Job 16
1 Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
Forsothe Joob answeride, and seide, Y `herde ofte siche thingis;
2 “I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.
alle ye ben heuy coumfortouris.
3 Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?
Whether wordis ful of wynd schulen haue an ende? ether ony thing is diseseful to thee, if thou spekist?
4 If it were you [three and not I] who were suffering, I could say the things that you are saying; I could make great speeches [to criticize/condemn you], and I could shake my head at you [to ridicule you].
Also Y myyte speke thingis lijk to you, and `Y wolde, that youre soule were for my soule; and Y wolde coumfort you by wordis, and Y wolde moue myn heed on you;
5 But, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.
Y wolde make you stronge bi my mouth, and Y wolde moue lippis as sparynge you.
6 “But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.
But what schal Y do? If Y speke, my sorewe restith not; and if Y am stille, it goith not awei fro me.
7 God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
But now my sorewe hath oppressid me, and alle my lymes ben dryuun in to nouyt.
8 He has shriveled me up, and people think that shows that I [am a sinner]. And people see that I am only skin and bones, and they think that proves that I [am guilty].
My ryuelyngis seien witnessyng ayens me, and a fals spekere is reisid ayens my face, and ayenseith me.
9 Because God is very angry with me and hates me, [it is as though he is a wild animal that] [MET] has gnashed his teeth at me because he is my enemy.
He gaderide togidere his woodnesse in me, and he manaasside me, and gnastide ayens me with his teeth; myn enemye bihelde me with ferdful iyen.
10 People gape/stare at me with their mouths open [to sneer at me]; they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me, and they crowd around me to threaten me.
Thei openyden her mouthis on me, and thei seiden schenschip, and smytiden my cheke; and thei ben fillid with my peynes.
11 [It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
God hath closid me togidere at the wickid, and hath youe me to the hondis of wickid men.
12 Previously, I was living peacefully, but he crushed me; [it is as though] he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces. [It is as though] [MET] he set me up like a target;
Y thilke riche man and famouse sum tyme, am al to brokun sudeynli; `he helde my nol; he hath broke me, and hath set me as in to a signe.
13 people are surrounding me [and shooting arrows at me]. His arrows pierce my kidneys and cause the bile [from my liver] to spill onto the ground, and God does not pity me at all.
He hath cumpasside me with hise speris, he woundide togidere my leendis; he sparide not, and schedde out myn entrails in to the erthe.
14 [It is as though] [MET] I am a wall that he is breaking through; he rushes at me like [SIM] a soldier [attacking his enemies].
He beet me with wounde on wounde; he as a giaunt felde in on me.
15 [“Because I am mourning, ] I wear pieces of rough cloth that I have sewed together, and I sit [here] in the dirt, very depressed/discouraged.
Y sewide togidere a sak on my skyn; and Y hilide my fleisch with aische.
16 My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.
My face bolnyde of wepynge, and myn iyeliddis wexiden derke.
17 [All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
Y suffride these thingis with out wickidnesse of myn hond, `that is, werk, whanne Y hadde cleene preieris to God.
18 [When I die, ] I want the ground [APO] to [act as though I had been murdered and] cry out against those who killed me, and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding [that God act justly toward] me.
Erthe, hile thou not my blood, and my cry fynde not in thee a place of hidyng.
19 But even now, [I know that] there is someone in heaven who will testify for me, and he will say that what I have done is right.
`For, lo! my witnesse is in heuene; and the knowere of my consience is in hiye places.
20 My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.
A! my frendis, ful of wordis, myn iye droppith to God.
21 I pray that [the] one [who knows what I have done] would come to plead with God for me like people plead for their friends.
And `Y wolde, that a man were demed so with God, as the sone of man is demed with his felowe.
22 [I say this because] within a few years [I will die]; I will walk along the [to the grave] from which I will never return.”
`For lo! schorte yeeris passen, and Y go a path, bi which Y schal not turne ayen.
