The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 3
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Douay-Rheims><Vulgate><Knox Bible
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After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,
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Post hæc aperuit Job os suum, et maledixit diei suo,
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At last, Job himself broke into utterance, and fell to cursing the day on which he was born.
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And he said:
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et locutus est:
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And this was his plaint:
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Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.
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Pereat dies in qua natus sum, et nox in qua dictum est: Conceptus est homo.
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Blotted out for ever be the day of my birth; that night, too, which gave word that a human life had been conceived in the womb!
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Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.
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Dies ille vertatur in tenebras: non requirat eum Deus desuper, et non illustretur lumine.
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Plunged be that day in darkness; may God on high forget it, and grant it never shine of sun;
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Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.
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Obscurent eum tenebræ et umbra mortis; occupet eum caligo, et involvatur amaritudine.
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shades, like the shades of death, claim it for their own; deep gloom lie heavy on it, and wrap it all in desolation.
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Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.
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Noctem illam tenebrosus turbo possideat; non computetur in diebus anni, nec numeretur in mensibus.
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Shrouded be that night in a black storm, let it not be reckoned among the days of the year, nor marked in the moon’s calendar;
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Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.
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Sit nox illa solitaria, nec laude digna.
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a night doomed to exile, a night that never wakes the sound of praise.
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Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a leviathan:
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Maledicant ei qui maledicunt diei, qui parati sunt suscitare Leviathan.
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Wizards that can overcast the sun, and rouse old Chaos from his lair, on that night lay your ban;
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Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:
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Obtenebrentur stellæ caligine ejus; expectet lucem, et non videat, nec ortum surgentis auroræ.
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blacken its starlight, let it wait for the morning light, and see it never, nor break of rising dawn;
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Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.
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Quia non conclusit ostia ventris qui portavit me, nec abstulit mala ab oculis meis.
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the night that should have closed the doors of the womb against me, shut these eyes forever to sights of woe!
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Why did I not die in the womb, why did I not perish when I came out of the belly?
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Quare non in vulva mortuus sum? egressus ex utero non statim perii?
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Had but the womb been the tomb of me, had I died at birth,
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Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts?
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Quare exceptus genibus? cur lactatus uberibus?
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had no lap ever cherished me, no breast suckled me,
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For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep.
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Nunc enim dormiens silerem, et somno meo requiescerem
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all would be rest now, all would be silence. Deeply I would take my repose,
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With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes:
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cum regibus et consulibus terræ, qui ædificant sibi solitudines;
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with the old kings and senators, that once restored cities for their whim,
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Or with princes, that possess gold, and fill their houses with silver:
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aut cum principibus qui possident aurum, et replent domos suas argento;
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the chieftains that had such wealth of gold, houses full of silver;
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Or as a hidden untimely birth I should not be, or as they that being conceived have not seen the light.
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aut sicut abortivum absconditum non subsisterem, vel qui concepti non viderunt lucem.
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with babe still-born and babe unborn, hidden away in the sunless grave.
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There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest.
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Ibi impii cessaverunt a tumultu, et ibi requieverunt fessi robore.
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There the unquietness of the wicked is stilled, and the weary are at rest;
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And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor.
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Et quondam vincti pariter sine molestia, non audierunt vocem exactoris.
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untroubled the thrall sleeps, his tyrant’s bidding cannot reach him now;
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The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
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Parvus et magnus ibi sunt, et servus liber a domino suo.
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master and slave are there, and the slave masterless.
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Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?
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Quare misero data est lux, et vita his qui in amaritudine animæ sunt:
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Why should they see the light, that groan to see it; why should they live, that must live in bitterness of soul?
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That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure:
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qui expectant mortem, et non venit, quasi effodientes thesaurum;
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Why should they be like treasure-seekers, longing for the death that still cheats them,
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And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave.
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gaudentque vehementer cum invenerint sepulchrum?
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a grave the prize they covet?
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To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness?
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viro cujus abscondita est via et circumdedit eum Deus tenebris?
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Such men as I, that must tread blindfold in a maze of God’s making!
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Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:
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Antequam comedam, suspiro; et tamquam inundantes aquæ, sic rugitus meus:
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Ever as I sit down to meat the sighs come, grief floods over me unrestrained.
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For the fear which I feared, hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me.
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quia timor quem timebam evenit mihi, et quod verebar accidit.
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Must I have nothing left to daunt me? Must each calamity be felt as soon as feared?
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Have I not dissembled? have I not kept silence? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.
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Nonne dissimulavi? nonne silui? nonne quievi? et venit super me indignatio.
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And still I kept my own counsel, still patient and silent I, till my angry mood overcame me at last.