Liber Iob, 4
1. Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites dixit:
1. Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:
2. “Si coeperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies; sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?
2. "If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? Yet who can keep from speaking?
3. Ecce, docuisti multos et manus lassas roborasti;
3. Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.
4. vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti.
4. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5. Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti; tetigit te, et conturbatus es.
5. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6. Nonne timor tuus est fiducia tua, spes tua est perfectio viarum tuarum?
6. Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7. Recordare, obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit, aut quando recti deleti sunt?
7. "Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
8. quin potius vidi eos, qui operantur iniquitatem et seminant dolores et metunt eos,
8. As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
9. flante Deo perisse, et spiritu irae eius esse consumptos.
9. 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.
10. The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11. Leo periit, eo quod non haberet praedam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.
11. The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
12. Porro ad me furtive verbum delatum est, et suscepit auris mea sussurrum eius.
12. "Now a word was brought to me stealthily, my ear received the whisper of it.
13. In horrore visionis nocturnae, quando solet sopor occupare homines,
13. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14. pavor tenuit me et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt.
14. dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15. Et cum spiritus, me praesente, transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meae.
15. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
16. Stetit quidam, cuius non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi aurae lenis audivi:
16. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17. “Numquid homo Dei comparatione iustificabitur, aut factore suo purior erit vir?”.
17. `Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18. Ecce, in servis suis fiduciam non habet et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem.
18. Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;
19. Quanto magis hi, qui habitant domos luteas, quorum fundamentum est in pulvere. Consumentur velut tinea!
19. how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth.
20. De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur et, quia nullus intellegit, in aeternum peribunt.
20. Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21. Nonne evulsum est reliquum eorum ab eis? Morientur, et non in sapientia.
21. If their tent-cord is plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?'
