The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 31
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Douay-Rheims><Vulgate><Knox Bible
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I MADE a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.
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Pepigi fœdus cum oculis meis, ut ne cogitarem quidem de virgine.
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And this was a man that had bound his eyes over by covenant; never should even his fancy dwell upon the thought of a maid!
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For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high?
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Quam enim partem haberet in me Deus desuper, et hæreditatem Omnipotens de excelsis?
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Well I knew that God Almighty in high heaven would have neither part nor lot with me else;
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Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity?
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Numquid non perditio est iniquo, et alienatio operantibus injustitiam?
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ruin for the sinner his doom is, disinheritance for the wrong-doer.
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Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?
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Nonne ipse considerat vias meas, et cunctos gressus meos dinumerat?
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Tell me, does not this God watch over every path I take, trace my footsteps one by one?
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If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit:
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Si ambulavi in vanitate, et festinavit in dolo pes meus,
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Walk I by crooked ways, run I eagerly after false dealing,
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Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.
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appendat me in statera justa, et sciat Deus simplicitatem meam.
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he can weigh my offence with true scales; let God himself bear witness to my innocence!
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If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:
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Si declinavit gressus meus de via, et si secutum est oculos meos cor meum, et si manibus meis adhæsit macula,
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Have I strayed from my course; has my heart followed the lure of my eyes; are my hands stained with wrong?
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Then let me sow and let another eat: and let my offspring be rooted out.
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seram, et alius comedat, et progenies mea eradicetur.
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Then let another man enjoy the harvest I have sowed, then let my race be doomed to extinction!
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If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend’s door:
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Si deceptum est cor meum super muliere, et si ad ostium amici mei insidiatus sum,
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Have wiles of woman entangled my heart; did I lie in wait under my neighbour’s window?
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Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her.
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scortum alterius sit uxor mea, et super illam incurventur alii.
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Then be my own wife another’s whore, strangers be her bedfellows!
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For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity.
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Hoc enim nefas est, et iniquitas maxima.
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That were sin in me, and foul wrong done;
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It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.
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Ignis est usque ad perditionem devorans, et omnia eradicans genimina.
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that fire, once lighted, will rage till all is consumed, never a crop shall escape it.
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If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:
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Si contempsi subire judicium cum servo meo et ancilla mea, cum disceptarent adversum me:
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Did I refuse justice to man-servant of mine or woman-servant, when they had complaint to bring?
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For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?
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quid enim faciam cum surrexerit ad judicandum Deus? et cum quæsierit, quid respondebo illi?
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Then it shall go hard with me when it is God’s turn to pronounce judgement; how shall I meet his scrutiny,
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Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?
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Numquid non in utero fecit me, qui et illum operatus est, et formavit me in vulva unus?
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who fashioned in the womb this one and that, man and master alike?
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If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:
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Si negavi quod volebant pauperibus, et oculos viduæ expectare feci;
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Did I deny some poor man the alms he craved, keep the widow waiting for her pittance,
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If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:
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si comedi buccellam meam solus, et non comedit pupillus ex ea
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sit over my meal alone, and never an orphan boy to share it?
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(For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother’s womb:)
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(quia ab infantia mea crevit mecum miseratio, et de utero matris meæ egressa est mecum);
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That were an ill return for the loving care that has borne me company as I grew up from childhood, ever since I left my mother’s womb.
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If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:
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si despexi pereuntem, eo quod non habuerit indumentum, et absque operimento pauperem;
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Did I spurn the naked that were ready to perish of cold, too poor to find clothing;
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If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep:
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si non benedixerunt mihi latera ejus, et de velleribus ovium mearum calefactus est;
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did I never earn thanks, from the back that went bare till fleece of my flock warmed it?
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If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate:
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si levavi super pupillum manum meam, etiam cum viderem me in porta superiorem:
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Did I threaten the friendless, whenever I could secure judgement against them in the market-place?
