Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine, dixit:
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
Quis est iste involvens sententias sermonibus imperitis?
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos: interrogabo te, et responde mihi.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ? indica mihi si habes intelligentiam.
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
Quis posuit mensuras eius, si nosti? vel quis tetendit super eam lineam?
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
Super quo bases illius solidatæ sunt? aut quis demisit lapidem angularem eius,
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Cum me laudarent simul astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens:
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
Cum ponerem nubem vestimentum eius, et caligine illud quasi pannis infantiæ obvolverem?
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
Circumdedi illud terminis meis, et posui vectem, et ostia:
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
Et dixi: Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius, et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terræ, et excussisti impios ex ea?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
Restituetur ut lutum signaculum, et stabit sicut vestimentum:
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
Auferetur ab impiis lux sua, et brachium excelsum confringetur.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
Numquid ingressus es profunda maris, et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Numquid apertæ sunt tibi portæ mortis, et ostia tenebrosa vidisti?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
Numquid considerasti latitudinem terræ? indica mihi, si nosti, omnia.
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
In qua via lux habitet, et tenebrarum quis locus sit:
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos, et intelligas semitas domus eius.
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses? et numerum dierum tuorum noveras?
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis, aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
Quæ præparavi in tempus hostis, in diem pugnæ et belli?
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Per quam viam spargitur lux, dividitur æstus super terram?
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum, et viam sonantis tonitrui,
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
Ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto, ubi nullus mortalium commoratur,
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
Ut impleret inviam et desolatam, et produceret herbas virentes?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Quis est pluviæ pater? vel quis genuit stillas roris?
29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
De cuius utero egressa est glacies? et gelu de cælo quis genuit?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
In similitudinem lapidis aquæ durantur, et superficies abyssi constringitur.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
Numquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Numquid producis Luciferum in tempore suo, et Vesperum super filios terræ consurgere facis?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Numquid nosti ordinem cæli, et pones rationem eius in terra?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam, et impetus aquarum operiet te?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt, et revertentia dicent tibi: Adsumus?
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
Quis enarrabit cælorum rationem, et concentum cæli quis dormire faciet?
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra, et glebæ compingebantur?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
Numquid capies leænæ prædam, et animam catulorum eius implebis,
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
Quando cubant in antris, et in specubus insidiantur?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Quis præparat corvo escam suam, quando pulli eius clamant ad Deum, vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos?
