Job 4
1 Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit:
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Si coeperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies, sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?
If anyone tries to speak with you, will you be impatient? But who can stop himself from speaking?
3 Ecce docuisti multos, et manus lassas roborasti:
See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti:
Your words have supported him who was falling; you have made feeble knees firm.
5 Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti: tetigit te, et conturbatus es.
But now trouble has come to you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are troubled.
6 Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua, patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum?
Is not your fear your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 Recordare obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt?
Think about this, please: Who has ever perished when innocent? Or when were the upright people ever cut off?
8 Quin potius vidi eos, qui operantur iniquitatem, et seminant dolores, et metunt eos,
According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap it.
9 Flante Deo perisse, et spiritu irae eius esse consumptos:
By the breath of God they perish; by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 Rugitus leonis, et vox leaenae, et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt.
The roaring of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions—they are broken.
11 Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet praedam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.
The old lion perishes for lack of victims; the cubs of the lioness are scattered everywhere.
12 Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum, et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri eius.
Now a certain matter was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper about it.
13 In horrore visionis nocturnae, quando solet sopor occupare homines,
Then came thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on people.
14 Pavor tenuit me, et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt:
It was at night when fear and trembling came upon me, and all my bones shook.
15 Et cum spiritus me praesente transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meae.
Then a spirit passed before my face, and the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 Stetit quidam, cuius non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi aurae lenis audivi.
The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice that said,
17 Numquid homo, Dei comparatione iustificabitur, aut factore suo purior erit vir?
“Can a mortal man be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles, et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem:
See, if God puts no trust in his servants; if he accuses his angels of folly,
19 Quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas, qui terrenum habent fundamentum, consumentur velut a tinea?
how much more is this true of those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed sooner than a moth?
20 De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur: et quia nullus intelligit, in aeternum peribunt.
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without anyone noticing them.
21 Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis: morientur, et non in sapientia.
Are not their tent cords plucked up among them? They die; they die without wisdom.
