But Job answered:

Then Job answered, and said:

Respondens autem Job, dixit:

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

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

Usquequo affligitis animam meam, et atteritis me sermonibus?

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

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

En decies confunditis me, et non erubescitis opprimentes me.

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

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

Nempe etsi ignoravi, mecum erit ignorantia mea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By him discredited, discrowned,

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

forsaken by my kindred, by my friends forgotten.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quare persequimini me sicut Deus, et carnibus meis saturamini?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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