Job 4

1 Forsothe Eliphat Themanytes answeride, and seide,

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

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

Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?

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

For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,

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

and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.

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

Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled.

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

Is not thy fear [founded] in folly, thy hope also, and the mischief of thy way?

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

Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?

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

Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.

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

They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.

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

The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.

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

The old lion has perished for want of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.

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

But if there had been any truth in thy words, none of these evils would have befallen thee. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?

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

But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,

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

horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.

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

And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.

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

I arose and perceived it not: I looked, and there, was no form before my eyes: but I only heard a breath and a voice, [saying],

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

What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?

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

Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.

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

But [as for] them that dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he smites them like a moth.

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

And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves.

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

For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.