Liber Iob, 7
1. militia est vita hominis super terram et sicut dies mercennarii dies ejus
1. The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling.
2. sicut servus desiderat umbram et sicut mercennarius præstolatur finem operis sui
2. As a servant longeth for the shade, as the hireling looketh for the end of his work;
3. sic et ego habui menses vacuos et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi
3. So I also have had empty months, and have numbered to myself wearisome nights.
4. si dormiero dico quando consurgam et rursum expectabo vesperam et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras
4. If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness.
5. induta est caro mea putredine et sordibus pulveris cutis mea aruit et contracta est
5. My flesh is clothed with rottenness and the filth of dust, my skin is withered and drawn together.
6. dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe
6. My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope.
7. memento quia ventus est vita mea et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona
7. Remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return to see good things.
8. nec aspiciet me visus hominis oculi tui in me et non subsistam
8. Nor shall the sight of man behold me: thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more.
9. sicut consumitur nubes et pertransit sic qui descenderit ad inferos non ascendet
9. As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up.
10. nec revertetur ultra in domum suam neque cognoscet eum amplius locus ejus
10. Nor shall he return my more into his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11. quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei confabulabor cum amaritudine animæ meæ
11. Wherefore I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul.
12. numquid mare sum ego aut cetus quia circumdedisti me carcere
12. Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou hast enclosed me in a prison?
13. si dixero consolabitur me lectulus meus et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo
13. If I say: My bed shall comfort me, and I shall be relieved speaking with myself on my couch:
14. terrebis me per somnia et per visiones horrore concuties
14. Thou wilt frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions.
15. quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea et mortem ossa mea
15. So that my soul rather chooseth hanging, and my bones death.
16. desperavi nequaquam ultra jam vivam parce mihi nihil enim sunt dies mei
16. I have done with hope, I shall now live no longer: spare me, for my days are nothing.
17. quid est homo quia magnificas eum aut quia ponis erga eum cor tuum
17. What is a man that thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost thou set thy heart upon him?
18. visitas eum diluculo et subito probas illum
18. Thou visitest him early in the morning, and thou provest him suddenly.
19. usquequo non parces mihi nec dimittis me ut gluttiam salivam meam
19. How long wilt thou not spare me, nor suffer me to swallow down my spittle?
20. peccavi quid faciam tibi o custos hominum quare posuisti me contrarium tibi et factus sum mihimet ipsi gravis
20. I have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? why hast thou set me opposite to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself?
21. cur non tolles peccatum meum et quare non auferes iniquitatem meam ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam et si mane me quæsieris non subsistam
21. Why dost thou not remove my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in the dust: and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be.
