 16
1 Respondens autem Job, dixit:
Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
2 Audivi frequenter talia: consolatores onerosi omnes vos estis.
“I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.
3 Numquid habebunt finem verba ventosa? aut aliquid tibi molestum est, si loquaris?
Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?
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;
If it were you [three and not I] who were suffering, I could say the things that you are saying; I could make great speeches [to criticize/condemn you], and I could shake my head at you [to ridicule you].
5 roborarem vos ore meo, et moverem labia mea, quasi parcens vobis.
But, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.
6 Sed quid agam? Si locutus fuero, non quiescet dolor meus, et si tacuero, non recedet a me.
“But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.
7 Nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus, et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes artus mei.
God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
8 Rugæ meæ testimonium dicunt contra me, et suscitatur falsiloquus adversus faciem meam, contradicens mihi.
He has shriveled me up, and people think that shows that I [am a sinner]. And people see that I am only skin and bones, and they think that proves that I [am guilty].
9 Collegit furorem suum in me, et comminans mihi, infremuit contra me dentibus suis: hostis meus terribilibus oculis me intuitus est.
Because God is very angry with me and hates me, [it is as though he is a wild animal that] [MET] has gnashed his teeth at me because he is my enemy.
10 Aperuerunt super me ora sua, et exprobrantes percusserunt maxillam meam: satiati sunt pœnis meis.
People gape/stare at me with their mouths open [to sneer at me]; they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me, and they crowd around me to threaten me.
11 Conclusit me Deus apud iniquum, et manibus impiorum me tradidit.
[It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
12 Ego ille quondam opulentus, repente contritus sum: tenuit cervicem meam, confregit me, et posuit me sibi quasi in signum.
Previously, I was living peacefully, but he crushed me; [it is as though] he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces. [It is as though] [MET] he set me up like a target;
13 Circumdedit me lanceis suis; convulneravit lumbos meos: non pepercit, et effudit in terra viscera mea.
people are surrounding me [and shooting arrows at me]. His arrows pierce my kidneys and cause the bile [from my liver] to spill onto the ground, and God does not pity me at all.
14 Concidit me vulnere super vulnus: irruit in me quasi gigas.
[It is as though] [MET] I am a wall that he is breaking through; he rushes at me like [SIM] a soldier [attacking his enemies].
15 Saccum consui super cutem meam, et operui cinere carnem meam.
[“Because I am mourning, ] I wear pieces of rough cloth that I have sewed together, and I sit [here] in the dirt, very depressed/discouraged.
16 Facies mea intumuit a fletu, et palpebræ meæ caligaverunt.
My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.
17 Hæc passus sum absque iniquitate manus meæ, cum haberem mundas ad Deum preces.
[All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
18 Terra, ne operias sanguinem meum, neque inveniat in te locum latendi clamor meus:
[When I die, ] I want the ground [APO] to [act as though I had been murdered and] cry out against those who killed me, and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding [that God act justly toward] me.
19 ecce enim in cælo testis meus, et conscius meus in excelsis.
But even now, [I know that] there is someone in heaven who will testify for me, and he will say that what I have done is right.
20 Verbosi amici mei: ad Deum stillat oculus meus:
My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.
21 atque utinam sic judicaretur vir cum Deo, quomodo judicatur filius hominis cum collega suo.
I pray that [the] one [who knows what I have done] would come to plead with God for me like people plead for their friends.
22 Ecce enim breves anni transeunt, et semitam per quam non revertar ambulo.
[I say this because] within a few years [I will die]; I will walk along the [to the grave] from which I will never return.”
