The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 29
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Vulgate><Douay-Rheims><Knox Bible
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Addidit quoque Job, assumens parabolam suam, et dixit:
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Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
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And thus Job continued to lay bare his thought:
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Quis mihi tribuat ut sim juxta menses pristinos, secundum dies quibus Deus custodiebat me?
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Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?
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Alas for the changes the months have brought with them! Alas for the old days, when God was my protector,
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Quando splendebat lucerna ejus super caput meum, et ad lumen ejus ambulabam in tenebris:
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When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?
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when his light shone above me, its rays guiding me through the darkness!
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sicut fui in diebus adolescentiæ meæ, quando secreto Deus erat in tabernaculo meo:
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As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?
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Days of ripe manhood, when God was my home’s familiar guest,
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quando erat Omnipotens mecum, et in circuitu meo pueri mei:
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When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?
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he, the Almighty, at my side! I had my children still about me;
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quando lavabam pedes meos butyro, et petra fundebat mihi rivos olei:
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When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?
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the milk frothed in pools at my feet, no rock so hard but my olives bathed it in oil.
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quando procedebam ad portam civitatis, et in platea parabant cathedram mihi.
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When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?
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Went I to the city gate, there was my seat ready for me in the open square;
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Videbant me juvenes, et abscondebantur: et senes assurgentes stabant.
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The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.
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rose the young men to make place for me, rose the aged to do me honour;
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Principes cessabant loqui, et digitum superponebant ori suo.
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The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.
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nobles fell silent, and waited, finger on lip,
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Vocem suam cohibebant duces, et lingua eorum gutturi suo adhærebat.
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The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.
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words failed the chieftains, and counsel they gave no more.
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Auris audiens beatificabat me, et oculus videns testimonium reddebat mihi:
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The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me:
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None heard the fame of me then, but called me a happy man; none watched my doings then, but spoke in my praise.
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eo quod liberassem pauperem vociferantem, et pupillum cui non esset adjutor.
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Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.
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Poor man nor helpless orphan cried to me in vain;
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Benedictio perituri super me veniebat, et cor viduæ consolatus sum.
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The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.
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how they blessed me, souls reprieved from instant peril; with what comfort the widow’s heart rejoiced!
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Justitia indutus sum, et vestivi me, sicut vestimento et diademate, judicio meo.
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I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem.
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Dutiful observance was still the vesture I wore, my robe and crown integrity;
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Oculus fui cæco, et pes claudo.
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I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.
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in me, the blind found sight, the lame strength,
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Pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam diligentissime investigabam.
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I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.
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the poor a father. None so ready to give the stranger’s cause a hearing,
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Conterebam molas iniqui, et de dentibus illius auferebam prædam.
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I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.
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break open the fangs of the wrong-doer and snatch the prey from his teeth.
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Dicebamque: In nidulo meo moriar, et sicut palma multiplicabo dies.
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And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.
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Here, thought I, I have built myself a nest to die in; here, like some palm-tree, I shall defy the years,
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Radix mea aperta est secus aquas, et ros morabitur in messione mea.
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My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.
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palm-tree that spreads out its roots to the river-bank, on whose leaves lodges the dew;
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Gloria mea semper innovabitur, et arcus meus in manu mea instaurabitur.
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My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.
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my fame never diminishing, never worn out the bow I bear.
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Qui me audiebant, expectabant sententiam, et intenti tacebant ad consilium meum.
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They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.
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How eagerly men hung upon my words, intent to learn what counsel I would give,
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Verbis meis addere nihil audebant, et super illos stillabat eloquium meum.
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To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.
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nor ventured to speak when I had done! A gracious influence my words fell,
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Expectabant me sicut pluviam, et os suum aperiebant quasi ad imbrem serotinum.
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They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.
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like autumn rain or the spring showers on lips athirst.
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Siquando ridebam ad eos, non credebant: et lux vultus mei non cadebat in terram.
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If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.
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Were they faint-hearted, they found me smiling still, and the encouragement of my glance never failed them.
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Si voluissem ire ad eos, sedebam primus: cumque sederem quasi rex, circumstante exercitu, eram tamen mœrentium consolator.
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If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.
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Deigned I to be their leader, the first place was mine; yet ever when I sat like a king with his retinue about him, I would comfort the mourner’s tears.