Respondens autem Job, dixit:

Then Job answered, and said:

But Job answered:

Usquequo affligitis animam meam, et atteritis me sermonibus?

How long do you afflict my soul,and break me in pieces with words?

What, will you torment me still? Every word of yours a fresh weight to crush me?

En decies confunditis me, et non erubescitis opprimentes me.

Behold, these ten times you confound me, and are not ashamed to oppress me.

How many times is this you have fallen on me, trampled me down without ruth?

Nempe etsi ignoravi, mecum erit ignorantia mea.

For if I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me.

If, unawares, I have committed some fault, it concerns none but myself;

At vos contra me erigimini, et arguitis me opprobriis meis.

But you set yourselves up against me, and reprove me with my reproaches.

not for you to claim authority over me, bring home to me my disgrace!

Saltem nunc intelligite quia Deus non æquo judicio afflixerit me, et flagellis suis me cinxerit.

At least now understand, that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges.

How to make you understand that God has misjudged me, caught me in his toils!

Ecce clamabo, vim patiens, et nemo audiet; vociferabor, et non est qui judicet.

Behold I shall cry suffering violence, and no one will hear: I shall cry aloud, and there is none to judge.

If I cry out upon that my wrongs, there is none to hear me, none to take cognisance of my plea;

Semitam meam circumsepsit, et transire non possum: et in calle meo tenebras posuit.

He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness.

my path hedged in, so that there is no escape, my direction lost, and I benighted.

Spoliavit me gloria mea, et abstulit coronam de capite meo.

He hath stripped me of my glory, and hath taken the crown from my head.

By him discredited, discrowned,

Destruxit me undique, et pereo: et quasi evulsæ arbori abstulit spem meam.

He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up.

by him left defenceless on every side, I go my ways; a tree torn up by the roots has more to hope for than I.

Iratus est contra me furor ejus, et sic me habuit quasi hostem suum.

His wrath is kindled against me, and he hath counted me as his enemy.

Against me all his anger is aroused; I am that enemy

Simul venerunt latrones ejus, et fecerunt sibi viam per me, et obsederunt in gyro tabernaculum meum.

His troops have come together, and have made themselves a way by me, and have besieged my tabernacle round about.

against whom he musters all his forces, to ride over me, to beleaguer my dwelling place.

Fratres meos longe fecit a me, et noti mei quasi alieni recesserunt a me.

He hath put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance like strangers have departed from me.

Sundered am I from my brethren, a stranger to all that knew me,

Dereliquerunt me propinqui mei, et qui me noverant obliti sunt mei.

My kinsmen have forsaken me, and they that knew me, have forgotten me.

forsaken by my kindred, by my friends forgotten.

Inquilini domus meæ et ancillæ meæ sicut alienum habuerunt me, et quasi peregrinus fui in oculis eorum.

They that dwell in my house, and my maidservants have counted me as a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes.

Guests that dwell in my house, ay, and the very serving-women, stare at me, the alien, the unknown;

Servum meum vocavi, et non respondit: ore proprio deprecabar illum.

I called my servant, and he gave me no answer, I entreated him with my own mouth.

my servants do not come at my call, I must speak them fair;

Halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea, et orabam filios uteri mei.

My wife hath abhorred my breath, and I entreated the children of my womb.

my wife shuns the breath of me, to my own flesh and blood I am a suppliant.

Stulti quoque despiciebant me: et cum ab eis recessissem, detrahebant mihi.

Even fools despised me, and when I was gone from them, they spoke against me.

The very innocents despise me, jeer at me when my back is turned;

Abominati sunt me quondam consiliarii mei, et quem maxime diligebam, aversatus est me.

They that were sometime my counsellors, have abhorred me: and he whom I loved most is turned against me.

no counsellor so trusted but he is weary of me, no friend so loved but he abandons me now.

Pelli meæ, consumptis carnibus, adhæsit os meum, et derelicta sunt tantummodo labia circa dentes meos.

The flesh being consumed, my bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.

And I so wasted! Skin clinging to bone, save where the lips cover my teeth, is all that is left of me.

Miseremini mei, miseremini mei saltem vos, amici mei, quia manus Domini tetigit me.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

Friends, friends, do you at least have pity, now when God’s hand has fallen on me!

Quare persequimini me sicut Deus, et carnibus meis saturamini?

Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh?

Would you take part in God’s hue and cry against me, slander me to your hearts’ content?

Quis mihi tribuat ut scribantur sermones mei? quis mihi det ut exarentur in libro

Who will grant me that my words may be written? who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book?

Could but these words of mine be written down in a book,

stylo ferreo et plumbi lamina, vel celte sculpantur in silice?

With an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone?

graven with a pen of iron upon tablets of lead, chiselled on hard flint!

Scio enim quod redemptor meus vivit, et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum:

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.

This at least I know, that one lives on who will vindicate me, rising up from the dust when the last day comes.

et rursum circumdabor pelle mea, et in carne mea videbo Deum meum:

And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God.

Once more my skin shall clothe me, and in my flesh I shall have sight of God.

quem visurus sum ego ipse, et oculi mei conspecturi sunt, et non alius: reposita est hæc spes mea in sinu meo.

Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.

I myself, with my own eyes; it will not be something other than myself that sees him. Deep in my heart is this hope reposed.

Quare ergo nunc dicitis: Persequamur eum, et radicem verbi inveniamus contra eum?

Why then do you say now: Let us persecute him, and let us find occasion of word against him?

You that would raise the hue and cry, finding matter of complaint against me,

Fugite ergo a facie gladii, quoniam ultor iniquitatum gladius est: et scitote esse judicium.

Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is a judgment.

should rather take flight yourselves, the sword at your heels; the sword that avenges wrong, proof to you that justice shall be done.