< Job 4 >

1 respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites dixit
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 si coeperimus loqui tibi forsitan moleste accipias sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis possit
“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 ecce docuisti multos et manus lassas roborasti
Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
4 vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui et genua trementia confortasti
Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
5 nunc autem venit super te plaga et defecisti tetigit te et conturbatus es
But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6 timor tuus fortitudo tua patientia tua et perfectio viarum tuarum
Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?
7 recordare obsecro te quis umquam innocens perierit aut quando recti deleti sint
Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?
8 quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem et seminant dolores et metunt eos
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
9 flante Deo perisse et spiritu irae eius esse consumptos
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
10 rugitus leonis et vox leaenae et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt
The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 tigris periit eo quod non haberet praedam et catuli leonis dissipati sunt
The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri eius
Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.
13 in horrore visionis nocturnae quando solet sopor occupare homines
In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 pavor tenuit me et tremor et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt
fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder.
15 et cum spiritus me praesente transiret inhorruerunt pili carnis meae
Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.
16 stetit quidam cuius non agnoscebam vultum imago coram oculis meis et vocem quasi aurae lenis audivi
It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice:
17 numquid homo Dei conparatione iustificabitur aut factore suo purior erit vir
‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
18 ecce qui serviunt ei non sunt stabiles et in angelis suis repperit pravitatem
If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,
19 quanto magis hii qui habitant domos luteas qui terrenum habent fundamentum consumentur velut a tinea
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
20 de mane usque ad vesperum succidentur et quia nullus intellegit in aeternum peribunt
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.
21 qui autem reliqui fuerint auferentur ex eis morientur et non in sapientia
Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’

< Job 4 >