Then Job answered, and said:

Respondens autem Job, ait:

But Job answered:

Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning.

Nunc quoque in amaritudine est sermo meus, et manus plagæ meæ aggravata est super gemitum meum.

And still I repine bitterly as ever, no groaning too heavy for the wounds I bear.

Who will grant me that I might know and find him, and come even to his throne?

Quis mihi tribuat ut cognoscam et inveniam illum, et veniam usque ad solium ejus?

Ah, if I could but find my way to God, reach his very throne,

I would set judgment before him, and would fill my mouth with complaints.

Ponam coram eo judicium, et os meum replebo increpationibus:

in reproachful accents plead my suit before him,

That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

ut sciam verba quæ mihi respondeat, et intelligam quid loquatur mihi.

and learn what he would say in his defence, grasp the meaning of it!

I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.

Nolo multa fortitudine contendat mecum, nec magnitudinis suæ mole me premat.

Will he match his strength with mine, use all his majestic power to crush me?

Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.

Proponat æquitatem contra me, et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum.

The justice of my cause once made known to him, I should triumph at last.

But if I go to the east, he appeareth not; if to the west, I shall not understand him.

Si ad orientem iero, non apparet; si ad occidentem, non intelligam eum.

But no; travel I east or west, I find no trace of him,

If to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not take hold on him: if I turn myself to the right hand, I shall not see him.

Si ad sinistram, quid agam? non apprehendam eum; si me vertam ad dexteram, non videbo illum.

turn I north or south, I have no skill to catch sight of him.

But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire:

Ipse vero scit viam meam, et probavit me quasi aurum quod per ignem transit.

And he, all the while, keeps watch over my doings, tests me like gold the fire assays;

My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it.

Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus: viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea.

he knows how close I have kept to the path he traced for me, swerving never aside,

I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.

A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.

true to every command of his, every utterance of his cherished in my heart.

For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever his soul hath desired, that hath he done.

Ipse enim solus est, et nemo avertere potest cogitationem ejus: et anima ejus quodcumque voluit, hoc fecit.

But what of that? He reigns without a rival, none can cross his purposes; he does what likes him best.

And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.

Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, et alia multa similia præsto sunt ei.

His will once fully accomplished in me, he has many another like purpose to fulfil.

And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear.

Et idcirco a facie ejus turbatus sum, et considerans eum, timore sollicitor.

What wonder if I am all adread in his presence, if the thought of him racks me with terror?

God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.

Deus mollivit cor meum, et Omnipotens conturbavit me.

It is God that melts my heart with fear, his omnipotence that daunts me;

For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.

Non enim perii propter imminentes tenebras, nec faciem meam operuit caligo.

that thought unmans me, not the surrounding darkness, not the mists which hide my view.