The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 20
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Vulgate><Knox Bible><Douay-Rheims
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Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit:
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Then answered Sophar the Naamathite:
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Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:
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Idcirco cogitationes meæ variæ succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur.
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Strange hesitation thy words breed in me; my thoughts veer to and fro.
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Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.
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Doctrinam qua me arguis audiam, et spiritus intelligentiæ meæ respondebit mihi.
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Not deaf am I to thy pleadings, but there is a voice in my heart gives me pause.
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The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.
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Hoc scio a principio, ex quo positus est homo super terram,
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Certain it is that never since man found a place on earth
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This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,
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quod laus impiorum brevis sit, et gaudium hypocritæ ad instar puncti.
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did the wrong-doer win lasting triumph; only for a brief moment does knavery bring him content.
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That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.
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Si ascenderit usque ad cælum superbia ejus, et caput ejus nubes tetigerit,
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Let his pride overtop heaven itself, his head be lifted high as the clouds,
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If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:
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quasi sterquilinium in fine perdetur, et qui eum viderant, dicent: Ubi est?
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he is for the dung-hill at last; none knows what has become of him.
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In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?
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Velut somnium avolans non invenietur: transiet sicut visio nocturna.
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Vanished and gone like a dream, the phantom of yesternight,
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As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:
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Oculus qui eum viderat non videbit, neque ultra intuebitur eum locus suus.
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unmarked by human eyes, lost to the scenes he knew!
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The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.
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Filii ejus atterentur egestate, et manus illius reddent ei dolorem suum.
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Crushing poverty shall be his children’s lot; his acts shall yield their own harvest of shame,
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His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.
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Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiæ ejus, et cum eo in pulvere dormient.
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all the lusty vigour of his frame doomed, like himself, to silence and the dust.
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His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.
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Cum enim dulce fuerit in ore ejus malum, abscondet illud sub lingua sua.
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Sweet in the mouth is the taste of evil-doing; how the tongue cherishes it!
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For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.
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Parcet illi, et non derelinquet illud, et celabit in gutture suo.
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How he treasures it, loth to lose the secret pleasure of his palate!
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He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.
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Panis ejus in utero illius vertetur in fel aspidum intrinsecus.
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But once let that food reach his belly, not the gall of adders is so venomous.
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His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.
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Divitias quas devoravit evomet, et de ventre illius extrahet eas Deus.
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The wealth he loved to swallow, disgorge he must; God will make his belly return it;
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The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.
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Caput aspidum suget, et occidet eum lingua viperæ.
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poisonous as the asp’s head or the viper’s tongue were those juices he sucked,
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He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.
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(Non videat rivulos fluminis, torrentes mellis et butyri.)
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when he thought to enjoy streams of plenty; honey and cream should have been his in rich abundance.
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(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)
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Luet quæ fecit omnia, nec tamen consumetur: juxta multitudinem adinventionum suarum, sic et sustinebit.
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Endlessly he shall pay for the wrong he did, plagued in the measure of his own false dealings.
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He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.
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Quoniam confringens nudavit pauperes: domum rapuit, et non ædificavit eam.
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He who oppressed and robbed the poor shall never prosper with his ill-gotten fortunes;
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Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.
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Nec est satiatus venter ejus: et cum habuerit quæ concupierat, possidere non poterit.
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he, the insatiable, will not keep what he so coveted;
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And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.
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Non remansit de cibo ejus, et propterea nihil permanebit de bonis ejus.
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he, that never had a crust to spare, will be stripped now of all his goods.
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There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:
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Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur: æstuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum.
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Once so full fed, now he goes in need; stands in doubt, with distress crowding in on every side;
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When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.
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Utinam impleatur venter ejus, ut emittat in eum iram furoris sui, et pluat super illum bellum suum.
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ah for a meal to fill his belly with! But no, God’s angry vengeance is let loose on him, raining down all its weapons;
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May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.
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Fugiet arma ferrea, et irruet in arcum æreum.
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shuns he the steel, to the bow of bronze he falls a prey.
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He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.
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Eductus, et egrediens de vagina sua, et fulgurans in amaritudine sua: vadent et venient super eum horribiles.
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Bright and bitter the drawn sword threatens; about him, dread warriors come and go.
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The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.
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Omnes tenebræ absconditæ sunt in occultis ejus; devorabit eum ignis qui non succenditur: affligetur relictus in tabernaculo suo.
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He hides away, where thick darkness broods over him; straightway a fire no human hand has kindled threatens to devour him; woe betide any that would take refuge in that dwelling!
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All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.
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Revelabunt cæli iniquitatem ejus, et terra consurget adversus eum.
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Heaven will reveal the story of his crimes, earth itself rise in revolt against him;
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The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
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Apertum erit germen domus illius: detrahetur in die furoris Dei.
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all the promise of his race will be laid bare and torn away, in that hour of the Lord’s vengeance.
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The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.
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Hæc est pars hominis impii a Deo, et hæreditas verborum ejus a Domino.
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Such is the lot God sends to the wicked, such their divinely appointed doom.
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.