Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:

Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit:

Thereupon Eliphaz the Themanite made answer:

If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?

Si cœperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies; sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?

Speak we, it may be thou wilt take our words amiss, yet speech will out.

Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:

Ecce docuisti multos, et manus lassas roborasti;

Well thou knewest how to teach others, strengthen the drooping hands,

Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:

vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti.

give courage to the waverer, support to flagging knees, by counsel of thine.

But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti; tetigit te, et conturbatus es.

Now the blow has fallen on thyself, and thy strength is gone; the nearer neighbourhood of misfortune unmans thee.

Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua, patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum?

No more we hear now of that fear of God, that life perfectly lived, which once gave thee confidence, gave thee strength to endure!

Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?

Recordare, obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt?

And, sure enough, ruin never fell yet on the innocent; never yet was an upright soul lost to memory.

On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,

Quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem, et seminant dolores, et metunt eos,

The men that traffic in wrong-doing, that sow a crop of mischief they themselves must reap at last, these I have seen undone;

Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.

flante Deo perisse, et spiritu iræ ejus esse consumptos.

one breath, one blast of the divine anger withers them quite, and they are gone.

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:

Rugitus leonis, et vox leænæ, et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt.

Roar lion and growl lioness, the fangs of the lion-cubs will yet be shattered.

The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.

Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.

For lack of prey, the tiger goes his way at last, the young lions wander wide.

Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.

Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum, et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri ejus.

Listen; here is a secret that was made known to me; it was but the breath of a whisper overheard.

In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,

In horrore visionis nocturnæ, quando solet sopor occupare homines,

It was the hour when night visions breed disquiet, as men lie chained by sleep;

Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:

pavor tenuit me, et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt;

fear took hold of me, a fit of trembling that thrilled my whole frame,

And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.

et cum spiritus, me præsente, transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ.

and made every hair bristle. All at once a spirit came beside me and stopped; there it stood,

There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:

Stetit quidam, cujus non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi.

no face I knew, yet I could see the form of it, and catch its voice, light as a rustling breeze.

Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?

Numquid homo, Dei comparatione, justificabitur? aut factore suo purior erit vir?

Can man have right on his side, the voice asked, when he is matched with God? Can a mortal creature shew blameless in its Creator’s presence?

Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:

Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles, et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem;

Nay, in his own retinue God finds loyalty wanting; angels may err.

How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?

quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas, qui terrenum habent fundamentum, consumentur velut a tinea?

What, then, of Man, earth-bound in his house of clay, eaten away by the moth of time?

From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.

De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur; et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt.

What of Man, cut down between morn and eve, doomed to perish unregarded,

And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.

Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis; morientur, et non in sapientia.

even the straggler marching on at last? Will he not die before he learns wisdom?