Liber Iob, 7
1. Nonne militia est vita hominis super terram, et sicut dies mercennarii dies eius?
1. "Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling?
2. Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercennarius praestolatur mercedem suam,
2. Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages,
3. sic et ego habui menses vacuos et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi.
3. so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4. Si dormiero, dicam: Quando consurgam? Et rursum exspectabo vesperam et replebor doloribus usque crepusculum.
4. When I lie down I say, `When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5. Induta est caro mea putredine et sordibus pulveris; cutis mea scinditur et diffluit.
5. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
6. Dies mei velocius transierunt quam navicula texentis et consumpti sunt deficiente filo.
6. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope.
7. Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus, ut videat bona.
7. "Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.
8. Nec aspiciet me visus hominis; oculi tui in me, et non subsistam.
8. The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while thy eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
9. Sicut consumitur nubes et pertransit, sic, qui descenderit ad inferos, non ascendet
9. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10. nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus eius.
10. he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him any more.
11. Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo; loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei, confabulabor cum amaritudine animae meae.
11. "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12. Numquid mare ego sum aut cetus, quia posuisti super me custodiam?
12. Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that thou settest a guard over me?
13. Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et assumet stratum meum querelam meam,
13. When I say, `My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'
14. terrebis me per somnia et per visiones horrore concuties.
14. then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15. Quam ob rem eligit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea.
15. so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
16. Desperavi; nequaquam ultra iam vivam. Parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
16. I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17. Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? Aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
17. What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,
18. Visitas eum diluculo et singulis momentis probas illum.
18. dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
19. Usquequo non avertes oculos a me? Nec dimittis me, ut glutiam salivam meam?
19. How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?
20. Peccavi; quid faciam tibi, o custos hominum? Quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
20. If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?
21. Cur non tollis peccatum meum et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam? Ecce, nunc in pulvere dormiam; et, si mane me quaesieris, non subsistam!”.
21. Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."
