The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 38
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Douay-Rheims><Vulgate><Knox Bible
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Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
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Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit:
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Then, from the midst of a whirlwind, the Lord gave Job his answer:
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Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?
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Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
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Here is one that must ever be clouding the truth of things with words ill considered!
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Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
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Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
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Strip, then, and enter the lists; it is my turn to ask questions now, thine to answer them.
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Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
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Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.
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From what vantage-point wast thou watching, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, whence comes this sure knowledge of thine?
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Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
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Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
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Tell me, since thou art so wise, was it thou or I designed earth’s plan, measuring it out with the line?
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Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
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Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,
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How came its base to stand so firm; who laid its corner-stone?
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When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
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cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et jubilarent omnes filii Dei?
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To me, that day, all the morning stars sang together, all the powers of heaven uttered their joyful praise.
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Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
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Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens;
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Was it thou or I shut in the sea behind bars? No sooner had it broken forth from the womb
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When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
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cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
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than I dressed it in swaddling-clothes of dark mist,
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I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
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Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem et ostia,
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set it within bounds of my own choosing, made fast with bolt and bar;
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And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
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et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
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Thus far thou shalt come, said I, and no further; here let thy swelling waves spend their force.
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Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
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Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
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Dost thou, a mortal, take command of the day’s breaking, and shew the dawn its appointed post,
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And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
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Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
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twitching away earth’s coverlet, scaring away the ill-doers?
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The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:
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Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
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The dawn, that stamps its image on the clay of earth; stands there, flung over it like a garment,
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From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
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auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
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taking away from the ill-doers the darkness that is their light, so that all their power goes for nothing.
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Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
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Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
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Didst thou ever make thy way into the sea’s depths, walk at thy ease through its hidden caverns?
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Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
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Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
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When did the gates of death open to thee, and give thee sight of its gloomy threshold?
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Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
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Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia:
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Nay, hast thou viewed the whole surface of earth itself? Tell me, if such knowledge is thine, all its secrets;
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Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness:
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in qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
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where the light dwells, where darkness finds its home;
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That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
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ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus ejus.
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hast thou followed either of these to the end of its journey, tracked it to its lair?
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Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
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Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses, et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
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Didst thou foresee the time of thy own birth, couldst thou foretell the years of life that lay before thee?
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Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
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Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
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Hast thou found thy way in to see the chambers where snow and hail lie stored,
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Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
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quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
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my armoury against the times of stress, when there are wars to be fought, battles to be won?
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By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
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Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
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Tell me by what means the light is scattered over earth, the heat diffused;
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Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
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Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
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tell me what power carved out a channel for the tempestuous rain, a vent for the echoing thunderstorm,
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That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
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ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur;
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that they should fall on some lonely desert where foot of man never trod,
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That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
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ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
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water those trackless wastes, and make the green grass spring?
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Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
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Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
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What sire gendered the rain, or the drops of dew;
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Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
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De cujus utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
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what mother’s womb bore the ice, the frost that comes from heaven
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The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
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In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
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to make water hard as stone, imprison the depths beneath its surface?
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Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
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Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
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Is it at thy command the glittering bright Pleiads cluster so close, and Orion’s circlet spreads so wide?
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Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
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Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo, et vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
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Dost thou tell the day star when to shine out, the evening star when to rise over the sons of earth?
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Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
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Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem ejus in terra?
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Is it thine to understand the motions of the heavens, and rule earth by their influence?
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Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
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Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
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Can thy voice reach the clouds, and bid their showers fall on thee;
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Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
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Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
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canst thou send out lightnings that will do thy errand, and come back to await thy pleasure?
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Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?
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Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
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What power gives either man’s heart its prescience, or the cock its sure instinct,
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Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
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Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem? et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
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knows all the motions of heaven, and lulls the music of the spheres?
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When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
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Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
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When was it that earth’s dust was piled, and the solid ground was built up?
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Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
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Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum ejus implebis,
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Is it thou or I that finds the lioness her prey, to satisfy those hungry whelps of hers,
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When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
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quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
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where they lie in rocky caves, their lurking-places? Which of us feeds the ravens?
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Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
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Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
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Is it not to God their nestlings cry so shrilly, homeless for want of food?