But Job answered:

Respondens autem Job, ait:

Then Job answered, and said:

And still I repine bitterly as ever, no groaning too heavy for the wounds I bear.

Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.

Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning.

Ah, if I could but find my way to God, reach his very throne,

Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium ejus?

Who will grant me that I might know and find him, and come even to his throne?

in reproachful accents plead my suit before him,

Ponam coram eo judicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus:

I would set judgment before him, and would fill my mouth with complaints.

and learn what he would say in his defence, grasp the meaning of it!

ut sciam verba quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.

That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

Will he match his strength with mine, use all his majestic power to crush me?

Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.

I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.

The justice of my cause once made known to him, I should triumph at last.

Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum.

Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.

But no; travel I east or west, I find no trace of him,

Si ad orientem iero, non apparet; si ad occidentem, non intelligam eum.

But if I go to the east, he appeareth not; if to the west, I shall not understand him.

turn I north or south, I have no skill to catch sight of him.

Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum; si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.

If to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not take hold on him: if I turn myself to the right hand, I shall not see him.

And he, all the while, keeps watch over my doings, tests me like gold the fire assays;

Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum quod per ignem transit.

But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire:

he knows how close I have kept to the path he traced for me, swerving never aside,

Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus: viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.

My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it.

true to every command of his, every utterance of his cherished in my heart.

A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.

I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.

But what of that? He reigns without a rival, none can cross his purposes; he does what likes him best.

Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem ejus: et anima ejus quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.

For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever his soul hath desired, that hath he done.

His will once fully accomplished in me, he has many another like purpose to fulfil.

Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.

And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.

What wonder if I am all adread in his presence, if the thought of him racks me with terror?

Et idcirco a facie ejus turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.

And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear.

It is God that melts my heart with fear, his omnipotence that daunts me;

Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.

God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.

that thought unmans me, not the surrounding darkness, not the mists which hide my view.

Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.

For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.