And Job answered, and said:

Et respondens Job, ait:

But Job answered:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Qui extendit cælos solus, et graditur super fluctus maris.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Non concedit requiescere spiritum meum, et implet me amaritudinibus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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;

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

Verebar omnia opera mea, sciens quod non parceres delinquenti.

still thou wouldst hold me guilty, wouldst not spare.

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

Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi?

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

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

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

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

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

tamen sordibus intinges me, et abominabuntur me vestimenta mea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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