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Let my shoulder fall from its joint, and let my arm with its bones be broken.
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humerus meus a junctura sua cadat, et brachium meum cum suis ossibus confringatur.
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Then let shoulder of mine hang from shoulder-blade, every bone in my arm broken!
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For I have always feared God as waves swelling over me, and his weight I was not able to bear.
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Semper enim quasi tumentes super me fluctus timui Deum, et pondus ejus ferre non potui.
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Nay, but God’s terrors overwhelmed, his majesty overbore me.
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If I have thought gold my strength, and have said to fine gold: My confidence:
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Si putavi aurum robur meum, et obrizo dixi: Fiducia mea;
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In wealth did I put my trust, hail the bright gold as my life’s protector;
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If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much.
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si lætatus sum super multis divitiis meis, et quia plurima reperit manus mea;
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doted I upon my great riches, upon all my toil had earned?
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If I beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon going in brightness:
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si vidi solem cum fulgeret, et lunam incedentem clare,
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When I gazed on the sun in its splendour, on the moon in her royal progress,
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And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth:
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et lætatum est in abscondito cor meum, et osculatus sum manum meam ore meo:
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did these things steal my heart away, so that mouth kissed hand in adoration?
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Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God.
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quæ est iniquitas maxima, et negatio contra Deum altissimum.
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That were great wrong done, to deny the God who is higher than all.
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If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him.
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Si gavisus sum ad ruinam ejus qui me oderat, et exsultavi quod invenisset eum malum:
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Did I triumph over a fallen foe, rejoice at his ruin;
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For I have not given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul.
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non enim dedi ad peccandum guttur meum, ut expeterem maledicens animam ejus.
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lend my lips to ill uses, cursing my enemy’s life away?
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If the men of my tabernacle have not said: Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled?
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Si non dixerunt viri tabernaculi mei: Quis det de carnibus ejus, ut saturemur?
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Rather, it was of myself men were fain to speak evil, men of my own household, and to their hearts’ content.
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The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller.
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foris non mansit peregrinus: ostium meum viatori patuit.
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Never had the stranger to lodge in the open, my doors were open to every wayfarer that passed.
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If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom.
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Si abscondi quasi homo peccatum meum, et celavi in sinu meo iniquitatem meam;
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Men are frail; does sin lie on my conscience undisclosed, does the memory of guilt rankle in my bosom?
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If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and I have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door.
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si expavi ad multitudinem nimiam, et despectio propinquorum terruit me: et non magis tacui, nec egressus sum ostium.
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Was I daunted by fear of the throng, of my neighbours’ contemptuous looks? Did I hold my tongue, and keep within doors?
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Who would grant me a hearer, that the Almighty may hear my desire; and that he himself that judgeth would write a book,
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Quis mihi tribuat auditorem, ut desiderium meum audiat Omnipotens, et librum scribat ipse qui judicat,
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O that my cause might be tried; that he, the Almighty, would grant my request, that he, my judge, would write my record down;
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That I may carry it on my shoulder, and put it about me as a crown?
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ut in humero meo portem illum, et circumdem illum quasi coronam mihi?
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how proudly I would bear it with me, shoulder-high, wear it as a crown!
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At every step of mine I would pronounce it, and offer it as to a prince.
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Per singulos gradus meos pronuntiabo illum, et quasi principi offeram eum.
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I would proclaim it wherever I went, fit for a king’s eyes to read.
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If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn:
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Si adversum me terra mea clamat, et cum ipsa sulci ejus deflent:
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Can these lands of mine bear testimony against me, can their furrows tell a sad tale
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If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof:
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si fructus ejus comedi absque pecunia, et animam agricolarum ejus afflixi:
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of harvests enjoyed, and no price paid for them, of labourers cruelly treated?
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Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.
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pro frumento oriatur mihi tribulus, et pro hordeo spina. Finita sunt verba Job.
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Then thistles for wheat, thorns for barley may it yield me. Ended herewith are the sayings of Job.