Then Job answered, and said:

I have often heard such things as these: you are all troublesome comforters.

Shall windy words have no end? or is it any trouble to thee to speak?

I also could speak like you: and would God your soul were for my soul.

I would comfort you also with words, and would wag my head over you.

I would strengthen you with my mouth, and would move my lips, as sparing you.

But what shall I do? If I speak, my pain will not rest: and if I hold my peace, it will not depart from me.

But now my sorrow hath oppressed me, and all my limbs are brought to nothing.

My wrinkles bear witness against me, and a false speaker riseth up against my face, contradicting me.

He hath gathered together his fury against me, and threatening me he hath gnashed with his teeth upon me: my enemy hath beheld me with terrible eyes.

They have opened their mouths upon me, and reproaching me they have struck me on the cheek, they are filled with my pains.

God hath shut me up with the unjust man, and hath delivered me into the hands of the wicked.

I that was formerly so wealthy, am all on a sudden broken to pieces: he hath taken me by my neck, he hath broken me, and hath set me up to be his mark.

He hath compassed me round about with his lances, he hath wounded my loins, he hath not spared, and hath poured out my bowels on the earth,

He hath torn me with wound upon wound, he hath rushed in upon me like a giant.

I have sowed sackcloth upon my skin, and have covered my flesh with ashes.

My face is swollen with weeping, and my eyelids are dim.

These things have I suffered without the iniquity of my hand, when I offered pure prayers to God.

O earth, cover not thou my blood, neither let my cry find a hiding place in thee.

For behold my witness is in heaven, and he that knoweth my conscience is on high.

My friends are full of words: my eye poureth out tears to God.

And O that a man might so be judged with God, as the son of man is judged with his companion!

For behold short years pass away, and I am walking in a path by which I shall not return.

My spirit shall be wasted, my days shall be shortened and only the grave remaineth for me.

I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness.

Deliver me, O Lord, and set me beside thee, and let any man’s hand fight against me.

Thou hast set their heart far from understanding, therefore they shall not be exalted.

He promiseth a prey to his companions, and the eyes of his children shall fail.

He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them.

My eye is dim through indignation, and my limbs are brought as it were to nothing.

The just shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall be raised up against the hypocrite.

And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

Wherefore be you all converted, and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man.

My days have passed away, my thoughts are dissipated, tormenting my heart.

They have turned night into day, and after darkness I hope for light again.

If I wait hell is my house, and I have made my bed in darkness.

I have said to rottenness: Thou art my father; to worms, my mother and my sister.

Where is now then my expectation, and who considereth my patience?

All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest?

Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

How long will you throw out words? understand first, and so let us speak.

Why are we reputed as beasts, and counted vile before you?

Thou that destroyest thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee, and shall rocks be removed out of their place?

Shall not the light of the wicked be extinguished, and the flame of his fire not shine?

The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him, shall be put out.

The step of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down headlong.

For he hath thrust his feet into a net, and walketh in its meshes.

The sole of his foot shall be held in a snare, and thirst shall burn against him.

A gin is hidden for him in the earth, and his trap upon the path.

Fears shall terrify him on every side, and shall entangle his feet.

Let his strength be wasted with famine, and let hunger invade his ribs.

Let it devour the beauty of his skin, let the firstborn death consume his arms.

Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king.

Let the companions of him that is not, dwell in his tabernacle, let brimstone be sprinkled in his tent.

Let his roots be dried up beneath, and his harvest destroyed above.

Let the memory of him perish from the earth, and let not his name be renowned in the streets.

He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world.

His seed shall not subsist, nor his offspring among his people, nor any remnants in his country.

They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, and horror shall fall upon them that went before.

These then are the tabernacles of the wicked, and this the place of him that knoweth not God.

Then Job answered, and said:

How long do you afflict my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

Behold, these ten times you confound me, and are not ashamed to oppress me.

For if I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me.

But you set yourselves up against me, and reprove me with my reproaches.

At least now understand, that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges.

Behold I shall cry suffering violence, and no one will hear: I shall cry aloud, and there is none to judge.

He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness.

He hath stripped me of my glory, and hath taken the crown from my head.

He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up.

His wrath is kindled against me, and he hath counted me as his enemy.

His troops have come together, and have made themselves a way by me, and have besieged my tabernacle round about.

He hath put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance like strangers have departed from me.

My kinsmen have forsaken me, and they that knew me, have forgotten me.

They that dwell in my house, and my maidservants have counted me as a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes.

I called my servant, and he gave me no answer, I entreated him with my own mouth.

My wife hath abhorred my breath, and I entreated the children of my womb.

Even fools despised me, and when I was gone from them, they spoke against me.

They that were sometime my counsellors, have abhorred me: and he whom I loved most is turned against me.

The flesh being consumed, my bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh?

Who will grant me that my words may be written? who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book?

With an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone?

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.

And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God.

Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.

Why then do you say now: Let us persecute him, and let us find occasion of word against him?

Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is a judgment.

Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?

As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.

His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat.

His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him,

The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.

He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.

He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.

Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.

There was nothing left of his meat, and therefore nothing shall continue of his goods:

When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.

All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.

The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

Then Job answered, and said:

Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.

Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words.

Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?

Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.

As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?

Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children’s children in their sight.

Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them.

Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.

Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play.

They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.

Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him?

Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.

How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?

They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth.

God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.

His eyes shall see his own destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?

Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?

One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy.

His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:

And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them.

Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.

For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things.

Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.

Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.

He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.

How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth?