Job 14
1 Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis.
As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.
2 Qui quasi flos egreditur et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra, et numquam in eodem statu permanet.
He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
3 Et dignum ducis super huiuscemodi aperire oculos tuos, et adducere eum tecum in iudicium?
Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?
4 Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine? nonne tu qui solus es?
If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.
5 Breves dies hominis sunt: numerus mensium eius apud te est: constituisti terminos eius, qui præteriri non poterunt.
If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;
6 Recede paululum ab eo, ut quiescat, donec optata veniat, sicut mercenarii, dies eius.
Let your eyes be turned away from him, and take your hand from him, so that he may have pleasure at the end of his day, like a servant working for payment.
7 Lignum habet spem: si præcisum fuerit, rursum virescit, et rami eius pullulant.
For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end.
8 Si senuerit in terra radix eius, et in pulvere emortuus fuerit truncus illius,
Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust;
9 Ad odorem aquæ germinabit, et faciet comam quasi cum primum plantatum est:
Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.
10 Homo vero cum mortuus fuerit, et nudatus atque consumptus, ubi quæso est?
But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he?
11 Quomodo si recedant aquæ de mari, et fluvius vacuefactus arescat:
The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry;
12 Sic homo cum dormierit, non resurget, donec atteratur cælum, non evigilabit, nec consurget de somno suo.
So man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep.
13 Quis mihi hoc tribuat, ut in inferno protegas me, et abscondas me, donec pertranseat furor tuus, et constituas mihi tempus, in quo recorderis mei? (Sheol h7585)
If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again! (Sheol h7585)
14 Putasne mortuus homo rursum vivat? cunctis diebus, quibus nunc milito, expecto donec veniat immutatio mea.
If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.
15 Vocabis me, et ego respondebo tibi: operi manuum tuarum porriges dexteram.
At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands.
16 Tu quidem gressus meos dinumerasti, sed parce peccatis meis.
For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked.
17 Signasti quasi in sacculo delicta mea, sed curasti iniquitatem meam.
My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe.
18 Mons cadens defluit, et saxum transfertur de loco suo.
But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place;
19 Lapides excavant aquæ, et alluvione paulatim terra consumitur: et hominem ergo similiter perdes.
The stones are crushed small by the force of the waters; the dust of the earth is washed away by their overflowing: and so you put an end to the hope of man.
20 Roborasti eum paululum ut in perpetuum transiret: immutabis faciem eius, et emittes eum.
You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away.
21 Sive nobiles fuerint filii eius, sive ignobiles, non intelliget.
His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.
22 Attamen caro eius dum vivet dolebit, et anima illius super semetipso lugebit.
Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.
