Liber Iob, 4
1. respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites dixit
1. Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2. si cœperimus loqui tibi forsitan moleste accipias sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis possit
2. If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
3. ecce docuisti multos et manus lassas roborasti
3. Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
4. vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui et genua trementia confortasti
4. Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
5. nunc autem venit super te plaga et defecisti tetigit te et conturbatus es
5. But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
6. timor tuus fortitudo tua patientia tua et perfectio viarum tuarum
6. Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
7. recordare obsecro te quis umquam innocens perierit aut quando recti deleti sint
7. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
8. quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem et seminant dolores et metunt eos
8. On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
9. flante Deo perisse et spiritu iræ ejus esse consumptos
9. Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
10. rugitus leonis et vox leænæ et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt
10. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:
11. tigris periit eo quod non haberet prædam et catuli leonis dissipati sunt
11. The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
12. porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri ejus
12. Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.
13. in horrore visionis nocturnæ quando solet sopor occupare homines
13. In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
14. pavor tenuit me et tremor et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt
14. Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
15. et cum spiritus me præsente transiret inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ
15. And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
16. stetit quidam cujus non agnoscebam vultum imago coram oculis meis et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi
16. There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:
17. numquid homo Dei conparatione justificabitur aut factore suo purior erit vir
17. Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18. ecce qui serviunt ei non sunt stabiles et in angelis suis repperit pravitatem
18. Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
19. quanto magis hii qui habitant domos luteas qui terrenum habent fundamentum consumentur velut a tinea
19. How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
20. de mane usque ad vesperum succidentur et quia nullus intellegit in æternum peribunt
20. From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
21. qui autem reliqui fuerint auferentur ex eis morientur et non in sapientia
21. And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
