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Job 6

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1 ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ιωβ λέγει 2 εἰ γάρ τις ἱστῶν στήσαι μου τὴν ὀργήν τὰς δὲ ὀδύνας μου ἄραι ἐν ζυγῷ ὁμοθυμαδόν 3 καὶ δὴ ἄμμου παραλίας βαρυτέρα ἔσται ἀλ{L'} ὡς ἔοικεν τὰ ῥήματά μού ἐστιν φαῦλα 4 βέλη γὰρ κυρίου ἐν τῷ σώματί μού ἐστιν ὧν ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῶν ἐκπίνει μου τὸ αἷμα ὅταν ἄρξωμαι λαλεῖν κεντοῦσί με 5 τί γάρ μὴ διὰ κενῆς κεκράξεται ὄνος ἄγριος ἀλ{L'} ἢ τὰ σῖτα ζητῶν εἰ δὲ καὶ ῥήξει φωνὴν βοῦς ἐπὶ φάτνης ἔχων τὰ βρώματα 6 εἰ βρωθήσεται ἄρτος ἄνευ ἁλός εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστιν γεῦμα ἐν ῥήμασιν κενοῖς 7 οὐ δύναται γὰρ παύσασθαί μου ἡ ψυχή βρόμον γὰρ ὁρῶ τὰ σῖτά μου ὥσπερ ὀσμὴν λέοντος

1 But Job answered: 2 Oh that I had such a pair of scales as might weigh provocation of mine against the ills I suffer![1] 3 The sand on the shore of ocean could not match the burden of them, and do you wonder that my utterance is all reproach? 4 Deep the Lord’s arrows rankle in me, draining my life; all his terrors are arrayed against me. 5 Brays the wild ass, be sure he lacks pasture; lows the ox, he stands before an empty crib. 6 Would you have me relish food unseasoned, lick my lips over the taste that brings death? 7 The food I had no stomach for, in my hard straits eat I must.[2]

1 Respondens autem Job, dixit: 2

Utinam appenderentur peccata mea quibus iram merui,
et calamitas quam patior, in statera! 3
Quasi arena maris hæc gravior appareret;
unde et verba mea dolore sunt plena: 4
quia sagittæ Domini in me sunt,
quarum indignatio ebibit spiritum meum;
et terrores Domini militant contra me. 5
Numquid rugiet onager cum habuerit herbam?
aut mugiet bos cum ante præsepe plenum steterit? 6
aut poterit comedi insulsum, quod non est sale conditum?
aut potest aliquis gustare quod gustatum affert mortem? 7
Quæ prius nolebat tangere anima mea,
nunc, præ angustia, cibi mei sunt.

8 εἰ γὰρ δῴη καὶ ἔλθοι μου ἡ αἴτησις καὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα μου δῴη ὁ κύριος 9 ἀρξάμενος ὁ κύριος τρωσάτω με εἰς τέλος δὲ μή με ἀνελέτω 10 εἴη δέ μου πόλις τάφος ἐ{F'} ἧς ἐπὶ τειχέων ἡλλόμην ἐ{P'} αὐτῆς οὐ μὴ φείσωμαι οὐ γὰρ ἐψευσάμην ῥήματα ἅγια θεοῦ μου 11 τίς γάρ μου ἡ ἰσχύς ὅτι ὑπομένω ἢ τίς μου ὁ χρόνος ὅτι ἀνέχεταί μου ἡ ψυχή 12 μὴ ἰσχὺς λίθων ἡ ἰσχύς μου ἢ αἱ σάρκες μού εἰσιν χάλκειαι 13 ἦ οὐκ ἐ{P'} αὐτῷ ἐπεποίθειν βοήθεια δὲ ἀ{P'} ἐμοῦ ἄπεστιν 14 ἀπείπατό με ἔλεος ἐπισκοπὴ δὲ κυρίου ὑπερεῖδέν με 15 οὐ προσεῖδόν με οἱ ἐγγύτατοί μου ὥσπερ χειμάρρους ἐκλείπων ἢ ὥσπερ κῦμα παρῆλθόν με 16 οἵτινές με διευλαβοῦντο νῦν ἐπιπεπτώκασίν μοι ὥσπερ χιὼν ἢ κρύσταλλος πεπηγώς 17 καθὼς τακεῖσα θέρμης γενομένης οὐκ ἐπεγνώσθη ὅπερ ἦν 18 οὕτως κἀγὼ κατελείφθην ὑπὸ πάντων ἀπωλόμην δὲ καὶ ἔξοικος ἐγενόμην 19 ἴδετε ὁδοὺς Θαιμανων ἀτραποὺς Σαβων οἱ διορῶντες 20 καὶ αἰσχύνην ὀφειλήσουσιν οἱ ἐπὶ πόλεσιν καὶ χρήμασιν πεποιθότες

8 Might it be granted, this is the boon I long for, this the request I would make of God, 9 that he would finish what he has begun, crush me altogether, strike a full blow and make an end of me! 10 Consolation enough, if he will but torment me to my death; no repining, then, against his will! 11 In what strength should I hold out? In what hope repose? 12 Have I the endurance of flint? Is my flesh brass? 13 Help in myself is none; human aid keeps its distance from me now. 14 Nay, who defies the Lord’s vengeance more surely than friend who refuses compassion to a friend? 15 See how the men that are my brothers have failed me, fickle as the mountain brooks that run headlong down their ravines; 16 first shrivelled with frost, then piled high with snow, 17 then, when the snows melt, gone, vanished away at the first touch of the heat! 18 This way and that their winding channels turn, but all to no purpose, all are lost to view.[3] 19 They must take heed, now, that would pass by Thema, and travel into Saba; they must wait awhile on their journey. 20 Some hope I had in my friends, but all is disappointment; with eyes that will not meet mine, they come to visit me.[4]

