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Job 16

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1 ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ιωβ λέγει 2 ἀκήκοα τοιαῦτα πολλά παρακλήτορες κακῶν πάντες 3 τί γάρ μὴ τάξις ἐστὶν ῥήμασιν πνεύματος ἢ τί παρενοχλήσει σοι ὅτι ἀποκρίνῃ 4 κἀγὼ κα{Q'} ὑμᾶς λαλήσω εἰ ὑπέκειτό γε ἡ ψυχὴ ὑμῶν ἀντὶ τῆς ἐμῆς εἶ{T'} ἐναλοῦμαι ὑμῖν ῥήμασιν κινήσω δὲ κα{Q'} ὑμῶν κεφαλήν 5 εἴη δὲ ἰσχὺς ἐν τῷ στόματί μου κίνησιν δὲ χειλέων οὐ φείσομαι 6 ἐὰν γὰρ λαλήσω οὐκ ἀλγήσω τὸ τραῦμα ἐὰν δὲ καὶ σιωπήσω τί ἔλαττον τρωθήσομαι 7 8 νῦν δὲ κατάκοπόν με πεποίηκεν μωρόν σεσηπότα 9 καὶ ἐπελάβου μου εἰς μαρτύριον ἐγενήθη καὶ ἀνέστη ἐν ἐμοὶ τὸ ψεῦδός μου κατὰ πρόσωπόν μου ἀνταπεκρίθη 10 ὀργῇ χρησάμενος κατέβαλέν με ἔβρυξεν ἐ{P'} ἐμὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας βέλη πειρατῶν αὐτοῦ ἐ{P'} ἐμοὶ ἔπεσεν 11 ἀκίσιν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐνήλατο ὀξεῖ ἔπαισέν με εἰς σιαγόνα ὁμοθυμαδὸν δὲ κατέδραμον ἐ{P'} ἐμοί 12 παρέδωκεν γάρ με ὁ κύριος εἰς χεῖρας ἀδίκου ἐπὶ δὲ ἀσεβέσιν ἔρριψέν με

1 But Job answered: 2 Old tales and cold comfort; you are all alike. 3 Words are but wind; there is no end to them, and they cost thee nothing. 4 Believe me, I could do as well, were you in my case, 5 talk the language of consolation, and mock you all the while, 6 speak of encouragement; my lips should tremble with a show of pity.[1] 7 But here is grief words cannot assuage, nor silence banish; 8 grief that bows me down till my whole frame is lifeless; 9 these furrowed cheeks are the witness of it.

And now a false accuser dares me to my face and baits me![2] 10 One that vents all his spite against me, gnashes his teeth malignantly, watches me with fierce eyes like an enemy. 11 Mouths that deride me, hands that smite me on the cheek in reproof, hearts that delight in my anguish, 12 to what ill neighbourhood God has condemned me, what tyrants hold me in their grip!

1 Respondens autem Job, dixit: 2

Audivi frequenter talia:
consolatores onerosi omnes vos estis. 3
Numquid habebunt finem verba ventosa?
aut aliquid tibi molestum est, si loquaris? 4
Poteram et ego similia vestri loqui,
atque utinam esset anima vestra pro anima mea: 5
consolarer et ego vos sermonibus,
et moverem caput meum super vos; 6
roborarem vos ore meo,
et moverem labia mea, quasi parcens vobis. 7
Sed quid agam? Si locutus fuero, non quiescet dolor meus,
et si tacuero, non recedet a me. 8
Nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus,
et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes artus mei. 9
Rugæ meæ testimonium dicunt contra me,
et suscitatur falsiloquus adversus faciem meam, contradicens mihi. 10
Collegit furorem suum in me,
et comminans mihi, infremuit contra me dentibus suis:
hostis meus terribilibus oculis me intuitus est. 11
Aperuerunt super me ora sua,
et exprobrantes percusserunt maxillam meam:
satiati sunt pœnis meis. 12
Conclusit me Deus apud iniquum,
et manibus impiorum me tradidit.

