Liber Iob, 14
1. Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, commotione satiatur.
1. "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
2. Qui quasi flos egreditur et arescit et fugit velut umbra et non permanet.
2. He comes forth like a flower, and withers; he flees like a shadow, and continues not.
3. Et dignum ducis super huiuscemodi aperire oculos tuos et adducere eum tecum in iudicium?
3. And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one and bring him into judgment with thee?
4. Quis potest facere mundum de immundo? Ne unus quidem!
4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
5. Si statuti dies hominis sunt, et numerus mensium eius apud te est, et constituti sunt termini eius, quos non praeteribit,
5. Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,
6. averte oculos tuos ab eo, ut quiescat, donec solvat, sicut mercennarius, dies suos.
6. look away from him, and desist, that he may enjoy, like a hireling, his day.
7. Nam lignum habet spem; si praecisum fuerit, rursum virescet, et rami eius non deficient.
7. "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
8. Si senuerit in terra radix eius, et in pulvere emortuus fuerit truncus illius,
8. Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the ground,
9. ad odorem aquae germinabit et faciet comam quasi novellae.
9. yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
10. Homo vero cum mortuus fuerit et debilitatur, exspirat homo et, ubi, quaeso, est?
10. But man dies, and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
11. Recedent aquae de mari, et fluvius vacuefactus arescet;
11. As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,
12. sic homo, cum dormierit, non resurget: donec atteratur caelum, non evigilabit nec consurget de somno suo.
12. so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep.
13. Quis mihi hoc tribuat, ut in inferno seponas me et abscondas me, donec pertranseat furor tuus, et constituas mihi tempus, in quo recorderis mei?
13. Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14. Putasne mortuus homo rursum vivat? Cunctis diebus, quibus nunc milito, exspectarem, donec veniat immutatio mea.
14. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my release should come.
15. Vocares me, et ego responderem tibi; opus manuum tuarum requireres.
15. Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee; thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands.
16. Tu quidem nunc gressus meos dinumerares, sed parceres peccatis meis.
16. For then thou wouldest number my steps, thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin;
17. Signares quasi in sacculo delicta mea, sed dealbares iniquitatem meam.
17. my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity.
18. Mons cadens decidit, et saxum transfertur de loco suo;
18. "But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
19. lapides excavant aquae, et alluvione terra inundatur: et spem hominis perdes.
19. the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so thou destroyest the hope of man.
20. Praevales adversus eum, et in perpetuum transiet; immutas faciem eius et emittis eum.
20. Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes; thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
21. Sive nobiles fuerint filii eius, non novit; sive ignobiles, non intellegit.
21. His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
22. Attamen caro eius, dum vivet, dolet, et anima illius super semetipso luget”.
22. He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself."
