The Book of Job — Liber Job
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Chapter 9
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Vulgate><Douay-Rheims><Knox Bible
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Et respondens Job, ait:
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And Job answered, and said:
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But Job answered:
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Vere scio quod ita sit, et quod non justificetur homo compositus Deo.
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Indeed I know it is so, and thatman cannot be justified compared with God.
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No need to teach me that; how should a man win his suit, matched against God?
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Si voluerit contendere cum eo, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille.
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If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand.
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Who would go to law, where one plea on this side is arrayed against a thousand on that?
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Sapiens corde est, et fortis robore: quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit?
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He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?
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His all-knowing mind, his all-conquering arms, what man ever throve yet that defied them?
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Qui transtulit montes, et nescierunt hi quos subvertit in furore suo.
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Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.
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God, the unseen power that can thrust mountains this way and that, uproot them in his anger,
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Qui commovet terram de loco suo, et columnæ ejus concutiuntur.
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Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
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can move earth from its place, and set all its pillars quaking,
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Qui præcipit soli, et non oritur, et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo.
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Who commandeth the sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal:
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can prevent, with a word, the sun’s rising, or imprison, under his royal seal, the very stars?
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Qui extendit cælos solus, et graditur super fluctus maris.
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Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea.
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He it was, and no other, that spread out heaven to be his covering, made ocean a floor under his feet;
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Qui facit Arcturum et Oriona, et Hyadas et interiora austri.
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Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south.
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that created Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the nooks of the south;
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Qui facit magna, et incomprehensibilia, et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus.
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Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number.
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great wonders he does, beyond all our understanding and all our reckoning.
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Si venerit ad me, non videbo eum; si abierit, non intelligam.
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If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand.
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Hidden from my sight, hidden from my thought, he comes and goes;
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Si repente interroget, quis respondebit ei? vel quis dicere potest: Cur ita facis?
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If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?
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comes suddenly, and how should I defend my doings? goes suddenly, and how should I question his?
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Deus, cujus iræ nemo resistere potest, et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem.
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God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.
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There is no braving the anger of such a God, when even the Titanic powers obey him;
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Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei, et loquar verbis meis cum eo?
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What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him?
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and what am I that I should use phrases of studied eloquence for my pleading?
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qui etiam si habuero quippiam justum, non respondebo: sed meum judicem deprecabor.
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I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.
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Nay, though I had right on my side, I would not plead against him as an adversary, I would sue to him for mercy as a judge.
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Et cum invocantem exaudierit me, non credo quod audierit vocem meam.
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And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice.
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What though I should cry upon him, and he should answer my summons? Well I know he would listen to no pleadings of mine;
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In turbine enim conteret me, et multiplicabit vulnera mea, etiam sine causa.
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For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause.
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his storms would overwhelm me, faster than ever the unmerited blows would fall;
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Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum, et implet me amaritudinibus.
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He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.
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never a breathing-space, never a draught but of gall!
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Si fortitudo quæritur, robustissimus est; si æquitas judicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere.
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If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.
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Nought avails might, when a giant threatens me; nought avails right, when none dares to support my quarrel.
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Si justificare me voluero, os meum condemnabit me; si innocentem ostendero, pravum me comprobabit.
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If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.
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Would I plead in defence, he turns my own words against me; be I never so upright, he will prove me hypocrite.
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Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea, et tædebit me vitæ meæ.
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Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.
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And innocent I am, but of that I take regard no longer; I am aweary of life itself.
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Unum est quod locutus sum: et innocentem et impium ipse consumit.
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One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.
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Still unchanged is the burden of my complaint; innocent and guilty, he sweeps all away.
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Si flagellat, occidat semel, et non de pœnis innocentum rideat.
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If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent.
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If his scourge must fall, should not a single blow suffice? Why does he look on and laugh, when the unoffending, too, must suffer?
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Terra data est in manus impii; vultum judicum ejus operit. Quod si non ille est, quis ergo est?
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The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then?
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So the whole world is given up into the power of wrong-doers; he blinds the eyes of justice. He is answerable for it; who else?
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Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore; fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum.
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My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good.
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Swift as a royal courier my days pass, and joyless each one,
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Pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes; sicut aquila volans ad escam.
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They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey.
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like a pinnace gliding down stream, or an eagle swooping on its prey.
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Cum dixero: Nequaquam ita loquar: commuto faciem meam, et dolore torqueor.
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If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.
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Ere now, I have been minded to put away such talk as this, wear a sad face and live on the rack no more; still would I have pains to daunt me;
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Verebar omnia opera mea, sciens quod non parceres delinquenti.
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I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.
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still thou wouldst hold me guilty, wouldst not spare.
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Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi?
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But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?
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Blamed I must be, in spite of all; vain was my striving,
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Si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis, et fulserint velut mundissimæ manus meæ,
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If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean:
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vainly I washed me in water pure as snow, kept my hands shining clean;
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tamen sordibus intinges me, et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea.
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Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me,
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thy condemnation must roll me in the mire again, till the very clothes I wear shun the touch of me!
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Neque enim viro qui similis mei est, respondebo; nec qui mecum in judicio ex æquo possit audiri.
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For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment.
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I cannot meet him in judgement as man to man, claim an impartial hearing for my plea;
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Non est qui utrumque valeat arguere, et ponere manum suam in ambobus.
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There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both.
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there can be no arbiter between us, to claim jurisdiction over both.
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Auferat a me virgam suam, et pavor ejus non me terreat.
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Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me.
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Let him lay by his rod, let his terrors cease to daunt me;
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Loquar, et non timebo eum; neque enim possum metuens respondere.
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I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.
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then I will speak out bravely to his face; it is fear that holds me dumb.