13 εἰρηνεύοντα διεσκέδασέν με λαβών με τῆς κόμης διέτιλεν κατέστησέν με ὥσπερ σκοπόν 14 ἐκύκλωσάν με λόγχαις βάλλοντες εἰς νεφρούς μου οὐ φειδόμενοι ἐξέχεαν εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν χολήν μου 15 κατέβαλόν με πτῶμα ἐπὶ πτώματι ἔδραμον πρός με δυνάμενοι 16 σάκκον ἔρραψα ἐπὶ βύρσης μου τὸ δὲ σθένος μου ἐν γῇ ἐσβέσθη 17 ἡ γαστήρ μου συγκέκαυται ἀπὸ κλαυθμοῦ ἐπὶ δὲ βλεφάροις μου σκιά

13 So free from care my life was, and now, suddenly as though a wild beast had fastened on me, dashed me to the ground, he has broken that life to pieces. I am a mark for his archery, 14 his arrows are all about me; still they pierce me to the marrow, drain my life,[3] 15 wound upon wound; giant hands assail me. 16 No wonder if I go clad in sackcloth, disfigured with ashes, 17 if my face is swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids the darkness falls.

13
Ego ille quondam opulentus, repente contritus sum:
tenuit cervicem meam, confregit me,
et posuit me sibi quasi in signum. 14
Circumdedit me lanceis suis;
convulneravit lumbos meos:
non pepercit, et effudit in terra viscera mea. 15
Concidit me vulnere super vulnus:
irruit in me quasi gigas. 16
Saccum consui super cutem meam,
et operui cinere carnem meam. 17
Facies mea intumuit a fletu,
et palpebræ meæ caligaverunt.

18 ἄδικον δὲ οὐδὲν ἦν ἐν χερσίν μου εὐχὴ δέ μου καθαρά 19 γῆ μὴ ἐπικαλύψῃς ἐ{F'} αἵματι τῆς σαρκός μου μηδὲ εἴη τόπος τῇ κραυγῇ μου 20 καὶ νῦν ἰδοὺ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ δὲ συνίστωρ μου ἐν ὑψίστοις 21 ἀφίκοιτό μου ἡ δέησις πρὸς κύριον ἔναντι δὲ αὐτοῦ στάζοι μου ὁ ὀφθαλμός 22 εἴη δὲ ἔλεγχος ἀνδρὶ ἔναντι κυρίου καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ 23 ἔτη δὲ ἀριθμητὰ ἥκασιν ὁδῷ δέ ᾗ οὐκ ἐπαναστραφήσομαι πορεύσομαι

18 Such is the reward of a guiltless life, of prayer offered without stain. 19 I charge thee, earth, to leave my blood unburied, never to muffle the echoes of my protest; 20 there is one in high heaven that knows the truth and must bear witness. 21 Friends, prate on; these tears of mine issue their challenge to a God! 22 Ah, could but a mortal bring God to justice, as man impleads man! 23 Mortal am I; swiftly my years pass, and by the road I tread there is no returning.

18
Hæc passus sum absque iniquitate manus meæ,
cum haberem mundas ad Deum preces. 19
Terra, ne operias sanguinem meum,
neque inveniat in te locum latendi clamor meus: 20
ecce enim in cælo testis meus,
et conscius meus in excelsis. 21
Verbosi amici mei:
ad Deum stillat oculus meus: 22
atque utinam sic judicaretur vir cum Deo,
quomodo judicatur filius hominis cum collega suo. 23
Ecce enim breves anni transeunt,
et semitam per quam non revertar ambulo.

[1] Both in the Hebrew text and in the Latin version, the exact train of thought may be variously interpreted. Verses 8 and 9 are also of doubtful sense in the Hebrew.

[2] ‘And now a false accuser dares me to my face and baits me’; according to some the meaning is, ‘My leanness gives open proof of it’, which corresponds well with the former half of the verse. For those who adopt this rendering, it is possible to understand the verbs in verse 10 as referring to God himself. The ‘false accuser’ can hardly refer to God; and only by a strong rhetorical exaggeration could it refer to Eliphaz. It seems more likely that in this section Job is thinking of his spiritual enemies, perhaps as he has seen them in night visions (7.14).

[3] ‘Still they pierce me to the marrow, drain my life’; literally, ‘without respite he wounds my loins (in the Hebrew, kidneys), and pours out my bowels (in the Hebrew, gall) upon the ground’.

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