8
Quis det ut veniat petitio mea,
et quod expecto tribuat mihi Deus? 9
et qui cœpit, ipse me conterat;
solvat manum suam, et succidat me? 10
Et hæc mihi sit consolatio, ut affligens me dolore, non parcat,
nec contradicam sermonibus Sancti. 11
Quæ est enim fortitudo mea, ut sustineam?
aut quis finis meus, ut patienter agam? 12
Nec fortitudo lapidum fortitudo mea,
nec caro mea ænea est. 13
Ecce non est auxilium mihi in me,
et necessarii quoque mei recesserunt a me. 14
Qui tollit ab amico suo misericordiam,
timorem Domini derelinquit. 15
Fratres mei præterierunt me,
sicut torrens qui raptim transit in convallibus. 16
Qui timent pruinam,
irruet super eos nix. 17
Tempore quo fuerint dissipati, peribunt;
et ut incaluerit, solventur de loco suo. 18
Involutæ sunt semitæ gressuum eorum;
ambulabunt in vacuum, et peribunt. 19
Considerate semitas Thema, itinera Saba,
et expectate paulisper. 20
Confusi sunt, quia speravi:
venerunt quoque usque ad me, et pudore cooperti sunt.

21 ἀτὰρ δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπέβητέ μοι ἀνελεημόνως ὥστε ἰδόντες τὸ ἐμὸν τραῦμα φοβήθητε 22 τί γάρ μή τι ὑμᾶς ᾔτησα ἢ τῆς πα{R'} ὑμῶν ἰσχύος ἐπιδέομαι 23 ὥστε σῶσαί με ἐξ ἐχθρῶν ἢ ἐκ χειρὸς δυναστῶν ῥύσασθαί με 24 διδάξατέ με ἐγὼ δὲ κωφεύσω εἴ τι πεπλάνημαι φράσατέ μοι 25 ἀλ{L'} ὡς ἔοικεν φαῦλα ἀληθινοῦ ῥήματα οὐ γὰρ πα{R'} ὑμῶν ἰσχὺν αἰτοῦμαι 26 οὐδὲ ὁ ἔλεγχος ὑμῶν ῥήμασίν με παύσει οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑμῶν φθέγμα ῥήματος ἀνέξομαι 27 πλὴν ὅτι ἐ{P'} ὀρφανῷ ἐπιπίπτετε ἐνάλλεσθε δὲ ἐπὶ φίλῳ ὑμῶν 28 νυνὶ δὲ εἰσβλέψας εἰς πρόσωπα ὑμῶν οὐ ψεύσομαι 29 καθίσατε δὴ καὶ μὴ εἴη ἄδικον καὶ πάλιν τῷ δικαίῳ συνέρχεσθε 30 οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν γλώσσῃ μου ἄδικον ἢ ὁ λάρυγξ μου οὐχὶ σύνεσιν μελετᾷ

21 Ay, you have come, but finding me so sorely smitten you dread my company. 22 It was little enough I asked; I never bade you diminish your own wealth by bringing gifts to me, 23 never begged your aid to rid me of some enemy that was too strong for me. 24 Come, be my instructors; I will hear you out in silence; tell me what is the fault I have committed, all unknowing? 25 Ill fare the claims of truth with such as you; not one of you can shew me in the wrong, 26 yet for very love of reproof you must be reproving still, all your words wasted on the air. 27 Is it well done, to make a prey of the defenceless, to conspire against the good name of your friend? 28 Browbeat me, then, at your pleasure; try if close scrutiny can prove me false; 29 only let there be no contentiousness in your pleadings; in all honesty bring your complaint. 30 You will not fasten guilt on any word of mine; reckless utterance never these lips shall frame.

21
Nunc venistis;
et modo videntes plagam meam, timetis. 22
Numquid dixi: Afferte mihi,
et de substantia vestra donate mihi? 23
vel: Liberate me de manu hostis,
et de manu robustorum eruite me? 24
Docete me, et ego tacebo:
et si quid forte ignoravi, instruite me. 25
Quare detraxistis sermonibus veritatis,
cum e vobis nullus sit qui possit arguere me? 26
Ad increpandum tantum eloquia concinnatis,
et in ventum verba profertis. 27
Super pupillum irruitis,
et subvertere nitimini amicum vestrum. 28
Verumtamen quod cœpistis explete:
præbete aurem, et videte an mentiar. 29
Respondete, obsecro, absque contentione;
et loquentes id quod justum est, judicate. 30
Et non invenietis in lingua mea iniquitatem,
nec in faucibus meis stultitia personabit.

[1] ‘Provocation of mine’; it is not certain whether this means ‘wrong-doing by which I have provoked God to punish me’, or ‘the sense of provocation which I feel’. The Vulgate gives the latter, sense.

[2] In verses 6 and 7, the sense of the original is very doubtful.

[3] The Latin version of verses 16-18, taken by itself, yields no tolerable sense. The rendering given above interprets it in the light of the Hebrew text, from which differs considerably.

[4] The sense of the Hebrew text is that the travellers (not the friends) come hopefully looking for the streams, and are disappointed.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd