Job 4

1 Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —

Forsothe Eliphat Themanytes answeride, and seide,

2 If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?

If we bigynnen to speke to thee, in hap thou schalt take it heuyli; but who may holde a word conseyued?

3 Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:

Lo! thou hast tauyt ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.

4 Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.

Thi wordis confermyden men doutynge, and thou coumfortidist knees tremblynge.

5 But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.

But now a wounde is comun on thee, and thou hast failid; it touchide thee, and thou art disturblid.

6 Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?

Where is thi drede, thi strengthe, and thi pacience, and the perfeccioun of thi weies?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.

Y biseche thee, haue thou mynde, what innocent man perischide euere, ethir whanne riytful men weren doon awei?

8 So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:

Certis rathir Y siy hem, that worchen wickidnesse, and sowen sorewis,

9 By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:

and repen tho, to haue perischid bi God blowynge, and to be wastid bi the spirit of his ire.

10 [Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:

The roryng of a lioun, and the vois of a lionesse, and the teeth of `whelpis of liouns ben al to-brokun.

11 The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.

Tigris perischide, for sche hadde not prey; and the whelpis of a lioun ben distried.

12 But, unto me, something was brought by stealth, —and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:

Certis an hid word was seid to me, and myn eere took as theueli the veynes of priuy noise therof.

13 When there were thoughts, from visions of the night, —When deep sleep falleth upon men,

In the hidousnesse of `nyytis siyt, whanne heuy sleep is wont to occupie men,

14 Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:

drede and tremblyng helde me; and alle my boonys weren aferd.

15 Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:

And whanne the spirit `yede in my presence, the heiris of `my fleisch hadden hidousnesse.

16 It stood still, but I could not distinguish its appearance, I looked, but there was no form before mine eyes, —A whispering voice, I heard: —

Oon stood, whos chere Y knewe not, an ymage bifor myn iyen; and Y herde a vois as of softe wynd.

17 Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?

Whether a man schal be maad iust in comparisoun of God? ethir whethir a man schal be clennere than his Makere?

18 Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:

Lo! thei that seruen hym ben not stidefast; and he findith schrewidnesse in hise aungels.

19 How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:

Hou myche more thei that dwellen in housis of cley, that han an ertheli foundement, schulen be wastyd as of a mouyte.

20 Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:

Fro morewtid til to euentid thei schulen be kit doun; and for no man vndurstondith, thei schulen perische with outen ende.

21 Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!

Sotheli thei, that ben residue, schulen be takun awei; thei schulen die, and not in wisdom.