But Job answered:

Et respondens Job, ait:

And Job answered, and said:

No need to teach me that; how should a man win his suit, matched against God?

Vere scio quod ita sit, et quod non justificetur homo compositus Deo.

Indeed I know it is so, and thatman cannot be justified compared with God.

Who would go to law, where one plea on this side is arrayed against a thousand on that?

Si voluerit contendere cum eo, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille.

If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand.

His all-knowing mind, his all-conquering arms, what man ever throve yet that defied them?

Sapiens corde est, et fortis robore: quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit?

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?

God, the unseen power that can thrust mountains this way and that, uproot them in his anger,

Qui transtulit montes, et nescierunt hi quos subvertit in furore suo.

Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.

can move earth from its place, and set all its pillars quaking,

Qui commovet terram de loco suo, et columnæ ejus concutiuntur.

Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

can prevent, with a word, the sun’s rising, or imprison, under his royal seal, the very stars?

Qui præcipit soli, et non oritur, et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo.

Who commandeth the sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal:

He it was, and no other, that spread out heaven to be his covering, made ocean a floor under his feet;

Qui extendit cælos solus, et graditur super fluctus maris.

Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea.

that created Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the nooks of the south;

Qui facit Arcturum et Oriona, et Hyadas et interiora austri.

Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south.

great wonders he does, beyond all our understanding and all our reckoning.

Qui facit magna, et incomprehensibilia, et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus.

Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number.

Hidden from my sight, hidden from my thought, he comes and goes;

Si venerit ad me, non videbo eum; si abierit, non intelligam.

If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand.

comes suddenly, and how should I defend my doings? goes suddenly, and how should I question his?

Si repente interroget, quis respondebit ei? vel quis dicere potest: Cur ita facis?

If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?

There is no braving the anger of such a God, when even the Titanic powers obey him;

Deus, cujus iræ nemo resistere potest, et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem.

God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.

and what am I that I should use phrases of studied eloquence for my pleading?

Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei, et loquar verbis meis cum eo?

What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him?

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.

qui etiam si habuero quippiam justum, non respondebo: sed meum judicem deprecabor.

I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.

What though I should cry upon him, and he should answer my summons? Well I know he would listen to no pleadings of mine;

Et cum invocantem exaudierit me, non credo quod audierit vocem meam.

And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice.

his storms would overwhelm me, faster than ever the unmerited blows would fall;

In turbine enim conteret me, et multiplicabit vulnera mea, etiam sine causa.

For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause.

never a breathing-space, never a draught but of gall!

Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum, et implet me amaritudinibus.

He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.

Nought avails might, when a giant threatens me; nought avails right, when none dares to support my quarrel.

Si fortitudo quæritur, robustissimus est; si æquitas judicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere.

If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.

Would I plead in defence, he turns my own words against me; be I never so upright, he will prove me hypocrite.

Si justificare me voluero, os meum condemnabit me; si innocentem ostendero, pravum me comprobabit.

If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.

And innocent I am, but of that I take regard no longer; I am aweary of life itself.

Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea, et tædebit me vitæ meæ.

Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.

Still unchanged is the burden of my complaint; innocent and guilty, he sweeps all away.

Unum est quod locutus sum: et innocentem et impium ipse consumit.

One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.

If his scourge must fall, should not a single blow suffice? Why does he look on and laugh, when the unoffending, too, must suffer?

Si flagellat, occidat semel, et non de pœnis innocentum rideat.

If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent.

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?

Terra data est in manus impii; vultum judicum ejus operit. Quod si non ille est, quis ergo est?

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?

Swift as a royal courier my days pass, and joyless each one,

Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore; fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum.

My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good.

like a pinnace gliding down stream, or an eagle swooping on its prey.

Pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes; sicut aquila volans ad escam.

They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey.

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;

Cum dixero: Nequaquam ita loquar: commuto faciem meam, et dolore torqueor.

If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.

still thou wouldst hold me guilty, wouldst not spare.

Verebar omnia opera mea, sciens quod non parceres delinquenti.

I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.

Blamed I must be, in spite of all; vain was my striving,

Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi?

But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?

vainly I washed me in water pure as snow, kept my hands shining clean;

Si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis, et fulserint velut mundissimæ manus meæ,

If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean:

thy condemnation must roll me in the mire again, till the very clothes I wear shun the touch of me!

tamen sordibus intinges me, et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea.

Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me,

I cannot meet him in judgement as man to man, claim an impartial hearing for my plea;

Neque enim viro qui similis mei est, respondebo; nec qui mecum in judicio ex æquo possit audiri.

For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment.

there can be no arbiter between us, to claim jurisdiction over both.

Non est qui utrumque valeat arguere, et ponere manum suam in ambobus.

There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both.

Let him lay by his rod, let his terrors cease to daunt me;

Auferat a me virgam suam, et pavor ejus non me terreat.

Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me.

then I will speak out bravely to his face; it is fear that holds me dumb.

Loquar, et non timebo eum; neque enim possum metuens respondere.

I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.