Then, from the midst of a whirlwind, the Lord gave Job his answer:

Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit:

Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:

Here is one that must ever be clouding the truth of things with words ill considered!

Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?

Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?

Strip, then, and enter the lists; it is my turn to ask questions now, thine to answer them.

Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.

Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

From what vantage-point wast thou watching, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, whence comes this sure knowledge of thine?

Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.

Tell me, since thou art so wise, was it thou or I designed earth’s plan, measuring it out with the line?

Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

How came its base to stand so firm; who laid its corner-stone?

Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,

Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

To me, that day, all the morning stars sang together, all the powers of heaven uttered their joyful praise.

cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et jubilarent omnes filii Dei?

When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

Was it thou or I shut in the sea behind bars? No sooner had it broken forth from the womb

Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens;

Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:

than I dressed it in swaddling-clothes of dark mist,

cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?

When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

set it within bounds of my own choosing, made fast with bolt and bar;

Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem et ostia,

I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:

Thus far thou shalt come, said I, and no further; here let thy swelling waves spend their force.

et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.

And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

Dost thou, a mortal, take command of the day’s breaking, and shew the dawn its appointed post,

Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?

Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?

twitching away earth’s coverlet, scaring away the ill-doers?

Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?

And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?

The dawn, that stamps its image on the clay of earth; stands there, flung over it like a garment,

Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:

The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:

taking away from the ill-doers the darkness that is their light, so that all their power goes for nothing.

auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.

From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.

Didst thou ever make thy way into the sea’s depths, walk at thy ease through its hidden caverns?

Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?

Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

When did the gates of death open to thee, and give thee sight of its gloomy threshold?

Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?

Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?

Nay, hast thou viewed the whole surface of earth itself? Tell me, if such knowledge is thine, all its secrets;

Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia:

Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?

where the light dwells, where darkness finds its home;

in qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:

Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness:

hast thou followed either of these to the end of its journey, tracked it to its lair?

ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus ejus.

That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.

Didst thou foresee the time of thy own birth, couldst thou foretell the years of life that lay before thee?

Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?

Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?

Hast thou found thy way in to see the chambers where snow and hail lie stored,

Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,

Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail:

my armoury against the times of stress, when there are wars to be fought, battles to be won?

quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?

Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?

Tell me by what means the light is scattered over earth, the heat diffused;

Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?

By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?

tell me what power carved out a channel for the tempestuous rain, a vent for the echoing thunderstorm,

Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,

Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:

that they should fall on some lonely desert where foot of man never trod,

ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur;

That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:

water those trackless wastes, and make the green grass spring?

ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?

That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?

What sire gendered the rain, or the drops of dew;

Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?

Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?

what mother’s womb bore the ice, the frost that comes from heaven

De cujus utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?

Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?

to make water hard as stone, imprison the depths beneath its surface?

In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.

The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.

Is it at thy command the glittering bright Pleiads cluster so close, and Orion’s circlet spreads so wide?

Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?

Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?

Dost thou tell the day star when to shine out, the evening star when to rise over the sons of earth?

Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo, et vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?

Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?

Is it thine to understand the motions of the heavens, and rule earth by their influence?

Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem ejus in terra?

Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?

Can thy voice reach the clouds, and bid their showers fall on thee;

Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?

Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?

canst thou send out lightnings that will do thy errand, and come back to await thy pleasure?

Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?

Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?

What power gives either man’s heart its prescience, or the cock its sure instinct,

Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?

Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?

knows all the motions of heaven, and lulls the music of the spheres?

Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem? et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?

Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?

When was it that earth’s dust was piled, and the solid ground was built up?

Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?

When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?

Is it thou or I that finds the lioness her prey, to satisfy those hungry whelps of hers,

Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum ejus implebis,

Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,

where they lie in rocky caves, their lurking-places? Which of us feeds the ravens?

quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?

When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?

Is it not to God their nestlings cry so shrilly, homeless for want of food?

Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?

Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?