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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1 Et respondens Job, ait: | 1 And Job answered, and said: | 1 But Job answered: |
2 Vere scio quod ita sit, et quod non justificetur homo compositus Deo. | 2 Indeed I know it is so, and thatman cannot be justified compared with God. | 2 No need to teach me that; how should a man win his suit, matched against God? |
3 Si voluerit contendere cum eo, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille. | 3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand. | 3 Who would go to law, where one plea on this side is arrayed against a thousand on that? |
4 Sapiens corde est, et fortis robore: quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit? | 4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace? | 4 His all-knowing mind, his all-conquering arms, what man ever throve yet that defied them? |
5 Qui transtulit montes, et nescierunt hi quos subvertit in furore suo. | 5 Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not. | 5 God, the unseen power that can thrust mountains this way and that, uproot them in his anger, |
6 Qui commovet terram de loco suo, et columnæ ejus concutiuntur. | 6 Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. | 6 can move earth from its place, and set all its pillars quaking, |
7 Qui præcipit soli, et non oritur, et stellas claudit quasi sub signaculo. | 7 Who commandeth the sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal: | 7 can prevent, with a word, the sun’s rising, or imprison, under his royal seal, the very stars? |
8 Qui extendit cælos solus, et graditur super fluctus maris. | 8 Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea. | 8 He it was, and no other, that spread out heaven to be his covering, made ocean a floor under his feet; |
9 Qui facit Arcturum et Oriona, et Hyadas et interiora austri. | 9 Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south. | 9 that created Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the nooks of the south; |
10 Qui facit magna, et incomprehensibilia, et mirabilia, quorum non est numerus. | 10 Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number. | 10 great wonders he does, beyond all our understanding and all our reckoning. |
11 Si venerit ad me, non videbo eum; si abierit, non intelligam. | 11 If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand. | 11 Hidden from my sight, hidden from my thought, he comes and goes; |
12 Si repente interroget, quis respondebit ei? vel quis dicere potest: Cur ita facis? | 12 If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so? | 12 comes suddenly, and how should I defend my doings? goes suddenly, and how should I question his? |
13 Deus, cujus iræ nemo resistere potest, et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem. | 13 God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world. | 13 There is no braving the anger of such a God, when even the Titanic powers obey him; |
14 Quantus ergo sum ego, ut respondeam ei, et loquar verbis meis cum eo? | 14 What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him? | 14 and what am I that I should use phrases of studied eloquence for my pleading? |
15 qui etiam si habuero quippiam justum, non respondebo: sed meum judicem deprecabor. | 15 I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge. | 15 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. |
16 Et cum invocantem exaudierit me, non credo quod audierit vocem meam. | 16 And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice. | 16 What though I should cry upon him, and he should answer my summons? Well I know he would listen to no pleadings of mine; |
17 In turbine enim conteret me, et multiplicabit vulnera mea, etiam sine causa. | 17 For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause. | 17 his storms would overwhelm me, faster than ever the unmerited blows would fall; |
18 Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum, et implet me amaritudinibus. | 18 He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness. | 18 never a breathing-space, never a draught but of gall! |
19 Si fortitudo quæritur, robustissimus est; si æquitas judicii, nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere. | 19 If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me. | 19 Nought avails might, when a giant threatens me; nought avails right, when none dares to support my quarrel. |
20 Si justificare me voluero, os meum condemnabit me; si innocentem ostendero, pravum me comprobabit. | 20 If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked. | 20 Would I plead in defence, he turns my own words against me; be I never so upright, he will prove me hypocrite. |
21 Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea, et tædebit me vitæ meæ. | 21 Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life. | 21 And innocent I am, but of that I take regard no longer; I am aweary of life itself. |
22 Unum est quod locutus sum: et innocentem et impium ipse consumit. | 22 One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth. | 22 Still unchanged is the burden of my complaint; innocent and guilty, he sweeps all away. |
23 Si flagellat, occidat semel, et non de pœnis innocentum rideat. | 23 If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent. | 23 If his scourge must fall, should not a single blow suffice? Why does he look on and laugh, when the unoffending, too, must suffer? |
24 Terra data est in manus impii; vultum judicum ejus operit. Quod si non ille est, quis ergo est? | 24 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? | 24 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? |
25 Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore; fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum. | 25 My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good. | 25 Swift as a royal courier my days pass, and joyless each one, |
26 Pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes; sicut aquila volans ad escam. | 26 They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey. | 26 like a pinnace gliding down stream, or an eagle swooping on its prey. |
27 Cum dixero: Nequaquam ita loquar: commuto faciem meam, et dolore torqueor. | 27 If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow. | 27 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; |
28 Verebar omnia opera mea, sciens quod non parceres delinquenti. | 28 I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender. | 28 still thou wouldst hold me guilty, wouldst not spare. |
29 Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi? | 29 But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain? | 29 Blamed I must be, in spite of all; vain was my striving, |
30 Si lotus fuero quasi aquis nivis, et fulserint velut mundissimæ manus meæ, | 30 If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean: | 30 vainly I washed me in water pure as snow, kept my hands shining clean; |
31 tamen sordibus intinges me, et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea. | 31 Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me, | 31 thy condemnation must roll me in the mire again, till the very clothes I wear shun the touch of me! |
32 Neque enim viro qui similis mei est, respondebo; nec qui mecum in judicio ex æquo possit audiri. | 32 For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment. | 32 I cannot meet him in judgement as man to man, claim an impartial hearing for my plea; |
33 Non est qui utrumque valeat arguere, et ponere manum suam in ambobus. | 33 There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both. | 33 there can be no arbiter between us, to claim jurisdiction over both. |
34 Auferat a me virgam suam, et pavor ejus non me terreat. | 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me. | 34 Let him lay by his rod, let his terrors cease to daunt me; |
35 Loquar, et non timebo eum; neque enim possum metuens respondere. | 35 I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear. | 35 then I will speak out bravely to his face; it is fear that holds me dumb. |
