Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit:

Then answered Sophar the Naamathite:

Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

Idcirco cogitationes meæ variæ succedunt sibi, et mens in diversa rapitur.

Strange hesitation thy words breed in me; my thoughts veer to and fro.

The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

Doctrinam qua me arguis audiam, et spiritus intelligentiæ meæ respondebit mihi.

Not deaf am I to thy pleadings, but there is a voice in my heart gives me pause.

This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

Hoc scio a principio, ex quo positus est homo super terram,

Certain it is that never since man found a place on earth

That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

quod laus impiorum brevis sit, et gaudium hypocritæ ad instar puncti.

did the wrong-doer win lasting triumph; only for a brief moment does knavery bring him content.

If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

Si ascenderit usque ad cælum superbia ejus, et caput ejus nubes tetigerit,

Let his pride overtop heaven itself, his head be lifted high as the clouds,

In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?

quasi sterquilinium in fine perdetur, et qui eum viderant, dicent: Ubi est?

he is for the dung-hill at last; none knows what has become of him.

As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

Velut somnium avolans non invenietur: transiet sicut visio nocturna.

Vanished and gone like a dream, the phantom of yesternight,

The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

Oculus qui eum viderat non videbit, neque ultra intuebitur eum locus suus.

unmarked by human eyes, lost to the scenes he knew!

His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.

Filii ejus atterentur egestate, et manus illius reddent ei dolorem suum.

Crushing poverty shall be his children’s lot; his acts shall yield their own harvest of shame,

His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiæ ejus, et cum eo in pulvere dormient.

all the lusty vigour of his frame doomed, like himself, to silence and the dust.

For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

Cum enim dulce fuerit in ore ejus malum, abscondet illud sub lingua sua.

Sweet in the mouth is the taste of evil-doing; how the tongue cherishes it!

He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

Parcet illi, et non derelinquet illud, et celabit in gutture suo.

How he treasures it, loth to lose the secret pleasure of his palate!

His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.

Panis ejus in utero illius vertetur in fel aspidum intrinsecus.

But once let that food reach his belly, not the gall of adders is so venomous.

The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

Divitias quas devoravit evomet, et de ventre illius extrahet eas Deus.

The wealth he loved to swallow, disgorge he must; God will make his belly return it;

He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

Caput aspidum suget, et occidet eum lingua viperæ.

poisonous as the asp’s head or the viper’s tongue were those juices he sucked,

(Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)

(Non videat rivulos fluminis, torrentes mellis et butyri.)

when he thought to enjoy streams of plenty; honey and cream should have been his in rich abundance.

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.

Luet quæ fecit omnia, nec tamen consumetur: juxta multitudinem adinventionum suarum, sic et sustinebit.

Endlessly he shall pay for the wrong he did, plagued in the measure of his own false dealings.

Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

Quoniam confringens nudavit pauperes: domum rapuit, et non ædificavit eam.

He who oppressed and robbed the poor shall never prosper with his ill-gotten fortunes;

And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

Nec est satiatus venter ejus: et cum habuerit quæ concupierat, possidere non poterit.

he, the insatiable, will not keep what he so coveted;

There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

Non remansit de cibo ejus, et propterea nihil permanebit de bonis ejus.

he, that never had a crust to spare, will be stripped now of all his goods.

When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur: æstuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum.

Once so full fed, now he goes in need; stands in doubt, with distress crowding in on every side;

May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

Utinam impleatur venter ejus, ut emittat in eum iram furoris sui, et pluat super illum bellum suum.

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;

He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

Fugiet arma ferrea, et irruet in arcum æreum.

shuns he the steel, to the bow of bronze he falls a prey.

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.

Eductus, et egrediens de vagina sua, et fulgurans in amaritudine sua: vadent et venient super eum horribiles.

Bright and bitter the drawn sword threatens; about him, dread warriors come and go.

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.

Omnes tenebræ absconditæ sunt in occultis ejus; devorabit eum ignis qui non succenditur: affligetur relictus in tabernaculo suo.

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!

The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

Revelabunt cæli iniquitatem ejus, et terra consurget adversus eum.

Heaven will reveal the story of his crimes, earth itself rise in revolt against him;

The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

Apertum erit germen domus illius: detrahetur in die furoris Dei.

all the promise of his race will be laid bare and torn away, in that hour of the Lord’s vengeance.

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

Hæc est pars hominis impii a Deo, et hæreditas verborum ejus a Domino.

Such is the lot God sends to the wicked, such their divinely appointed doom.