Respondens autem Baldad Suhites, dixit:

Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

Then answered Baldad the Suhite:

Usquequo loqueris talia, et spiritus multiplex sermones oris tui?

How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

What, still at thy old complaining; blustering still, like a high wind, on and on?

Numquid Deus supplantat judicium? aut Omnipotens subvertit quod justum est?

Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?

Can sentence undeserved come from God, unjust award from the Almighty?

Etiam si filii tui peccaverunt ei, et dimisit eos in manu iniquitatis suæ:

Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:

What if these children of thine committed some fault, and he allowed justice to take its course?

tu tamen si diluculo consurrexeris ad Deum, et Omnipotentem fueris deprecatus;

Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:

For thyself, thou hast but to keep early tryst with God, make thy plea to his omnipotence.

si mundus et rectus incesseris: statim evigilabit ad te, et pacatum reddet habitaculum justitiæ tuæ,

If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake unto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:

Then, if thou comest before him innocent and upright, he will give thee audience betimes; he will establish thee in thy possessions again, as one that enjoys his favour.

in tantum ut si priora tua fuerint parva, et novissima tua multiplicentur nimis.

Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.

A poor thing thy old prosperity will seem, matched with the abundance he gives thee now.

Interroga enim generationem pristinam, et diligenter investiga patrum memoriam

For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:

Ask counsel of the ages that are long past; let the experience of former men overrule thee.

(hesterni quippe sumus, et ignoramus, quoniam sicut umbra dies nostri sunt super terram),

(For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow:)

How blind are we, creatures of a day, whose time on earth passes like a shadow!

et ipsi docebunt te, loquentur tibi, et de corde suo proferent eloquia.

And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.

Those fathers of ours will be thy best teachers, and this is the advice their wisdom offers thee:

Numquid vivere potest scirpus absque humore? aut crescere carectum sine aqua?

Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?

Never yet grew bulrush without moisture, nor reed-bed that lacked water;

Cum adhuc sit in flore, nec carpatur manu, ante omnes herbas arescit.

When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.

fade it must, no leaf so soon, in its first flower, before men have time to gather it.

Sic viæ omnium qui obliviscuntur Deum, et spes hypocritæ peribit.

Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:

So frail their happiness, who leave God unremembered; so fade the hopes of false hearts.

Non ei placebit vecordia sua, et sicut tela aranearum fiducia ejus.

His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.

Little shall their recklessness avail them; in threads of gossamer they put their trust.

Innitetur super domum suam, et non stabit; fulciet eam, et non consurget.

He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:

Vain his reliance on the house he has built, vainly he seeks to underpin it.

Humectus videtur antequam veniat sol, et in ortu suo germen ejus egredietur.

He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising, his blossom shall shoot forth.

Here is a plant that seems well-watered enough, spreads abroad its early shoots, but only till the sun rises;

Super acervum petrarum radices ejus densabuntur, et inter lapides commorabitur.

His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.

wrapped about stones are the roots of it, and stones all its dwelling-place;

Si absorbuerit eum de loco suo, negabit eum, et dicet: Non novi te.

If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.

yonder sun must needs drain its life, and the garden will keep no memory of its passage.

Hæc est enim lætitia viæ ejus, ut rursum de terra alii germinentur.

For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.

So brief its pride; they are waiting even now underground, the shoots that will fill its place.

Deus non projiciet simplicem, nec porriget manum malignis,

God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:

Trust me, God will not cast off the innocent, will not lend his aid to the malice of their enemies.

donec impleatur risu os tuum, et labia tua jubilo.

Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.

Ere long, he will teach those lips to smile, that mouth to sing praise;

Qui oderunt te induentur confusione, et tabernaculum impiorum non subsistet.

They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.

brief shall be the triumph of thy foes, brief the security of the wrong-doer.