Job 4
1 respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites dixit
Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
2 si coeperimus loqui tibi forsitan moleste accipias sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis possit
Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?
3 ecce docuisti multos et manus lassas roborasti
For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,
4 vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui et genua trementia confortasti
and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.
5 nunc autem venit super te plaga et defecisti tetigit te et conturbatus es
Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.
6 timor tuus fortitudo tua patientia tua et perfectio viarum tuarum
Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?
7 recordare obsecro te quis umquam innocens perierit aut quando recti deleti sint
Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
8 quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem et seminant dolores et metunt eos
Accordingly as I have seen men plowing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
9 flante Deo perisse et spiritu irae eius esse consumptos
They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
10 rugitus leonis et vox leaenae et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt
The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
11 tigris periit eo quod non haberet praedam et catuli leonis dissipati sunt
The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
12 porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri eius
But if there had been any truth in your words, none of these evils would have befallen you. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?
13 in horrore visionis nocturnae quando solet sopor occupare homines
But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
14 pavor tenuit me et tremor et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt
horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
15 et cum spiritus me praesente transiret inhorruerunt pili carnis meae
And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
16 stetit quidam cuius non agnoscebam vultum imago coram oculis meis et vocem quasi aurae lenis audivi
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 numquid homo Dei conparatione iustificabitur aut factore suo purior erit vir
What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
18 ecce qui serviunt ei non sunt stabiles et in angelis suis repperit pravitatem
Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
19 quanto magis hii qui habitant domos luteas qui terrenum habent fundamentum consumentur velut a tinea
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 de mane usque ad vesperum succidentur et quia nullus intellegit in aeternum peribunt
And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.
21 qui autem reliqui fuerint auferentur ex eis morientur et non in sapientia
For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
