1 Then Eliphaz, the Themanite, answered, and said:
2 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill; but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
3 Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
4 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
5 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: It hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
8 On the contrary, I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
9 Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions, are broken:
11 The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
12 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth, as it were, received the veins of its whisper.
13 In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
14 Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 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.
17 Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker? Shall man be justified in comparison of God, etc... These are the words which Eliphaz had heard from an angel, which (verse 15) he calls a spirit.
18 Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
19 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
20 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
21 And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899
1 Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit:
2 Si cœperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies;
sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit?
3 Ecce docuisti multos,
et manus lassas roborasti;
4 vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui,
et genua trementia confortasti.
5 Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti;
tetigit te, et conturbatus es.
6 Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua,
patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum?
7 Recordare, obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit?
aut quando recti deleti sunt?
8 Quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem,
et seminant dolores, et metunt eos,
9 flante Deo perisse,
et spiritu iræ ejus esse consumptos.
10 Rugitus leonis, et vox leænæ,
et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt.
11 Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam,
et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.
12 Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum,
et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri ejus.
13 In horrore visionis nocturnæ,
quando solet sopor occupare homines,
14 pavor tenuit me, et tremor,
et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt;
15 et cum spiritus, me præsente, transiret,
inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ.
16 Stetit quidam, cujus non agnoscebam vultum,
imago coram oculis meis,
et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi.
17 Numquid homo, Dei comparatione, justificabitur?
aut factore suo purior erit vir?
18 Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles,
et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem;
19 quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas,
qui terrenum habent fundamentum,
consumentur velut a tinea?
20 De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur;
et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt.
21 Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis;
morientur, et non in sapientia.
Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition