The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 23
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Vulgate><Knox Bible><Douay-Rheims
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Respondens autem Job, ait:
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But Job answered:
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Then Job answered, and said:
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Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.
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And still I repine bitterly as ever, no groaning too heavy for the wounds I bear.
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Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning.
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Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium ejus?
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Ah, if I could but find my way to God, reach his very throne,
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Who will grant me that I might know and find him, and come even to his throne?
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Ponam coram eo judicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus:
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in reproachful accents plead my suit before him,
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I would set judgment before him, and would fill my mouth with complaints.
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ut sciam verba quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.
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and learn what he would say in his defence, grasp the meaning of it!
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That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.
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Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.
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Will he match his strength with mine, use all his majestic power to crush me?
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I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.
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Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum.
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The justice of my cause once made known to him, I should triumph at last.
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Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.
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Si ad orientem iero, non apparet; si ad occidentem, non intelligam eum.
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But no; travel I east or west, I find no trace of him,
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But if I go to the east, he appeareth not; if to the west, I shall not understand him.
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Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum; si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.
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turn I north or south, I have no skill to catch sight of him.
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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.
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Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum quod per ignem transit.
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And he, all the while, keeps watch over my doings, tests me like gold the fire assays;
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But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire:
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Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus: viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.
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he knows how close I have kept to the path he traced for me, swerving never aside,
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My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it.
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A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.
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true to every command of his, every utterance of his cherished in my heart.
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I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.
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Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem ejus: et anima ejus quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.
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But what of that? He reigns without a rival, none can cross his purposes; he does what likes him best.
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For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever his soul hath desired, that hath he done.
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Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.
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His will once fully accomplished in me, he has many another like purpose to fulfil.
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And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.
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Et idcirco a facie ejus turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.
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What wonder if I am all adread in his presence, if the thought of him racks me with terror?
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And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear.
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Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.
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It is God that melts my heart with fear, his omnipotence that daunts me;
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God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.
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Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.
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that thought unmans me, not the surrounding darkness, not the mists which hide my view.
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For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.