Respondens autem Baldad Suhites, dixit:

Then answered Baldad the Suhite:

Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

Usquequo loqueris talia, et spiritus multiplex sermones oris tui?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Interroga enim generationem pristinam, et diligenter investiga patrum memoriam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Deus non projiciet simplicem, nec porriget manum malignis,

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

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

donec impleatur risu os tuum, et labia tua jubilo.

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

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

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

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

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